Crazylegs 2008

Yesterday was the 2008 Crazylegs Classic, a Madison Tradition. Where else could you run 8K/walk 2 miles and then congregate to drink beer?

Witty, earthbane, K and I walked. All the others did the run. And they all came out with fabulous times! I think most of them did better than last year. I was happy because usually I stay behind to cook, but this year that was handled by Gypsy and Lucia (with muchas help from B&M, as always!). This year we also had enough people to form a team, and so we were The Alpha Contingent! We all sported t-shirts with this awesome design by Gypsy.

Now for the pictures of everyone after the race:

A record-setting 17,296 participants!

A close up of the backs of our group shirts:

Group picture #1:

Chowing down afterwards:

Our intrepid chefs:

Group picture #2:

The CRAZY picture:

The "look thoughtful" picture (changed by Lucia to "look thoughful or sexy"):

Fun times in all. Can't wait to do it again next year :)

the best place to spend the summer

I don't have a final answer for this one, but here are my thoughts:
1) Madison - clearly, given the joy of the lakes, the Union Terrace, Olbrich Gardens, concerts on the square, etc
2) Milwaukee - I am sure they do more in Milwaukee, but I could spend the entire summer doing festivals and beer gardens. that is reason enough to spend the summer there.
3) Madeleine Island/Apostle Islands - sure, we haven't been there in the summer, but something tells me that the joy of the fall is even more so in the summer.

best place for picking up men

the best place for picking up men in Wisconsin might be Osseo. Let's just say that the women have great odds and the men aren't that bad looking.

best places in Wisconsin for....

new feature on this blog. We pick a theme and then try to figure out, of the places we have been, where are the best places for the theme. Comments with additions or desired deletions welcome.

best places in WI for a bachelorette party - Stoughton and Appleton.
we didn't actually have a bachelorette party in Appleton, but I can tell, it would be good.
Stoughton's downtown string of bars that vary from upscale middle aged (Stella's Speakeasy) to dirty drug addict (either the Nevermind or the one across the street from the Nevermind, I can't recall the names) to community college kid dance clubs... it has it all.

Appleton, WI

While showcasing in Appleton last weekend, we ended up at Park Central on Saturday night. I feel strongly this bar was created for me and my people.

It's actually a complex, not a bar - there is a Country Western bar with line dancing, a pool hall, a retro bar with a caged dancing area, a karaoke bar, and a dance club (playing current hits).

We did a little hip hop, had a dance off, drank some beer, moved to the retro club, did some cage dancing, whipped out some ballroom, picked up the most lame guy in the state of Wisconsin, got a free pitcher of beer, watched my instructor mount the cage with a running start from across the room, meandered to karaoke where we heard the most awful rendition of "18 and Life" ever performed (possibly ever to be performed - I couldn't be this bad on purpose) and closed the place down with Madonna's Material girl.

This place might be my new Mecca.