Celebration!
My parents' 40th wedding anniversary is in a few days, and all 5 of the daughters wanted to plan something special to help them celebrate. A few years ago, we had met up at the Wilderness Resort in Wisconsin Dells for my dad's 60th birthday. We all had a great time then, so we decided to meet there again to be together to celebrate such a monumental anniversary!
If you're familiar with Wisconsin Dells, you probably don't picture this as a "fit" destination...For example, many of the watersides have to post a weight maximum as well the weight minimum.
person on right: fits right in at the Dells...
person on left: not so much...
However, with 4 out of 5 of the sisters training for either a 1/2 marathon (CJ and LL) or a full (Erin and J), we needed to put in some miles while visiting this stereotypically "unfit" location.
My long run was actually 19 miles, so I squeezed it in on my home turf before we hit the road on Thursday. I discovered that all 4 lakes (Harriet, Calhoun, Isles, and Cedar) down the Cedar Trail to the new Twins stadium, Target Field, and back was just about 19 miles! Though I would have enjoyed the company of my sisters for such a long run, Dusters and I both just wanted to get the long run done before the weekend began.
Back to the Dells: Just as we did the weekend before in Annandale, we mapped out a route ahead of time. I googled "running routes from the Wilderness Resort" and found a decent one that kept us off the busiest roads.
FYI- route is here:
http://www.walkjogrun.co.uk/routes/current_route.cfm?rid=81D9917F-BC8F-FA4B-0548D256372B1309
The route worked out well, as CJ, LL, and I joined Erin for 9.5 miles of her 16 mile long run.
Wait- what about the carbo-loading?
But first! We had to fuel up on Thursday night to prep for the Friday morning runs. MooseJaw is a Wisconsin Dells pizzeria that also is a microbrewery. (We runners also carbo-load with a beer or two)
After some pizza and beer, the runners hydrated with plenty of water, and then hit the hay early.
We were up and ready to run by 6:30 am on Friday.
Problem was...who would take our picture at 6:30 am?
Well, a big thanks to my husband for getting out of bed to snap a few pictures :)
After our photo session, we were ready to hit the ground running! And we had fans along the course!
The course was scenic, and we stopped for a few pictures by some charming barns...
There were definitely some serious hills on the course as well.
But despite the hills and the pauses for photo shoots, we made good time and finished the first 9.5 mile loop in good spirits!
Erin did part of the same loop a second time, and I met her at the end of 16 miles in my car to drive her the rest of the way.
She finished solo, but she finished strong!
We were able to squeeze in our "fits" even in an "unfit" location.
I took Saturday as a rest day, and then Dusters and I ran an abbreviated version of the route this morning in the rain. He was impressed by the challenge of the hills as well!
The rest of the weekend included some dancing at Marley's, a day at the Noah's Ark water park, some family photos courtesy of Peer Canvas, plenty of games, and plenty of good times!
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