Every Marathon Should Have a Beer Stop

(Here's Holly's report from the Go! st. Louis Marathon on April 15th)

Yes you read that correctly. I feel every Marathon should have a beer stop, keep reading and you will see why.

I signed up for the GO! St. Louis Marathon just a month ago. I decided to try and get one more state out of the way. It was in driving distance and it was two weeks before the Derby Marathon in Louisville. The course was hilly so it would be good training for Louisville since that is also hilly. We got to St. Louis Friday night and of course continued the microbrewery tour that Dave is trying to accomplish. We enjoyed Schafly Tap Room, and had an awesome Oatmeal Stout and great food as well.

Saturday involved going to pick up my bib at the Expo. While at the Expo I tried on a pair of Newtons and liked them. They had a good show special going on so I bought a pair and proceeded to wear them for the marathon (Just kidding). I plan on trying them out after Louisville. Dave won a pair of Brooks shoes! This was great news for me since I wear Brooks.

After the Expo we went to the Arch, where I had a major panic attack in the stupid little pod that takes you up. Dave videoed the whole thing so I’m sure that will be a You Tube hit soon. Lunch was at Morgan Street Brewing in Laclede's Landing.

We then went to the Budweiser Factory. Nice tour and cool to see all the old buildings. We got two free beers and we drank half of one. Still don’t like the Budweiser products (and they weren't offering Goose Island).

We had a nice dinner in downtown at Gio's and got to bed early.

Storms were predicted for the race and I was watching the weather like a hawk. I am terrified of lightning due to being stuck on a field hockey field back in high school. Luckily the weather didn’t look bad. There was a chance of storms around 10 am. It was extremely windy and warm though. This could be fun! We got to the start super early and waited around in the swirling winds. Pretty soon I was in my corral and we were off again!

I have been going out way too fast the last few marathons and I hoped to start this one off at a better pace. Well the first mile was downhill and I of course was so excited I went faster than I liked. But I slowed it down. However the mile markers were off. Like a quarter mile off. I knew there was no way I was off that much on my Garmin already, so was thinking that I really slowed down, too much so! So I then sped up. By mile 6 the mile markers were back on with my Garmin. Great, so I just did the first 6 miles way too fast. I just didn’t feel great the whole race, not sure if it was mental or what, but I was battling myself the whole way.

The course was way hillier than I thought it would be. And the wind always seemed to be in my face. I was hungry. Saw Dave around Mile 15 and asked for a banana. He would meet me later with it and it was great. Now for the explanation of the title of this report. At mile 18 I saw a “Stag” beer sign. There were the most wonderful people handing out cold cups of Stag beer. Oh my. It was the best. The icy cold beer made me feel great.

I picked up the pace until Mile 22 or so, then I crashed. I needed another beer, lol! Took a look at the clock and really wanted to stay under 5:30. I would have to push it, but it was all up hill, UGH! I could see the finish line, but it was uphill into the wind and I swear it kept moving. I finally crossed 5:29:04. I was exhausted. I never want to sit down after a marathon, I like to keep moving. Not today. I saw Dave and said I need to sit down. We found a bench and I sat down and ate a bag of chips. Dave ran back to the finish area and exchanged my medal, because mine was all scratched.

Overall I’m happy with my time, due to the hills, wind and heat. It was one tough day. I’m hoping for better weatherthis Saturday in Louisville. Fingers Crossed. Oh and I hope there is a beer stop!

 

Collections: Beer Tap Handles

If you have followed Team Tizzel since Day 1 you may have noticed we collect things: Disney pins, Vinylmation figures, and animation art items were featured in prior posts. In this post we'll look at another collection we have: beer tap handles.

Beer tap handles are used to label the type of beer on draft at a bar or restaurant. Brewers got savvy over the years and used these once generic items to further market their product. They could convey the brands message or image, or perhaps fit into the bar's theme like sports bar or English pub. Going to a bar like Yard House is what Dave calls "window shopping".

Our collection has lacked some attention over the past few years, mainly because we filled the two shelves Holly made to display our tappers. All tap handles fit an industry-standard bolt size. Holly and Dave stained the shelves, then Holly drilled in the bolts since Dave can't use any tools properly. The neglect has gotten worse as evidenced by the fact that our collection also functions as our race medal display rack.

Some highlights

Long before eBay and the Internet explosion taps were hard to come by. Dave was searching for this Key West Lager tap during most of the1990's and early 00's. He joined bulletin boards, kept searching eBay, tried bribing bartenders in bars to "misplace" their handle. Then one day the brewer opened online retailing and offered the taps for sale. Not that interesting of a story, but Dave got his handle.

Microbreweries and brewpubs sometimes sell tap handles in their little shops. These items make great souvenirs. We got the Pump House tap during our trip to Colorado last year.

Holly got Dave this monkey handle for a gift a few years ago. It was from a custom tap maker and fits with some of our tropical themed items (is a motif a collection?).

The current "holy grail" for us is a Captain Tony's Red tap from Captain Tony's Saloon in Key West (check out how old school their website is). The handles are generic wood with stickers on them, but they are only available at one place and that place is one of our favorite bars that holds lots of great memories.

Want to start your own collection? eBay is the place.  To sort through some of the garbage try using search terms like "rare" or "unique"

Chicago Nights: Dining

We haven't spent much time in Chicago over the last few months (we live in the far suburbs). With Holly getting Good Friday off from her company we figured a quick 2 night stay starting Thursday was a good idea. We usually find Chicago prices for hotels on Easter Weekend to be reasonable. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza, just off Michigan Ave and the Mag Mile, for under $100/ night. We had a great 35th floor southern view of Trump Tower and The Willis Tower.


Holly got a surprise on Thursday when she got her company's tickets to the Cub's Opening Day Game. She entertained her manager and 2 customers in the bitter cold of Wrigley's wind tunnel.

Dining Summary:

Sable: Thursday dinner - Small plates and a 16 page cocktail menu full of ingredients we didn't know. Keep Google handy when looking over the drink menu. It would feel insulting to order a Jack & Coke here. The bar/lounge area was nice and modern, but pretty packed. We had several small plate items like ribs, dates, bacon jam, etc. Items were good, and a few were actually large for the price, just not outstanding.

Sunda: Friday lunch - This place is high on the celebrity radar. Modern Asian food that can be shared (not necessarily small plates). Lunch menu is different from the dinner menu, but there are lots of great choices. After we ate lunch we moved to the bar to try a couple signature cocktails. All-around a great experience.

Going clockwise from top-left: Sunda Signature Sushi Kobe Beef tartare; Rock Shrimp Tempura with glazed walnuts and honey aioli; Nasi Goreng Fried Rice; BBQ Pork Belly Buns

Acadia: Friday dinner - This restaurant is in the South Loop, AKA an area we don't go to because it's out of the tourist corridor. They've been getting good press and everything we've seen online looked great. There's no sign outside (a couple of Chicago places do this). We got there before our reservation and went to the small bar area for a pre-dinner drink. This is yet another "art of the cocktail" place. Must be the trend. Hand-cracked ice and ingredients from eye-droppers. The whole restaurant was bright and monochromatic white. Pleasant.

We had read that they offered tasting menus and found that we could customize one with a wine pairing each course. We ordered 3 first course items and 3 second course items. Our amuse bouche was a homemade fruit soda. The menu changed a little from what is posted online so we will stick to generic descriptions:

We forgot to take a picture for course one, so we are borrowing a photo from definingtabitha.com. Peekytoe crab-filled zucchini blossom.

If we don't include a superlative about any menu item, just assume it was awesome.

On the top is potato and apple risotto. No rice in the risotto. Fantastic! Lower-left is pork belly with kraut and caraway pudding, bottom right is halibut (really wish the new menu was posted).

On the left is one of the biscuits served with sweet butter. This came before the halibut. Upper-right is stonington lobster pie. It is plated dry and the server pours lobster bisque around the plate. Lower-right is wagyu tri-tip.
We ordered dessert, but didn't have any room. We didn't even have it brought out. Everything was amazing.

When your bill comes it's accompanied by mini whoopie pies and caramels. Lower-left is a Brandy Coke Smash and lower-right was our parting gift of personal cakes.

David Burke's Primehouse: If that wasn't enough we decided to have a nice breakfast out before returning home. Primehouse was a nice relaxing place to do that. Service was good and efficient. Holly ordered the eggs benedict - which was served with a real spicy ham (kinda salami consistency), while Dave had the best pancakes of his life! Banana pancakes with caramelized bananas, pecans, strawberries, and brown sugar butter.

So those were the dining experiences of the weekend. We'll save the rest for a future post.

This upcoming weekend we go to St. Louis for the Go! St. Louis Marathon. As usual, Holly will be running and Dave will be snacking.

Collections: Thumper Model Sheet

Dave here.....

I like Thumper. Yes, that Thumper. The little grey bunny from Bambi. Can't really tell you why. Maybe it's because the first stuffed animal that was my "Hobbes" was a bunny. Maybe...

Last year I was online shopping for a unique birthday present for Holly and ran across an item I had to get for myself. I was looking for animation art, specifically production cells from Peter Pan or Winnie the Pooh. Production cells are the most popular animation collection because they are the actual pieces of art used to shoot for filming a movie. Lesser-known or thought about animation art items are model sheets. I had found one of Thumper.

Model sheets, as defined on on Wikipedia site:

also known as a character board, character sheet, character study or simply a study, is a document used to help standardize the appearance, poses, and gestures of an animated character. Model sheets are required when large numbers of artists are involved in the production of an animated film to help maintain continuity in characters from scene to scene, as one animator may only do one shot out of the several hundred that are required to complete an animated feature film.

Here's my non-techie description. The lead animator or artist would draw multiple pictures of the character in different poses, cut the pictures out and tape them to another piece of larger paper, then make a photocopy of the combined images to make a final product to hand out to the animators. At Disney, the final sheets were numbered and approved. Bill Justice, an animator that worked on Bambi and passed away last year, was photographed using a Thumper model sheet.

Now for some closer looks:

Each Disney animated film is assigned a production number. Snow White was 2001. Although Bambi was the 5th feature Disney released, it's numbered 2002.  Here's why:

"Disney began work on crafting an animated adaptation immediately, intending it to be the company's second feature-length animated film and their first to be based on a specific, recent work. The original novel was written for an adult audience, however, and was considered too "grim" and "somber" for a regular light-hearted Disney film. The artists also discovered that it would challenging to animate deer realistically, and at the same time keep the characters slightly exaggerated and "cartoony". These difficulties resulted in Disney putting production on hold while the studio worked on several other projects." (from the Bambi Wikipedia cited from: Barrier, J. Michael (2003). "Disney, 1938-1941". Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age. Oxford University Press. pp. 236, 244–245. ISBN 0195167295.

I believe the "M.K." is Milt Kahl, Disney Legend and one of the Nine Old Men, whom was one of the lead animators on the film. This sheet was created in 1940, making it over 70 years old. 

For a while film studios were shutting down fan sites posting model sheets fearing folks would use them to create unlicensed knock-off merchandise.

There are some great model sheets from Bambi posted at these sites:
Michael Sporn Animation

Animationarchive.net

Other model sheets:
animation archives.net - model sheets

Google Images search

Virginia Beach Shamrock Marathon Race Report and Video

Here's Holly's race report for Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach:

The quest for a marathon in all 50 states continues. We decided on the Yuengling Shamrock Marathon for a few reasons. Number one is that my brother lives in Virginia Beach and it would be good to see him. Number two my parents live kind of close and I figured they would come down and cheer me on as well. Number three, Yuengling sponsors it! These are in no particular order, LOL.

We got into VA Beach Friday night and went right to the expo to pick up our packets for the races. I was doing the 8k on Saturday and the full marathon on Sunday. This is called the “Whale” Challenge. If you do both they mail you a pin after the races. Dave was doing the 8k on Saturday. The expo was packed. We waited an hour to buy some official race merchandise. Normally I would have skipped it, but the stuff was cute and said “Yuengling”. We left expo and met up with my parents and brother and had dinner. Then it was off to bed to get up early for the 8k.

We drove to the 8k and then hung out in the warm Hilton and used the bathrooms. Very nice. Dave and I did the race together. I would jog ahead and then stop for a walk break and Dave would power walk right by. I don’t know how he can walk that fast. The course was nice with half of it right on the boardwalk with a great view of the ocean. My parents and brother saw us on the course. We finished up and got a cool medal, beer coozie, and best of all, 4 free Yuengling beers. Now I had the marathon the next day so had to behave, but the after party on the beach was awesome. It was a beautiful morning.

The next day was the marathon. The marathon started 90 minutes after the half marathon. When we got close to the start line we could tell that we were never going to find a place to park. Dave dropped me off and I was going to be solo from now on. Luckily I found a place in the Hilton to sit and even a free paper to read. Pretty soon it was time to make my way out to the start.

There were about 3,000 people in the full marathon. Before I knew it we were off. The first few miles went really fast. I was warm at first but eventually with the wind the weather ended up being perfect.

I saw Dave, my brother and parents several times during the first 11 miles. It was awesome to have such a big cheering section. We ran through one military area and the guys and girls there were very enthusiastic cheerleaders. It was such a great feeling. The run up the boardwalk was tough as it was into the wind. I was feeling pretty good and kept it up through mile 20. I started tiring here but I sucked it up and kept pushing. Unfortunately at mile 23, I got really dizzy and it freaked me out, so I stopped and walked and drank a bunch of water for a mile. There goes the PR! Right after that some college guys were partying and they gave me a Guinness! It was great! That is a first for me. We made the turn onto the Boardwalk and I passed my family and that was a very special feeling for me. The first time my whole family saw me finish a marathon. I finished in 5:23 and it is my second fastest time ever. I got a cool medal, finishers’ hat and sweatshirt and 4 more beers! This time I did enjoy some. The post race party on the beach was again awesome. I highly recommend this weekend to anyone. Great course, well organized, a bunch of races to choose from, great swag and the best post race party I have seen.

Dave's comments:
The 8k was fun. I enjoyed the beach party.

The first half of the marathon course was great for spectating. The road they were running on was open heading in the same direction as the runners so you could easily pull over at a few places. Parking was easy to find around Mile 11 (boardwalk area). We had trouble cutting back roads to mile 16 due to road closures and traffic volume. We missed Holly at that marker and decided to cut our losses and go wait by the finish line.

Great snacking opportunities: businesses were open on Atlantic at the start, Miles 5/6.5 were by a 7-11 and McDonald's, Mile 11 was on the Boardwalk and some of those restaurants were open. The finish line was at the Hilton so we hung at their outdoor bar until it was time to wait for Holly's approach. Great seafood (obviously) and some really good beer selections at local restaurants.

Fun Day

A few weeks ago holly ran the Maple Leaf Indoor Marathon in Goshen, IN. As some of you can imagine, indoor marathons are not the best events for spectators. Once Dave came back to the race from lunch he settled in to watch 3.5 hours of Holly running around in circles. To thank him for his support, Holly declared the next Saturday Fun Day! Dave got to pick the events for the weekend.

Saturday kicked off with lunch at Paradise Pup in Des Plaines, Il. We saw this place on a local show called Chicago's Best and it was also featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. The burger was the showcase item here. They use Merck's cheese spread and place the bun crown with the cheese on top of the meat to melt it together with the grilled onions. Awesome! The onion rings were excellent too. While here, Dave also ordered the Chicago Style Hot Dog. We've lived in Illinois for 17 years and he's never had one. He didn't like it. Too much junk on it.

The next stop was just down the road, The Rivers Casino. This recently opened casino has been on Dave's radar for a while. It's relatively small but offers a few good dining options, nice bars, and a great parking garage. They tell you how many spaces are available on each level and there are little lights above the cars that are red for occupied and green for empty. You can easily look down a row and tell where an empty space is. Genius. We played a few slots and Dave even got to play his favorite machine Mermaid's Wonder. He really enjoys how the graphics overlay the mechanical reels and the mini games are fun. After donating a few dollars we had a drink at the bar and took off.

Our next stops were in Libertyville. First, Lovin' Oven Bakery for some dessert items. Dave got a Napoleon and Holly got a Red Velvet slice. These were huge portions and lasted us two servings.

Up next, The Firkin. This is one of the area's best beer bars. Great selections on draft and in bottle, plus really good food. We went for the Left Hand Milk Stout (of course) on nitro.

We picked up dinner from our favorite Chinese place in Mundelin (i.e. our favorite place for Chinese food, not our favorite place in all of Mundelein) China Court.

Time to get back to Fox Lake. We decided to try one of the newer bars by our house and we got a pleasant surprise. The Route 12 Bar and Grill actually had decent craft beers. The staff was very friendly and a few of the patrons were raving about the food. This place has made it into our rotation (ok we went there one more time after fun day, but we like it).














Bonus Fun!

We extended Fun Day a bit by going out for breakfast. We've lived just a few miles from KC's Cabin for almost ten years and never visited the place. We both had the Hangover Helper which contained hash browns, peppers, bacon, ham, and cheese (egg optional). Delicious! Even bigger bonus: a skeet ball machine and Big Buck Hunter Safari Edition. Fun! The rest of the day was filled with watching Mad Men on Netflix and playing some PS3.

Awesome weekend!

Draw Something

Recently Holly heard about an iPad game called Draw Something. It's a 2 player game played over the internet (like Words with Friends) where players draw pictures with the goal of having the other player guess what the drawing is. There's a free and full version (full has 2,000 more words to pick from).

Guessers are given the number of letters in the word and a selection of letter tiles to choose from. If you need some help,you can eliminate some of the tiles.

Drawers are given a choice of three words (of varying difficulty) to draw. There appears to be no time limit. You're given 4 color choices and a few pen sizes. You can use in-game coins to buy extra colors (coins can also be purchased from the app store).

Dave has gotten into this. Here's a selection of his work. Can you guess the word?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Feel free to add your guesses in the comments section. Have an idevice? Give Draw Something a try.