Reason #15 to come to Penguin Winter Carnival
Mood:  special
Reason #15 to come to Penguin Winter Carnival, February 4-6, 2005 in Tampa, Florida:
FABULOUS BEACHES!
Three of the top ten beaches in the United States are within 70 miles! You've all heard of the annual beach ratings compiled by "Dr. Beach", Dr. Stephen Leatherman.
http://www.drbeach.org/drbeach/best_beach_list.htm
Criteria for the selections include physical factors such as sand softness, wave size and current strength; biological factors such as water color, water quality and prevalence of pests and human-use factors and impacts such as lifeguard protection, visual obstructions and amenities.

The #2 top-rated beach in the United States for 2004 is Fort DeSoto Park, in Florida (only 37 miles south of the Penguin Winter Carnival host hotel in Tampa).
http://news.fiu.edu/images/lores/fort_desoto_beach.jpg
http://news.fiu.edu/images/lores/fort_desoto_pier.jpg
http://www.fortdesoto.com/
http://beaches.tbo.com/beaches/guide/fortdesoto.htm
Fort De Soto is located in the southwest corner of Mullet Key, at the entrance to Tampa Bay. Fort DeSoto, named after the Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto, was built in 1898 in an effort to provide protection to Tampa Bay during the Spanish-American War. The entire island is now Fort De Soto Park, a Pinellas county park which offers fine beaches, fishing, nature trails, camping, boating, and much more. The park provides two piers for fishing that are outfitted with bait, tackle and food stores. There are four miles of paved bike trails, picnic, a boat ramp and swimming beaches with lifeguards during the season. It is also the home of the Escape From Fort DeSoto Triathlon. http://www.designsportsinc.com/

The #4 top-rated beach in the United States for 2004 is Caladesi Island State Park, in Florida (only 25 miles northwest of the Penguin Winter Carnival host hotel in Tampa).
http://news.fiu.edu/images/lores/caladesi_island.jpg
http://beaches.tbo.com/beaches/guide/caladesibeach.htm
You have to go by ferry or private boat to reach this 500-acre park. That's one of the beauties of visiting here. But then everything about this unpopulated island retreat is beautiful. "It's an island getaway," Leatherman says of the 3-mile beach. "You look out at the Gulf. You look around, you don't see anything but nature. It's a day adventure, a wonderful place to get away to." Leatherman praises the mangroves, the sand dunes, the egrets and blue herons - even the concession that sells ice cream. Caladesi, visited by 135,000 to 175,000 people a year, has a 99-slip marina where boaters can camp overnight if they register before sundown ($8 per night). Other amenities include picnic shelters and tables, a 3-mile nature trail and bathhouses with showers. And don't forget that concession with ice cream.

The #7 top-rated beach in the United States for 2004 is Crescent Beach, Siesta Key, in Florida (70 miles south of the Penguin Winter Carnival host hotel in Tampa).
http://news.fiu.edu/images/lores/seven.jpg
http://www.siestagetaways.com/siestakeysarasot.html
At the "Great International White Sand Beach Challenge" it was recognized as having the "whitest and finest sand in the world." Unlike beaches elsewhere that are made up mostly of coral, Siesta Beach's sand is 99% quartz. Even on the hottest days, the sand is so reflective that it feels cool under foot. It's estimated that the sand on Siesta Beach is millions of years old, and started in the Appalachians and flowed down the rivers and was eventually deposited on the shores of Siesta Key.

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Below is one in a series of letters which we will share from our good friend Ellie Hamilton as she begins a new life in the months leading up to the Penguin Winter Carnival. Thank you, Ellie, for taking the time to keep us up to date! Check in on her continuing adventures and see her pictures at https://www.angelfire.com/ult/pwc2005/news.htm

On the Road #2
by Ellie Hamilton

Gypsies, sojourners now in our "5th-wheel log cabin" (I've decorated it all rustic inside), we're venturing farther and farther north into Michigan and the countryside is actually starting to look more like "home," that is, western Maryland. I'm not supposed to refer to "back home...." home is wherever we are. Well, back where we came from, the terrain and vegetation look a lot like they do here. Northern, cool-climate trees, birch, aspen, heavy on the maples, lots of conifers.

Steve and I are getting to know each other in a way that we never have before. We married young -- 20 and 21 -- and within 4 months I was pregnant. A baby after a year of marriage and then 25 years of at least one child at home, officially 3, plus their friends.... I often had 8 or 10 people of various sizes and ages at the dinner table. I still haven't learned to cook for 2. After the kids embarked on their own lives and there were just the 2 of us for 5 years, we had different work schedules and usually ate separately and, figuratively and somewhat literally, actually lived separately. Now we have no schedule except our own, day and night are the same for both of us, our living space is 31 (29 if you don't count the closet), we spend 3 or 4 hours together in the cab of a 3/4 ton truck looking at maps and making plans.... who is this man? I like him! I wonder if he's available? Oh.... he's married --- to ME!!!

I feel a bit as though I left my marathon training somewhere in Ohio.... with a triathlon 3 out of the last 4 weekends, I haven't concentrated on increasing my running distance. I did reach 10 miles the week before last; the next week I did a 6-miler; so after resting from yesterday's tri I should be able to inch it up to an 11- or 12-miler in the coming week. We have nothing planned except a travel day, and then we'll be living near Mackinaw Island for a while.

I like thinking of inching my training distance up a little more and a little more as we slowly move north a little more and a little more.

My update essay in May was full of decisions and dilemmas, what to take, what to store, what to abandon. I likened it to my personal change in eating habits, the same choices (take, store, abandon) applicable to what goes into my body. As with our "things," with my food I have learned to live with less and not really miss it. We can't carry around 10# bags of potatoes, 5# bags of sugar and flour, 4 boxes of cereal, his-and-her peanut butter (crunchy and creamy),12-packs of beer his-and her beer (light and regular, his being the light!), half a dozen assorted bottles of "spirits." We don't have the room and we have a weight limit. Just like me. So if we want potatoes, I buy 2 potatoes. Before, if I cooked potatoes, I'd cook 2 extra in case we wanted seconds, and of course we ate them. Deferring to my man, we have one jar of peanut butter, and if I want PB, I eat crunchy, or I eat something else. I haven't eaten spoonful after spoonful, as I would in the house, since we went on the road. The fridge holds a limited amount and one six-pack of beer looks pretty small, so I ration it (at the house it was more like "rationalizing" it.) I rarely eat cold cereal.... at the house I'd eat 3 bowls of it in the evening. Less clutter in general in our home encompasses less food in the cupboards, and, like the clutter, I don't really miss it. I haven't missed a single thing we didn't bring, except our darling youngest granddaughter Abbie, whose picture I will post in my album at the group homepage next time I can connect. And my beautiful shaggy German Shepherd, I do miss her; our son has her.

I have lost weight but I don't know how much. Clothes that had form-fit me are loose and easy now. Bike shorts that were snug don't stay in place now when I ride... they twist all around my legs and hips (etc.) so that I'm miserable in the saddle. The bike saddle. You clowns stop that..... They're nice shorts. Maybe I'll sell them on e-Bay. Or... does anyone want to buy a nice pair of hardly-used women's bike shorts, size large? Geez, am I going to have to have another garage sale, only this time a "camper" sale, a "closet sale," as I downsize my clothes again?

I was going to do a long run today (Wednesday, July 30) but our daughter brought her 2 kids to our new campsite on Lake Huron, so I guess I'll do a short run today and move my long one to Saturday after they go back to Ohio. I'll post them on the homepage, too. I'm going to try for 11 or 12 on Saturday. Now watch it rain. I have counted ahead and at my current level, if I add 2 miles every 2 weeks, I will still make a 20-miler a couple weeks before the Chicago Marathon, which is my usual pattern and which I have found works for me. But there's no way I'm going to run a 4:05 Boston qualifier this year. This is my re-entry year, after a year of alternating injuries and illnesses. I think the illnesses were brought on by the injuries.... I get sick whenever I suddenly stop training for more than a week or two. Maybe my body gets hooked on that regular couple-degree raising of body temperature to ward off marauding microbes. OTOH, now that I don't work with sick people every day, I might not need that regular anti-whatever boost. I better keep running just in case!

Ellie in Mackinaw City, Michigan

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This is one of a series of newsletters about the PENGUIN WINTER CARNIVAL, FEBRUARY 4-6, 2005 in Tampa, Florida.

Penguin Winter Carnival is a fun social meeting of runners, walkers, friends, and family attending the Run Tampa 2005 events, and will include special Friday morning workshops and get-togethers throughout the weekend. We welcome participants of all speeds! Race options include your selection of 5K, 15K, half marathon, and marathon distances over two days, plus special challenge awards for those intrepid (i.e., crazy) folks who would like to tackle a 5K, a 15K, *and* a half-marathon or marathon within two days.

For complete details and periodic updates, bookmark these websites:
Penguin Winter Carnival website:
https://www.angelfire.com/ult/pwc2005/
Penguin Winter Carnival news:


Join the Penguin Winter Carnival email discussion group:
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/PenguinWinterCarnival/?yguid=103428986

Calling all snowbirds! Fly south in 2005 to join the flock for fun, friends, and frolic! All are welcome!

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