Running one mile at a time…
After the RnR Half Marathon, I did a couple of fun things with my sisters and nephew.
First, we did a hop on/hop off bus tour. Even though I was not sore from the race, it felt good to sit on a bus.
Then I played chess with the teenager. I won.
Last, went to see Ruby Bridges’ school. It was pretty cool.
Overall, it was a great trip to New Orleans!
A little late with this post but better late than never right?
Two weeks ago I flew into Boston to meet up with Kim, Elizabeth, and Sonya. We were all running the Old Shipyard Port Half Marathon on Saturday morning. Elizabeth flew in from Atlanta and both Kim and Sonya flew from Portland, Oregon. I was the last one getting in so I was hoping that my flight would not be delayed. I must have jinxed it because even though it was not late (we did arrive at 5pm) there was trouble at the gate and we did not get off the plane till a little after 5:30pm. Thankfully they were patient and kind enough to wait for me in the rental car. Finally, I was outside the terminal, they picked me up and on our way to Portland, ME.
First thing was dinner. We made it to Portsmouth, NH and found an amazing place for dinner. We all wanted lobster and that’s what we ate. It was delicious. And I did forget to take a picture of what we ate. Once we were all satisfied, we continued on to Portland.
Thanks to Sonya who found a nice 2 bedroom apartment via Airbnb. I was so tired and was asleep by 11pm.
The next morning I was up at 6 and wanted some coffee. Sonya and Kim were still sleeping (it was 3am their time) so Elizabeth and I found a cute coffee shop not too far from our apartment. Elizabeth wanted something different so we kept walking to look for another place and ended up at Portland Pottery Store & Cafe. I did not order anything because I had my bagel but E had a delicious breakfast. We ended up going back with Kim and Sonya for brunch.
Afterwards we visited several shops in downtown Portland until it was time for our Maine Lobstering Tour with Lucky Catch Cruises. One of my favorite stores was the Stonewall Kitchen. Pretty much everything looked delicious! There were a few samples for us to try out and I took advantage of it. I did not buy anything but for sure will order something online.
A piece of The Berlin Wall on our way to the boat.
Ready for our Maine lobstering experience with my 3 lovely roommates.
We caught a few lobsters but had to throw them back into the sea because we were on a demonstration boat.
Finally time to eat!
Bon Appétit!!
I had a great time at the tour and highly recommend it.
The next day was the race but I will write another post about it. Another fun place we went to after the race is The Holy Donut. It is seriously the MOST AMAZING donut place!!! We wanted to try all flavors but it would have been a little too much. Plus we were kind of full from brunch but yet had some room to try a few of them. We bought half a dozen donuts so we could each sample 6 different flavors.
I had a blast in Portland. As for the race itself, well, it was very hot on Saturday and I did finish the race and that makes me happy.
I hope these girls invite me again to go on another trip.
Almost two weeks ago I went to Vermont to run in state #33. Jaime and I had registered for this race back in December and it sold out in a few hours.
My flight left at 7am with a layover in Baltimore and that is where Jaime boarded the plane. I had not seen her since November for the Tulsa Route 66 Half Marathon. An hour later we were in Manchester, NH picking up the rental car and on our way to get something to eat cause we were starving. We found a cute and delicious sushi place not too far from the airport.
Then it was time to head out to Vermont. Beautiful drive!
The race directors did a good job of sending emails on a regular basis with helpful race information. Somehow we missed the part letting us know that bib pickup was only available on race day. Jaime and I arrived in Woodstock (cute little town) only to find out that we were to pick up our bibs the next day. We’ve both run a lot of races and have never heard of such a ridiculous thing. We know some races offer bib pickup the day before AND on race day but never only on race day. Well, since we were there already we walked around for a bit. Jaime found a magnet for her collection. We went inside another store and they were offering complimentary drinks for the customers.
For dinner we went to a Mediterranean place and ate hummus, falafel, zucchini pancakes and a bunch of other things. I had woken up really early that day for my flight and was asleep by 9:30.
My body likes messing with me and I was awake at 4:30 but really it was 3:30 since I was still on central time. An hour later I got up, got ready, and went downstairs to see what was available for us at the breakfast buffet. There was fruit, bagels, cereal, oatmeal and other stuff. My favorite was the pancake maker. I made two of them for me and went back upstairs.
The race began at 8:15 so why the heck were we leaving our hotel at 6am?! Well, we had to drive to Quechee Village Lot, leave our car, and then get on a shuttle bus to take us to the start line at Suicide Six Ski Area. The whole trip from the hotel to the start line took 45 minutes. That meant we had to wait 1 1/2 for the race to start. It was cold. I took a long sleeve shirt and was still cold. I used the port-a-potties after I got my bib and once again before the start of the race. We were both annoyed that we had to wait so long for the race.
Finally it was time to run. I took off my long sleeve shirt and wrapped it around my waist. I knew I was going to be hot once I began running. I had clear instructions from my coach. She told me to run miles 1-5 @11:30; miles 5-10 @10:45-11:00; and miles 10-13 to go as hard as I felt comfortable. I had every intention of doing what she planned for me. Did not follow her plan. I finished my first mile in 9:15. I couldn’t believe it because I did not realize I was going that fast. I did try to slow down and my next two miles were done in 10:07 and 10:28. At mile 4 (10:24) I stopped to take a picture. At mile 5 (10:46) I walked a little bit while I ate my energy gel. My watch lost connection at mile 6.24 and was working again 2 miles later. It was still way off based on the mile markers.
There was this massive hill around mile 8 and I just simply cursed. And I walked too.
At mile 12 there was this woman yelling that we were almost done and I seriously wanted to tell her to shut up. It really bugs me when people are yelling and screaming at the runners telling us we were almost done when we really were not almost done. You can say that to me when I am .25 miles from the finish line but not 1 mile away. I had taken an ibuprofen after mile 6 so my legs weren’t sore. Ha, once that wrote off I was sore for two days. Once I knew I was close to the finish line, I ran as quickly as I could and finished in 2:19:51 @10:41 average pace. I heard the announcer call out my name and said something about Chicago Cubs tickets.
I am very pleased with my finish time. It is my second best half marathon finish time. My PR (2:17:01) is still from the Hartford Half Marathon in 2013.
Then came the tricky part. My cell phone was not working so there was no way to get a hold of Jaime. I sent her two texts but they were taking a long time to get through. I also called her several times but got disconnected. Finally, by some miracle I got her text letting me know that she was next to the stage. I turned around to look for her and saw her walking towards me. In my text I told her that I would meet her by the car. I saw some cars up ahead and assumed that was where we left our car that morning. Wrong. We still had to hike almost a mile to get to the parking lot. Why make the runners walk almost a mile after running 13.1 miles on a hilly course? Plus, we still had to shower, check out of the hotel, drive to Manchester, and eat before Jaime’s 2:50 flight back to Baltimore.
Overall, I thought it was a very pretty course. The weather was perfect during the race. The shaded areas were wonderful. The volunteers were great. Great tshirt color too. However, the logistics were horrible. I am somewhat OK with the flight to Manchester and the 1 1/2 drive to the race location. I did not like the early wake up call (still better than Disney races), the long wait prior to the race, and definitely not the walk back to our car. Jaime and I had talked about doing again some of the races we’re run before such as the Little Rock and RnR New Orleans. The Vermont race is definitely not on that list. I guess maybe I am spoiled and like it when I can walk and it is easy to get to the start line and then back to the hotel after the race. I remember that for the Little Rock Half Marathon the start line was literally outside the hotel. I am NOT saying not to do this race but just giving you a little heads up on what to expect.
What has been your “most challenging race to get go?” Next race is Elmhurst 4 on the 4th. This will be my 3rd year running it and I am looking forward to it.
On Saturday I ran my last Disney race of the year. I read several reviews prior to the race and they all wrote about how much fun it is. I was excited and looking forward to it. However, I was not ready for the weather.
I got into Orlando Saturday morning on a 5:30 am flight. Once I landed I made arrangements with Emily to head over to the expo. We got our packets and proceeded to see what items we would buy. It was pretty much set up the same way with the same vendors as in previous Disney races. I bought two Team Sparkle skirts. One to match my Oiselle singlet and a pink one because well why not? I also purchased a pair of Balega Hidden Comfort socks. Wow, definitely did not get one blister even with all of the rain!
Perhaps a future race for me?
Great shirt but not much good stuff in the bag.
After the expo Emily and I headed back to the hotel for lunch. Her husband, Adam, also met us there. I was tired and in need of a nap. Well, that didn’t go well because I ended up not taking a nap. I tried. I drank a Coconut Mojito, watched TV and even graded some homework. Nothing worked. I finally got up at 5:30 to get ready and head over to the cafeteria for dinner.
After dinner I got in line for the shuttle bus. I did not have to wait long and was at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex around 7:30. I waited for Jeff and Elaine as we had plans to hang out prior to the race. A few minutes later they arrived and off we went to wait a long time for the start.
There wasn’t a lot of people yet so the bathroom lines were not long. Of course I did not have to go at that moment but did have to go just before the start of the race.
There was so much excitement around us. It was cool looking at costumes and for a minute I regretted not wearing one. There was a DJ playing great music and some people were dancing. Finally it was time to check my gear bag and head over to our corral and to wait some more.
I was in Corral D but moved back one corral to join Jeff and Elaine. By then it was drizzling a little so I put on my poncho. Thanks to Jeff and Elaine for buying it for me!!
Love the fireworks to announce the start of a new corral. Finally it was time to run. It was dark. I did not like that at all. I took it slowly to take it all in.
The first few miles were on the road between the parks. There was nothing exciting to see. There might have been some characters but honestly I do not remember. Finally we arrived at Animal Kingdom. There were a few characters but I only took a picture of Timon from my favorite Disney movie “The Lion King”.
Then it was back on the road. It started to rain more and I was cold. I could feel some chafing in my inner thighs. Halfway through the race is when I lost it. I had little energy and blamed it on so many things. But I kept going. Well, mostly walking. My right hip was bothering me and my toes too from the neuroma and the bunion.
Then we got to Hollywood Studios which was my favorite part of the race.
I spent a good few minutes enjoying the view and taking pictures. It was definitely magical for me.
Then on to the Boardwalk which left us with about 2 miles to go. I was miserable and could not stop feeling sorry for myself. I really, really tried to enjoy the whole race but just couldn’t.
Almost there!
I was so happy to see this sign. Once I saw it, I took some pictures and ran to the finish line. I think I heard the announcer say my name but am not sure. Heck, my name is not common and so easy to mispronounce.
Each mile marker had a different travel destination picture and music to go with it.
Before the race I had decided to enjoy the post race festivities. Ha, big change of plans. I walked a long time (it seemed long to me) back to the shuttle buses to take me back to the hotel. Once in my room I cranked up the heat and called it a night. I think by then it was almost 3am.
This was definitely not the experience I was expecting for this race. I did not like running through the parks at night. There was definitely nothing pleasant about running in the rain. I liked the crowd support and volunteers. It was very well organized even with over 14,000 runners. And yes there is something magical about running a Disney race. The metals are pretty neat. And I got two of them!
I did like staying at the Disney All-Star Sports Resort. My room was about $113 with taxes and it included transportation from/to airport and resort. Plus, it included transportation to the expo, parks, and race.
Disney races can be fun but also EXPENSIVE. Next year I would love to do the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon in Disneyland. And I am hoping to get together with some friends for the Princess Half Marathon in 2016.
Next race: Williams Route 66 Half Marathon in Tulsa, OK, on November 23.
Today I made my way to Princeton. For some weird reason I had set my alarm for 5:15 pm. I woke up a little before 6 am when I got a message from the cab company letting me know that the driver was on his way. I cancelled the request and took a quick shower. I was out the door at 6:30 and took the train to the airport. Check in and security were a breeze.
The clouds always relax me. I imagine myself floating in them.
I arrived in Newark before 11:30. I had instructions to take the AirTrain (monorail) to the rail connection for the NJ Transit and then take the Northeast Corridor train to Princeton Junction. Luckily I had no trouble and made it on time to get on the train that was supposed to arrive in 9 minutes. The ride was smooth and comfortable.
Once in Princeton I called the hotel to find out the best way to get there. They only had shuttle buses working during the weekday so they kindly requested a car for me. I checked in and inquired on how to get to the running store downtown to pick up my packet. I was told I had to take a cab. I got annoyed. So that was twice that I had to pay cab fare. I was also annoyed with myself because I should have done more researched on the race and I would have found out that my best option was to rent a car.
Packet pickup was a breeze. I bought a pair of the Saucony Ride 7. And yes I will break the “Don’t try anything new on race day” rule and wear them tomorrow.
Afterwards I had lunch at Panera and I searched for various car rental companies in the hopes of getting a car to use for the rest of the day and tomorrow. I realized I had to pay for a cab to get back to the hotel, get to the race on Sunday, get back to the hotel after the race, and then head back to the train station for the airport. No luck in getting a car. Definitely big fail in my part. I realized I had the Uber app on my phone and decided to use that service to get back. But before doing that I walked around Princeton University.
Now I want to see again the Transformers movie.
I enjoyed the Albert Einstein mini museum.
Wow, it is such a gorgeous campus. I loved seeing the beautiful fall colors.
I got excited when I saw this sign!
I love the shirt! It fits perfect. Also, I love my bib number.
Oh and for the ride back to the hotel I used Uber and ended up paying half as much as what I had paid earlier that day. I will definitely be using them tomorrow.