Streaking

I have always wanted to go streaking and finally it happened.  AND THE POLICE SHOWED UP.  I will not say who was there but there were three of us.  Also, I do not want to go into too many details because it is quite the long story but here is a summary:


We did this at the cross country course in the dark with nobody around and supposedly no chance of getting caught.  We were there for less than ten minutes and about to leave when a cop car showed up before we could put our clothes back on.  Next there was a lot of naked hiding in the woods and naked laying as flat as possible in the field while the cop shined his spotlight everywhere.  Later a second cop showed up and there was a sobriety test for one of the participants who had managed to wiggle into her clothes and emerge from the field.  The test was passed with flying colors since no alcohol was involved and there was a lot of her saying "I'm just weird and embarrassed" and insisting she was alone.  Next, the cops started throwing around the word "suspicious" a lot and threatened to bring dogs out to find anyone else that was out there.  Finally the night ended with some sneaky passing of clothes into the darkness so I could get dressed and then a naked German flying into the back seat and laying flat on the car floor until we were out of sight.


Just when the night seemed it was going to end as horribly as possible, everything was resolved and we didn't get in trouble at all!  YAY!!!

The Hardest Thing I Have Ever Done

Yesterday I biked 140 miles.  I got up at 5:30AM and left the house at 6.  Then, I biked the last leg of Ragbrai from last year to Davenport, then took a loop around Credit Island, then crossed Government Bridge to Arsenal Island, then crossed another bridge to Rock Island, and headed south to sunset park.  After that I headed back on the same route.  I got back 13 hours later at 7PM and took the best shower of my life, gorged on some leftovers, and then passed out for almost 14 hours.


Here were the most interesting parts of the ride:


- At one point the road was closed for construction and I didn't have any other routes drawn on my map so I crossed a ditch to the nearby railroad and carried my bike for about a quarter of a mile.  A construction worker asked where I was headed and I told him he was on my bike path.
- Being kind of tired at 40 miles in and then trying to reassure myself by thinking how there was only 100 miles left.
- Hitting my first real wall at miles 80-100 and realizing I wasn't going to make it.  Regretting not preparing for the ride at all by biking more than a mile to class and back for the last 9 months.
- Bought 64 oz of gatorade at a gas station to refill the water bottles and talked to an old lady who convinced me to buy a paper poppy made by veterans.  The gatorade helped for the next 15 miles.
- Worst part by far was the last 20 miles in which my gps watch ran out of battery and there were no landmarks to indicate how far was left and it was suddenly the hilliest road in the universe.  I decided not to rest until West Branch and thought I was almost there at least a dozen times only to get to the top of a giant hill to see three more giant hills with no sign of civilization ahead of me.
- Ate ice cream on a bench in West Branch and felt like throwing up
- On the final stretch back to Iowa City I saw a sign that said "Iowa City Outer Limit" and started laughing to myself and almost cried
- Arriving at my front porch, dirty, exhausted, thirsty, and in shock that I actually made it.


Everything on my body hurts.  Especially the parts that were in contact with the bike (hands, butt, and feet).  Also my knees and hamstrings and quads and back and shoulders hurt.  I think my lips are sunburned and I have a bunch of bug bites.  As much as I never wish to do that again, I am glad I did it.    It pushed me way further outside my comfort zone than I ever imagined possible and now I know that when my body says to stop, there could be about 60 more miles in the tank.


Up next: Madison Marathon with Katie on a week from tomorrow.  We are running rogue since registration closed but it won't matter because we just want to finish and don't care about place. WOOOO!

CREDIT ISLAND:

GOVERNMENT BRIDGE BETWEEN IOWA AND ILLINOIS:

I am back.

College is done, its my 22nd birthday today, and it I have a ticket to Europe.  Things are looking up.


I want to refer back to this post:
http://dinowhomper.blogspot.com/2011/08/stay-in-school-as-long-as-you-can.html
It was a lie.  DO NOT stay in school as long as you can.  At the end of that post I said my opinion would change when papers and stuff rolled around.  That was not a lie.


Unlike work, school has the ability to follow you home from class and consume your free time and sleep time and make you a crazy person.  Last week when I was doing all my final papers and lab reports and exams, I noticed I had no clean clothes, no groceries, my room was a disaster area, my nails were grotesquely long, and I had not recently bathed or slept.  I also could not think of when I would next have time to fix any of these problems.  Work will never do this to me and if it does I will quit my job.


Anyways, I did my last school related thing yesterday and am now I am an engineer.  Score!  Also I decided being done yesterday is the University's birthday gift to me.  Thanks Iowa!  Also, a couple of days ago I got a plane ticket to Zurich, Switzerland in July.  Its official, I am going.


Here are some things I found about finals week:

I LOVE VENDIAGRAMS OF STUFF!!!!