Gear

So, confession time: I'm a bit of a princess when it comes to sleeping. I'm a very light and sensitive sleeper and I've never been one to be able to fall asleep just anywhere. Considering we'll be spending 80 or 90% of our nights sleeping on the floor, this could be a problem! 

I also recently received my 4K Duffel bag which is super exciting! Everyone gets the same one. We are allowed that duffel bag and a backpack, and everything we need for 70 days needs to fit in that space, and that includes my sleeping gear. So, no Memory Foam mattresses or mounds of blankets for me. I know my backpack will be taken up by my laptop and some books, so I'm not counting on fitting any clothes in my backpack. 

My duffel bag! I have to fit everything I need for 70 days in here.

As you can see, I got my name embroidered onto my bag! It was a great choice.. I chose the font and the color and I love it. It will be great to easily distinguish my bag from the 25 other bags we will have in the vans. The lady that did it for me is a mom that works out of her home just 2 neighborhoods over from me. Crabby Me Embroidery - I highly recommend her, she finished this for me in less than 24 hours and it was very affordable!

So I spent a lot of time shopping around, reading reviews, and making countless trips to REI, etc. looking for the perfect sleeping gear that is compressible but at the same time will make me as comfortable as possible. Here's what I got!

Me being dorky with all my gear set up.

All of my gear lined up next to each other (with remote for size comparison ;) From left to right: pillow with pillowcase and sleeping mask on top, sleeping bag liner, sleeping bag, sleeping pad.

1. Sleeping pad
This is recommended as a little cushion between you and the floor. I went to REI and physically tested out a few:

Physically testing out some sleeping pads at REI

then read a bunch of reviews online. I couldn't decide between two of them so I ordered both and when they arrived I actually camped out on the floor of my apartment for two nights testing them both out (shh, don't tell REI), then returned the one I didn't want. The pad I went with is a "self-inflating" pad called the Exped SynMat 7 . It inflates with air and puts you 2.8 inches off the ground, so you don't feel any ground at all. I went with medium wide, which means it has an extra 6 inches of width. I like this because it means I have a little room to move before I fall off. It has 5-star reviews on REI.com and it is indeed awesome. I used it camping in West Virginia a couple weeks ago and it was great; I slept through the whole night with no soreness in the morning and it really felt like I was sleeping on a bed! It also insulated me from the cold ground.

The mat by itself

The inflation process is simple. I definitely wanted a pad that inflates rather than just being a foamy material, but I didn't want to blow it up every night. So to inflate this one you use two hands to push air into it through a little built-in air channel. It takes about 3 minutes to inflate and about 1 minute to deflate. It rolls up to a tiny 5x11 inch cylinder which barely takes up any space in my bag!

2. Sleeping bag
I also went to REI and looked at some of these:

Sleeping bag shopping

I learned that there are tons of options for sleeping bags, but most of them have very low temperature ratings and can keep you warm down to temperatures below zero. Since we will be sleeping inside every night and it will be summer, I really don't need that. So I went with the warmest bag REI has, which is a 55-degree bag. 

This temperature rating is pushing it, as I should probably be prepared for temperatures as low as 40, in case we do end up camping (we do carry tents and we will camp if all our host arrangements fall through). So I decided to get a sleeping bag liner as well, which I'll explain next. The sleeping bag I got is really light and comfortable but also warm. It also compresses down to a small stuff sack (6x11 inches) and was a very affordable price.

Posing with my sleeping bag....whose sweet bike is that in the background??

3. Sleeping bag liner
I decided to get this because I don't like the nylon feeling of the inside of sleeping bags. The more I can get my sleeping arrangements to feel like home, the better! Sleeping bag liners serve this purpose as well as keeping you warmer. It's basically a cotton sheet sewn into the shape of a sleeping bag. They add 10 degrees to the temperature rating of the sleeping bag, meaning I should be ok down to 45 degrees, and if it's colder than that I am prepared for that as well (see later). Also, on hotter nights I can just use the liner and then use my sleeping bag as more of a blanket if I want. Here's the one I got:  Cocoon TravelSheet

4. Pillow
For the pillow I had a few options. I could bring my regular pillow, but I decided I would rather not because that was too big. The options for smaller pillows include compressible pillows and blow-up pillows, but I didn't really like either of those because they didn't feel soft enough. Again, the more it fels like home, the better. So I went with the REI Base Camp Pillow, which is just a small regular pillow. It still compresses fairly small and it's also way cheaper than the other options. I also ordered a pillow case for it on Amazon.

5. Other random accessories
-Sleeping mask (lifesaver for me)
-Earplugs (VERY necessary, in a group of 26 kids we are bound to have a few snorers)
-Sleeping bag warmers - these are like the hand warmers or feet warmers you can buy at sports stores, except bigger, and you just put one in your sleeping bag for extra warmth!
-These awesome buddies:

These are called Go Toobs, found at REI and Amazon, and they are little containers for toiletries. They supposedly never leak, and are very flexible to squeeze out the last bit of your stuff. The awesome thing is that they have suction cups on them! This is great because I'm going to be showering in ~60 different showers this summer. We all know that not all showers have handy little shelves to put your containers on, which sometimes means you have to put them on a nasty floor. These suction cups will allow me to attach my stuff to the walls :) I'm super excited for these. I got a bunch so that I can put all of my various hair products in small containers that won't leak, although the bigger ones don't have suction cups. I'm going to bring larger containers of shampoo, soap, etc that have screw tops so they don't leak, and then just refill these.

So that's it! I finished my semester on the 13th and have been home since then. My best friend Ellie was visiting until yesterday, and now I am babysitting for the next week. My training definitely suffered during finals week and now that I'm home I don't have access to spin class or spin bikes as I don't belong to a gym. I'm just going to be going out biking on shorter, faster rides, and running, and I'm going to get in one more long ride before we leave. 

Fundraising has been great: My current total is $7,318!! A HUGE thank you to everyone that has donated and otherwise supported me :)

I also got my hair cut yesterday, which was a big deal for me!! I got 6 inches cut off and I haven't had it this short in literally 5 years! I was really nervous to cut it, but I knew the shorter I cut it now, the more I would thank myself for it later on this summer. There was no way I was going to deal with all that hair when I'm going to be on a bike for 70 days. My new look definitely going to take a while to get used to but I do actually like it!!

New hair!

2 weeks until send off weekend!!! 2 weeks from today I will be in Baltimore doing Training Day, and the next day at 8 am we will be off on this incredible journey! I'm super excited and nervous!

Official route

Things I'm looking forward to & things I'm not so much looking forward to

29 days until the ride!!! Ahhh! I am both excited and terrified.

Things I'm not so excited for:

• Deciding what to pack and what not to pack
• The fact that 5 finals stand between me and the trip
• Leaving 95% of my wardrobe behind (girl problems)
• Fitting everything I need into my 4K duffel bag
• Being away from my family and friends for 10 weeks
• Getting used to biking next to cars
• TAN LINES
• Sleeping on the floor
• Waking up before the sun
• Very hot or rainy days

Things I'm super excited for:

• Taking pictures like this:

and this:

• Having water gun fights
• Being outside and enjoying nature all day every day
• Tackling a new adventure every single day
• Meeting and growing close with my teammates
• Fighting cancer together & being an inspiration
• Becoming better at biking
• Having no worries other than getting from Point A to Point B
• Going to Cedar Point with the team
• Celebrating my 21st birthday in Boise, Idaho
• Jam sessions with the other musicians on my ride
• Learning how to do some cool new things (I'm hoping splits, a really good handstand and maybe playing the guitar)
• My first century ride
• TAN LINES
• Securing our remaining hosts before the ride starts
• Setting up lots of cool things for us to do along our way
• Meeting nice and interesting people along the way
• Seeing the country!

I can't wait!! Bring on June 2nd! :) :)

A Day in the life of a Leg Leader, W&OD 50-miler, and Annapolis 70-miler

Hi followers :)

I'm sorry that I have been neglecting my blog for the past couple of weeks. It has been pretty busy. I'll focus on the main things that have been going on - being a leg leader, and a couple of long training rides :)

So, what's it like to be a leg leader? Well, think sitting outside the chemistry building making a list of phone calls to Utah during your 15-minute break from class. Apologizing to your chem lab group for having to step out of lab to answer a call from Imperial, Nebraska. Giving your name and number to up to ten random strangers across the nation in a day. Brainstorming new ways to convince said random strangers that hosting 27 unknown college students in their building for free is a good idea. 

Rough route of Leg 2 of our ride :)

Since my last post I have been focusing on finding us hosts for Leg 2 of our ride. At times it has seemed like a piece of cake, and at other times it has been extremely frustrating. Basically what it means to secure hosts is that if we have been to the city before, I first contact the host we had last year, assuming we had a good experience with them. I simply introduce myself and ask if they'd be interested in hosting us again. If we have not been to the city before, I come up with a list of possible hosts (churches, schools, or universities), and then call and give them my "sales pitch." The main problem is that I don't like talking on the phone, I don't like asking for things, and I don't like talking to strangers....all of which I have to do to secure each host. For this reason I procrastinated beginning this for a while. What got me to make the first call was finding something I wanted to do even less, which was studying for my chemistry exam that was the next day. So that's what got me to start, and I began with repeat hosts, which was a good idea. After the first call it wasn't so intimidating anymore. People are generally nice, and I've gotten pretty good at giving my "sales pitch."

Call history. You can't make this stuff up.

Securing our hosts for Nebraska was very easy. All of them are repeat hosts who seem to really love us and are all looking forward to us coming. Seriously, a couple of them kept me on the phone for 15+ minutes talking about the great times they had with the 4K team last year and how excited their whole community was going to be to find out we are coming through again. All of these host will be providing us with community dinners (which I heard from last year's team are delicious - Nebraska cuisine is apparently quite noteworthy) and some will be providing homestays. The first host I secured was Arapahoe, Nebraska, where we will be on the fourth of July and where we will take a rest day. So excited for this! This is the 12th year Arapahoe will be hosting us. In last year's trip journal, where they typically wrote a paragraph about the day, this is what they said about Arapahoe:

So descriptive. So excited for this.

Finding hosts for the new cities, on the other hand, has been not as easy of a job. It's a lot to ask of someone, calling them out of the blue, to host 27 sweaty college students, during a season when many of the tourist destinations (relevant for Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming) are very busy. For that reason it's important to emphasize that we are a charity, and to downplay the needs that we have - starting from the most basic and working up. Plus, if a host doesn't have everything we need, we can piece together a couple of different arrangements, like sleeping at one place and showering at another. I've had people interrupt me mid-sentence and say they're not interested in giving money (when that's not what I was going to ask for), and I've also been angrily hung up on once. That wasn't fun! The main problem I've encountered is when I can't get a hold of a live person, I leave a message, and my message doesn't get returned. Almost none of the messages I've left for potential new hosts have actually been returned, and I have to wait a couple of days before I can acceptably call back and try again. There are also a couple of cities in which Chelsea and I are really striking out on finding hosts. They are cities so small that they don't have very many places that are even large enough to host us. This week Chelsea and I will be working hard to secure all of our remaining hosts before finals start!!

W&OD 50-miler
A couple weeks ago, I did a 50-mile ride on the Washington and Old Dominion Trail in Virginia, with one of my mom's work friends, Shani, who is a great cyclist. It was awesome! We started from Herndon, Virginia and rode to Purcellville and back on the trail. The trail was very nice. Paved, scenic, and not too crowded with people but not too sparse either, and the weather was great. In addition to Shani, there were also 3 men from Shani's work, all of whom were experienced cyclists that were training to do the Face of America 2-day ride (fundraiser for disabled veterans) which actually took place this past weekend. They were very willing to give me all sorts of cycling advice. The first thing one of them said to me: "I'm Chris. Ok, let's talk contact points." He proceeded to explain how to minimize problems relating to the contact points your body has with the bike: your handlebars, your saddle, and your shoes. 

Purcellville, VA: Halfway point! This picture reminds me that I still need to name my bike..

Me, Shani, and George after the 50-mile bike ride.

This was also the first time I used my clip-in pedals, and surprisingly, I did pretty well! I didn't fall, but came very close a couple of times! It's not hard at all if you remember to clip out one foot a little bit before you come to a stop. However, if you try to stop short, you're in trouble. This happened to me a couple of times when I was coming up to a small intersection, thought there were no cars coming, then saw a car coming and decided not to cross at the last minute. I definitely almost fell about 3 times in this way, and plenty of people saw.. luckily no one laughed at me and I didn't get hurt :)

Freshman year roomie Emily and I, after running a 5K for Teach for America - April 7th

Random 11.5 mile run
Two weekends ago, I was considering going back to the W&OD and doing another 50-miler by myself, but decided not to go, since no one could go with me. Instead I went out and decided to run as far as I could. It turned out to be 11.5 miles, which was a little less than I had hoped- I wanted to try for 13.1, a half marathon. But I was still happy with 11.5, and realized I needed new running shoes because my knees killing me was the reason I had to stop. So, I ordered those (from Amazon of course) a couple days later, and here are the beautiful new babies:

New running shoes - Asics Gel Kayano 19s; been wearing Gel Kayanos for 5 years

I ran through the Anacostia Tributary Trail system, towards DC, and then back. The first 8 miles were a piece of cake, and the last 4 were a struggle as my knees started to hurt and got worse. Also, it was unfortunate that it was the middle of the day on a Saturday and there were parts during which I didn't feel perfectly safe. Just the parts that were in the woods and no one was around.. that's College Park for you! But for the most part, I did feel totally safe. The other problem was that the trail has NO water fountains, which was a very unpleasant surprise. I don't carry water with me when I run but if I do a long run like that again, I may have to. I was soooo thirsty towards the end and felt like I was about 2 minutes away from drinking out of the Anacostia River (the nastiest thing ever). I stopped at the Kim building on the way back (my home as a bioengineering student) and drank easily a half gallon of water from the water fountain. Other than those difficulties, though, it was a great run and a nice substitute for a long bike ride. My legs were the most sore I can remember them being since high school.. so bad that I took two rest days after that!

Lake Artemesia during my run

Annapolis 70-miler
Last weekend, some 4Kers and some members of the UMD Triathlon team took on a 70-mile round trip ride to Annapolis and back. There were 11 of us in total! This was actually my first road cycling experience, and we took back roads all the way there and back. Not going to lie, it was scary! Riding next to cars is quite nerve-racking, though I did get more used to it as the day went on. 

About 20 miles in, Chelsea and I both got flat tires at the same time... we didn't know how to fix flat tires. We were discouraged and thinking we might have to get someone to pick us up but we waited for one of the MD Tri kids to pass by and he helped us change them and also taught us how to do it ourselves!

Learning how to fix a flat...

It was a good thing he taught us because I managed to get ANOTHER flat tire later in the ride, and another rider also got a flat later. Fellow Team Portland rider Meredith also had a wipeout on the way there, but got back up and still completed the whole ride. We made it to Annapolis a bit later than everyone else, took a group photo, ate lunch, and then headed back. The last 20 miles were a struggle as we were just very tired, and discouraged from having so much bike trouble. 

The crew having arrived in Annapolis!

Me, Chelsea, Meredith

Also, a lot of the other riders were very fast! It was a challenge to keep up-- that is, up until the flat tires, after which we had no chance of catching them. My legs actually weren't sore the next day, which tells me that I'm okay riding those long distances, and maybe I should work on my speed. Not exactly sure how to do that, though. I've always been more of an endurance person rather than speed. It was nice to be able to meet some other 4K riders and get to know Meredith and Zach.

Eating lunch  Devouring burritos in Annapolis with Meredith, Zach, and Chelsea

The group's 4th and final flat of the day....

Confession: It was actually 69 miles as I pulled into my apartment complex, so I rode around in circles just to get it to 70 just to get this picture.

Other than these long rides, I do have some other exciting training news to report: I've definitely noticed an improvement in all aspects of my athletic abilities! For one, biking around campus has become considerably easier. I get to class a lot quicker in the morning -- and with a lot less effort. Also, I used to absolutely dread the ride from the Kim building up to CSPAC for orchestra (only UMD people will know what I'm talking about), but now it's no trouble at all. For swimming- I can do my swimming workout in under 40 minutes now, whereas it used to take me about 45. Running has definitely improved because I don't think I'd have been able to run 11.5 miles before I started this training. And at body pump, I've upped the weight I lift on every exercise. It makes me happy when I'm lifting more than all the girls in the class, and that's usually the case lately!

Other than training, I have been really busy with school. Exams, projects, and a wonderful 10-page paper for Technical Writing, which I have conveniently decided to write on a safe biking route in Nebraska and Iowa. Amazingly enough we somehow only have two weeks of classes left, one week of finals, and then two weeks before leaving for the 4K. CRAZY!! I am ridiculously excited.

5 weeks left!!!

I will post again this week about some other exciting stuff: whitewater rafting, which I did this past weekend, my 4K mentor, and my new gear!

Until then, XOXO,
Mary

Training Plateau, New gear, and Florida

It happens to everyone - after you've gotten into the swing of things, you just hit a bad week where your fitness doesn't seem to improve. That's been me this past week! I remember this all too well from high school cross country and as always it's very frustrating.

Since I got back from spring break my training has been at a plateau. My workouts feel way more difficult than they did just the week before and it's more of a struggle to get out and do them. Also, cycling class was practically empty the first day back from break and there wasn't the "strength in numbers" vibe that the class usually has. The next day Body Pump was full by the time I got there, so no Body Pump for me for the week :( As a substitute I decided to hit up the weight room at the gym!! GASP!! I had never been in there before. I'm intimidated by all the crazy weightlifting guys and I don't want to be embarrassed by not knowing how to use the machines. Soooo what better to do than bring my trusty boyfriend with me to show me the ropes. With his help I managed not to look like a complete idiot and got in a pretty good workout. Anyway, I don't know why this is happening now, because I had a nice change of pace over spring break when I could only go running in Chicago. But whatever the reason, it's frustrating and I hope it ends soon!

Some positive training news: The training game that Team Portland was playing for the month of March ended Sunday, and the team that Chelsea and I were on won! This means that the other half of our team will serve us dinner on Day 1. The score was pretty close, though, and everyone did a good job. The average amount of points earned per team member was 463. As an example, biking outside was 3 pt/mile and biking inside was 2 pt/mile -- but all sorts of other exercises had designated point values as well. Chelsea and I also got "awards" (chosen by our 2 ride directors and posted on our team's group on Facebook):

Screenshot of our "Award" :)

In other news, for Easter I got to go to Florida! My parents wanted to take a mini family vaca since we won't all be home at the same time this summer (thanks to the 4K). We all flew down to Ft. Lauderdale on Thursday night and then Michael and I flew back Sunday night. My parents and James (littler brother) are still down there soaking up the sun until tomorrow. It was really great -- if you know me you know I LOVE the sun and the beach so I was super happy :) It was great weather and we pretty much just chilled on the beach the whole time. I managed to burn myself to a crisp.. I underestimated the Florida sun and attempted to use SPF 8 on the first day... which ended up not really cutting it. Oh well, it's pretty much all better now! 

Florida!!!

We also spent Easter with my dad's aunt and uncle who live an hour from Ft. Lauderdale. The uncle is the brother of my grandfather who I am doing the ride for. They look and act a lot alike. It was great to see him and his wife and we got to chill at their awesome house.

Me driving my uncle's sweet Mercedes!!

Training while in Florida- I went for a lovely warm run on the beach with my brother. We went around 4pm when the boardwalk was ridiculously crowded and we were constantly dodging people. There were also a lot of drunk people (still spring break season). I also got to use an awesome exercise bike at the hotel called the Expresso. It has a screen and it's kind of like a video game in that you get to choose your course and level and then you race people! You actually steer the bike too so it's really cool. I felt like it made me work out harder because I was trying to beat my "competitors" in the game.

Fundraising - My fundraising total is now $6,493!! So close to $6500, and within range of $7000 which is my goal. I actually JUST noticed, as I was looking at my donors' cities in order to update my Donors Map (see older post for that) that I got a few donations this past week via checks. For checks sent in to the 4K office, I don't get an email informing me of the donation as I do for online donations, so I have to check back on my donor page to see if anyone donated. I also don't know how fast they are at putting the donations through on the 4K end once they receive the check, so I apologize if it has been a while! Thank you so much Mr. Dan and Mrs. Lois (Mr. Dan I have your email so you'll get a real thank-you), Anthony Bambace, and Cory Muscara!!

For future fundraising - Chelsea and I are going to have a "drunk bake sale" (us sitting on Rt. 1 outside of the bars and selling a bunch of goodies late at night, aka profiting off of the bad financial decisions of drunk college students). This will probably take place next weekend. Don't worry - we want to get a campus police officer to sit with us or sit close by to keep an eye on the safety of things. I also want to do a car wash in Bel Air at some point.

Gear -- I kind of went on a cycling buying spree and got a cool poster, shirt, and bumper sticker! I'll post a pic of the bumper sticker once I get it on my car.

Poster - now hanging next to our bikes :)

Awesome shirt to make a statement about cycling! I got it on Ebay for $9

When I got back from Chicago, Andrew's parents were nice enough to surprise me with the cycling glasses I wanted! Again it was Andrew that did all the research on the glasses for me. He narrowed it down to the top 3 and then asked me which I liked from there. I got the brand recommendation, Tifosi, from our new cycling friend Nick (thanks Nick!!). They are really cool and come with 3 different lenses which you can switch out depending on the weather: yellow for foggy weather (they increase resolution and visibility), red for overcast/cloudy weather (will increase contrast and brighten the surroundings), and black for regular sunny days (these are polarized to minimize glare from the road). I've tried all of the lenses and love them all!! I feel a little dorky with them on but also super sporty. They also have little vents at the top to keep them from getting hot on the inside, and they're also adjustable on the sides so I can fit them to my rather small head and then adjust them during the day if they ever feel too tight. Finally they also are supposedly quite indestructible. A video review on the website we got them from shows a guy hitting them with a hammer and they don't break. As you can imagine this is very important as I'm sure that these glasses will suffer a few falls and bumps between Baltimore and Portland!

Awesome new cycling glasses, with the yellow lenses.

Anyway, back in good old CP, I'm currently neglecting a ton of studying I have to do and the remainder of this week will be very busy for me. Early next week it will be clearing up, and that's when I hope to get in most of my calls to secure hosts for the ride. I want to get everything done before May. I think Chelsea and I will do a long ride this Saturday, so more on that this weekend :). I will continue getting myself get out there to train every day, and I hope that the sort of training plateau I've been in ends soon. Thanks as always for the support!!!

XOXO,
Mary

50-miler and my trip to Chi-Town

Hello, all!

I just got back from a week in Chicago where I was doing a service trip focused on hunger and homelessness. The trip was a part of the UMD Alternative Breaks program, which sends out about 25 substance-free, service-learning trips per year both within the US and internationally during spring/summer/winter breaks. In this post I'll fill you in on my training and fundraising progress, briefly mention my trip to Chicago and talk about some of what I learned that can be applied to the 4K.

This is how to work out, right?? Playing with Chelsea's Iron Gym :)

First, the day before spring break, Friday, I headed home after my morning class (afternoon class was cancelled) and took a casual detour of biking 55 miles. You know, something most people would do. I drove to the BWI trail we were at the previous weekend, which is right on my way home to Bel Air and no detour at all, parked there and biked 5 loops of the trail, which was 55 miles. This ride was more difficult than the previous week's because I was introduced to what a headwind is. It's not fun and makes a huge difference when riding. The wind is something you don't really notice when driving around but on a bike it really makes a big difference. It felt like the wind was against us the whole time which didn't make sense since the ride is a loop so it should be behind us for half the time. The temperature was also much colder, and it was cloudy. So the ride was definitely harder and less carefree and fun. It made me realize that this is exactly what the 4K will be like. Some days will be easy breezy beautiful, and some days will be more difficult whether that's due to the terrain, the many possible weather fluctuations or just rider exhaustion. There are tons of factors that will influence how the ride will go each day and it definitely won't be all fun and games.

An app on my phone that tracks my location history, showing my bike ride.
The blue dots are my locations :)

Anyway, I rode 3 laps by myself and then Chelsea joined me for my last 2, then did 3 of her own after I left. So we each did 5 laps but kind of at different times. My brother also drove up with Chelsea and ran one loop of the trail while he was waiting for me to finish. I was really happy with doing 55 miles as it's the first time we have ridden over 50 miles! :) Our shortest days on the 4K will be in the range of 55-60 miles and it's great to know that we can do that 3 months out from the start of the trip. I was also thrilled with my bike computer and loved being able to see my speed!! This way I'll be able to track my progress and try to improve my average speed.

My bike computer showing my total trip distance!

Oh, another thing...I'm just going to mention this because I want to brag about my pi-shaped chocolates. My roommates and I had a Pi Day party the night before this - 3/14. We made pi-shaped ice cubes and chocolates and also 5 pies (my mom made the pies - did I mention she's the best?) and 8 homemade pizzas. Our friend Ian also brought a chocolate mousse pie which was delicious. It was pretty nerdy but fun!

Pi-shaped chocolates :)

Fundraising -- I'm up to $6,168 and I've raised my goal to $7000 :) Thank you so much to everyone who has donated!! This money will be able to do some great things.

Fundraising as of 3/24/13

So, Chicago was pretty great. I had a lot of fun and we were able to do some good service. It was a group of 14 UMD students of all ages and majors. Among us were 2 trip leaders and 1 staff advisor. 

We drove in two big vans - a 12 hour drive including stops. What's crazy is that the route we drove is pretty much exactly the route the Portland 4K team will be taking to Chicago for the first leg of the trip. It was crazy to be driving by at 70-80 miles an hour thinking that I am going to be biking all this distance in just a couple of months. Baltimore-Chicago is going to take us 23 days. I also took note of the terrain and found that it was pretty much as I expected - western MD into PA is very hilly (should be fun as we'll just be starting out), Ohio goes from rolling hills to flat, Indiana is largely completely flat and the same scenery for the entire state, and getting into Chicago is very, very urban. Not sure what our plans are for getting into Chicago but whenever we arrive in a big city we have to be very careful to take the bike trails and avoid traffic. Obviously the roads we will be taking will not be the Pennsylvania and Ohio Turnpikes which we drove on, but the general route will be pretty much exactly the same, so that was interesting.

During the week we did service at the Salvation Army, the Greater Chicago Food Depository, a food pantry called the Marillac House, a homeless women's shelter called Deborah's Place, and then a transitional housing facility called Cornerstone Community Outreach. We did basically whatever they needed, from packaging food, to cleaning their basement, to unloading trucks, to directly serving the homeless. We got to interact with several homeless people and it was very eye-opening. Every evening we had Reflection as a team which was a no-cell-phone zone where we reflected on the day's service and talked about the issues of hunger and homelessness. We also did team-building activities, watched a documentary called 30 Days on Minimum Wage, and had a debate on whether or not minimum wage should be increased. We stayed at the Chicago Getaway Hostel, which was great and I strongly recommend it if anyone goes to Chicago!! I don't have that many pictures of service since I was, well, doing service, but I'll come back and add a few when they get put up on Facebook!

Posing with a loaf of bread while checking bread for freshness at the Greater Chicago Food Depository

Other than service, we also got to tour Chicago. We saw the Bean, the Chicago River dyed green on St. Patrick's Day, and went to the top of the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower and apparently all Chicagoans still call it the Sears Tower).

"The Bean"

Chicago River dyed green for St. Patrick's Day!!

Me chilling in a glass box at the top of the Willis Tower - 103 floors up :O

We also got to get deep dish pizza - twice! - once due to a generous UMD alum who lives in Chicago and treated us all to dinner, and the second time at what is apparently the most famous Chicago deep dish pizza place - Lou Malnati's. 

Deep dish cheese pizza at Lou Malnati's

We also got Chicago Dogs while touring Navy Pier, and Garrett's Popcorn while in the city. Garrett's Popcorn is apparently famous and WOW.. now we know why... it was amazing!! I got the Chicago Mix which consists of cheese corn and caramel corn.

Chicago dog! Sport peppers, mustard, tomatoes, onions, and relish.
I don't really like any of those toppings... but I tried it anyway so I can say I have tried a Chicago dog.

The team at Navy Pier attempting a jumping picture.

Trying to train while in Chicago was interesting. I didn't have access to a gym or a bike, so I basically just went running every day. The only problem was that I wasn't allowed to go alone and the weather was between 14 and 18 degrees every morning (yes, it was freezing the entire week). Luckily, I made a new friend, Susan, who was equally crazy as me, and she joined me for early morning runs before our service days began. Our staff advisor Nicole and our friend Meenu also joined us for some of the days. Our hostel was in a very safe area and was located half a mile away from Lincoln Park and a really nice running trail that runs right along Lake Michigan, so that's where we ran every day. We dressed in layers and survived the cold temperatures... and there was only one day (Friday) that I couldn't go because wake-up time for running was 6:20 and no one wanted to go with me! I also did core workouts on the floor of the hostel a couple of the days. I'm pretty sure most of our team thought we were crazy for waking up early and going out in the cold to run but that's ok.

My new friend Susan and I enjoying frappuccinos in scorching 30-degree weather

Also, our staff advisor, who works for Campus Recreation Services at UMD, was actually able to get the whole team free passes to the DePaul University gym which was really close to our hostel, and we went as a team one afternoon. Their gym was actually amazing... they have awesome facilities!! A 1/8-mile indoor BANKED track, at least 3 times the cardio equipment at UMD's gym, racquetball courts, an indoor moving rock climbing wall, and several gigantic basketball courts, to name a few. A gym that makes UMD students jealous (The ERC at UMD is awesome) is very, very rare. On this day I was able to ride the stationary bike to hopefully keep my biking fitness up.

The trip to Chicago also left me with a lot of things to think about relating to group dynamics. Pretty much everything related to traveling was inefficient with a group of 14. Everyone wants to eat/rest/use the bathroom at different times, and have you ever tried making sure 14 people get in and out of the same metro car at the right stops? It's basically a nightmare. Well, on the 4K, our group is going to be 30 people! It takes a LOT of food to feed 14 people (we cooked dinner for ourselves 3 of the nights and made lunches each day) and it will take more than twice that to feed 30 people on the ride. I say more than twice because we will probably be eating more. That's a LOT of food, and it's a lot to ask for a donation. I'm very nervous about asking for food donations while we're on the ride. I don't like asking for things in general and like I said, it will be a lot to ask for. Also, getting 30 people up and ready in the mornings will be interesting, as will getting 30 people showered and ready for bed at nights. I'm sure we will learn to work well together, but it's intimidating to think about. I was definitely frustrated at times on the trip with how slow everyone was being, so I expect that my patience will be tested on the 4K, especially since the trip will be 10 times as long... I'll have no choice but to become more flexible, which will be a good thing.

Well, that's all for now. Spring Break ends today and it's back to normal life tomorrow!! Luckily, my family is going to Florida for Easter so I'm leaving for that on Thursday! Have a great week, everyone!!