Violet's First Ren Faire

 We brought Violet to the New York State Renaissance Faire today. I've been going since I was 9 years old. I have really great memories of that Faire from my childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Now I can add motherhood to that list. She's been clingy lately, and specifically clingy toward me, so I ended up carrying her around for a lot of the day and was able to see everything through her eyes.

She was enthralled by the fairies and waved at the Queen's procession.

We bought her her first flower crown.

Bringing Violet to the Ren Faire today was one of those things I looked forward to doing "with my kids" before I had her, and now I can say it was even better than I had hoped.

Today was just a really good day.

In Which Mike and I Decide to Have a Baby

So about a year ago, good friends of ours told us they were expecting a baby in October. We were over the moon for them. That night we toasted and celebrated and wished them all the best in the world. When Mike and I got home late that night, we sat down and had a discussion of our own. The question came up: were we ready for a baby?

We always knew we wanted kids, but that we wanted to enjoy being married first. And we have had a great time being married. We've gone on vacations, bought a house, adopted and house trained a dog. All of these things we did just the two of us, and they were probably easier because we didn't have a third person to worry about. With the time together before we were married, we had been together for 5 years at that point, a pretty great amount of time to just be the two of us. That night, we decided that yes, we were ready to take the next step and start trying for a baby.

From everything I've heard about conceiving children, there's no predicting how long it will take. A whole universe of factors determine when egg meets sperm and develops into a child. I figured, since this was our first rodeo, it would take somewhere between 6-12 months for us to conceive. That was based on no scientific facts, just a combination of first hand experiences I'd heard from other people. Well, wouldn't you color me surprised when after trying for two months, the test showed the two lines? I came down shocked and showed it to Mike. He was, of course, beyond excited. I was still pretty surprised. It would take 3 more pregnancy tests taken over the course of a week to finally convince me that this was real and happening.

The first month I was on another world. Excited, nervous, happy, confused. I didn't know the first thing about having children, or raising them. Plus, every little twinge I felt made me sure that something was wrong. I kept waiting for the other show to drop and for something bad to happen. Not the best way to feel, but the possibility of miscarriage is always present in those early months, and everything seemed too easy. Again, a weird way to feel, but that's the truth of it. I spent the first 3 months of the pregnancy with that little voice in the back of my head saying this was too much of a good thing. Mike, and really amazing midwives, helped to quiet that voice over time.

Telling my parents and Mike's parents was a lot of fun. For my parents, we gave them an ice cream cake with the initial H.A.Y.G. when they came up for their anniversary. They looked at it puzzled until we said, "Happy Anniversary, You're Grandparents!" A beat later there was screaming and hugs and all around happiness. For Mike's parents, we told them the afternoon after his brother's wedding, while we had everyone in one room. Again, lots of excitement, but I was stuck on a couch and couldn't get up, so the hugs had to wait a little after that announcement. Both sets of parents have been incredibly supportive and just showered us with love. We're incredibly lucky.

First trimester "morning" sickness (more like 24hr sickness) faded away almost immediately as the second trimester started. This was when we could start telling our friends and extended family about our excitement. Again, we were met with all happiness and joy and people started sending us gifts, which was pretty amazing. During this time I celebrated my 29th birthday, my last before becoming a mother. I felt physically great, no longer tired or nauseous, and my cute bump was starting to appear. The second trimester is seriously the best. Everyone told me it would be, but until you're out of it, you don't know how good you have it. Haha! I wish I had spent a little more time at that phase traveling and really getting the nursery in order, but cest la vie.

The third trimester arrived and brought the exhaustion back with it. Not as bad as the first trimester, but still enough that I just came home from work and wanted to do nothing more than be on the couch. It didn't help matters that it was around this time that things started getting pretty crazy at work. But I soldiered on and Mike and I went on our Babymoon (a weekend in CT visiting Mohegan Sun and the Mystic Aquarium and staying in a B&B for the first time; another story for another time). We got it in right under the wire too. Things were about to take a turn.

My due date is April 16th. At this point in the pregnancy I'm scheduled to see the midwives every week. Usually pretty routine. They measure my belly, listen to the baby's heartbeat, weigh me, and take my blood pressure. Every appointment has been pretty boring and a 10 minute affair. I should have known I was having it too easy.

Last Wednesday I went in for my appointment, and for the first time in the whole pregnancy, Mike wasn't with me. His conference call had run late and he wasn't going to make it in time. I told him it wouldn't be a problem. It usually took him longer to get to the office than the actual appointment took, so I didn't see this as being an issue. I joked that he was going to miss something big. Well, I was a little correct. While there, my blood pressure was pretty high (a problem I've never had before in my life) and I had gained 10lbs in 2 weeks. Now, I know I haven't been on the best of diets recently, but definitely not enough to gain that much in such a sort amount of time. On top of that, the midwife said my feet looked like Fred Flintstones's, so I was definitely retaining water. When those symptoms combine, you get yourself a trip to the hospital. The midwives were very calm about it, and that helped a lot. I was able to call Mike and have him meet me there. I was even able to drive myself.

At the hospital, they took a urine sample and drew a ton of blood and measured my blood pressure every 15 minutes while I relaxed in a bed. Mike and I hung out, listened to the tv in the room next to us play a Property Brothers marathon, and 5 hours later we received some news. On the positive side, I was being discharged and I was going to spend the night in my own bed. On the negative, there had been protein in my urine and my blood pressure had spiked a few times while there. These are signs of preeclampsia, and that's something they take very seriously. This meant I was being pulled from work a full 3.5 weeks earlier than expected and I was put on modified bed rest.

It was a little jarring to go from working 45 hours a week to suddenly nothing. It also meant I had to set up all of my maternity and disability leave over the phone without any of the information I had saved in my work e-mail. Not the best thing when you're watching your blood pressure, that's for sure. But we got it all settled out. The next day I got to do a 24 hour urine analysis, which pretty much means collecting your pee for 24 hours and keeping it in a jug. It's just as fun as it sounds. Thank goodness I wasn't at work for that one!

Now the big stuff. Today I went to the midwives' office for another checkup. The results were back from the analysis: lots of protein in my urine. Also, blood pressure still high. That means that tonight, at 6, I'm getting checked into the hospital and they're going to start the process of inducing labor. I never had a firm birth plan in mind, because I was always told that the opposite was likely to happen. However, if you had asked me what I was hoping for, I would have said that I wanted things to progress naturally and NOT be induced. So, I guess that one's on me. The universe heard and is presenting me with the opposite scenario. It is what it is, and this is the best thing for the baby and for me. I trust my midwives and I know that this baby is coming when it's supposed to.

I'm definitely excited to meet the baby 3 weeks sooner than I ever expected, but I'm also nervous. I've read articles and books and watched documentaries, and I know that none of these things can prepare me for what I'm about to go through. Let's not even begin to think of the war zone the first few weeks apparently feel like once the baby is home. I can't wait to see what this baby looks like and learn its personality and watch it grow up. It's going to be life changing, and it's all going to happen in a matter of hours. That's just so crazy to me.

I'm lucky that I have Mike in my corner and family that loves me on all sides and friends who are crazy excited for what's about to happen. And the next time I write, it'll be as a different person with different priorities and a different view of the world. I'll see you on the other side!

A Weekend in Southern New York

A couple of weeks ago, Mike, myself, and our group of friends decided to see a baseball game. It wasn't a spur of the moment decision. It was one of those things where somebody mentions, "Hey, we should catch a game some time," and everybody agrees and nobody does anything about it. Then after a year has gone by, a member of the group says, "Remember how last year we all wanted to see a baseball game?" and the group nods ans somebody says, "Yeah, we should definitely still do that." Then finally somebody gets sick of the waiting and says, "Well, let's chose a date now and get tickets." And we chose a date and that's how we finally ended up deciding to actually go to a baseball game.

The trip started out with Mike and myself making another run down to IKEA to buy some more things for the library. After barely fitting everything into the Prius (but who are we kidding, you can fit anything into the Prius), we headed for Lauren and Steve's apartment in Peekskill to meet up with the group and head down to Queens. Lauren had the great idea of renting a large car instead of taking the train, and I'm sure we will all forever be grateful to her.

IKEA breakfast of champions

The game was at Citifield and it was the Mets versus the Reds. Pretty much as soon as we got there, it started to rain. A slight drizzle at first and that soon became a steady pour. We stuck it out, though. We brought ponchos and good spirits and our seats were semi-protected by an overhang. We were in the cheap seats where literally the best people sit. Diehard fans and drunk college kids and weird dudes who will sit right next to you even though there are hundreds of empty seats all around. Overall, a good experience.

Who's excited for baseball?

Around the 4th or 5th inning, we decided to walk around. Mike had seen a helmet filled with nachos earlier and the hunt was on the find them. While he sniffed them out, the rest of us stood in line for Shake Shack, because something as inconsequential as a downpour will not stop there from being a line at Shake Shack. It was worth it though, because that strawberry shake was awesome, and Mike did find his nachos, which were delicious. And right as we decided the rain was getting to much for us, the officials called a rain delay, thus began the mass exodus to the exits. We made it to our car, Sara and I braved a parking lot portapotty (not anywhere near as bad as the marathon portapotties), and headed back to Peekskill. Once again, thank you to Lauren for the idea to rent the car and to Chris and Sara for actually doing the renting. That would have been a wet and miserable 2+ hour train ride.

So many nachos!!!

For dinner we stopped at the Peekskill Brewery, which is becoming somewhat of a tradition for our group. We shared giants pretzels and a cheese and meat platter, which were just perfect as we had kind of all  filled up on helmet nachos. The night ended at the apartment, watching forgotten internet classic videos on YouTube.

The next day, as we were packing up to get out of our hosts' hair, Lauren had the great idea to visit a historic home. The Hudson Valley is filled with them, so we figured to give it a shot before heading back. The original plan was to visit Van Cortlandt Manor, but as were arrived, we discovered that the summer season had not yet started for them and they were closed. Thank goodness for smart phones! We did some quick searching and saw that we were close to Sunnyside, Washington Irving's home in Tarrytown. Some quick driving on Chris' part got us to the house in plenty of time for the next tour.

Surprise! There's a house growing out of those trees!

Irving's house is right on the Hudson and is a great example of Romantic architecture. He made great changes to the landscape and the house to make it seem as though the house had just emerged from the surrounding nature. A babbling brook passes the side of the home and hills hide the house from approaching visitors so that the first glimpse is somewhat dramatic. It's extremely peaceful...with the exception for the trains that pass through occasionally on the tracks that separate the property from the river. Tracks that went down while Irving was still alive and apparently irked him until his dying day. Ah well, we can't have it all, I suppose.

The Hudson, some train tracks, and fog

The tour was incredibly informative. I of course knew the story or Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle, but I never knew how famous Irving was in his day. When he passed away, the church bells in NYC rang a full hour to mark his passing, and fact we all marveled over. Who, today, would receive that sort of treatment? We walked the grounds, learned about the modifications he had made to the land, and were brought on a pretty extensive tour of the home.

As big as the home was for the period it was lived in, the hallways were narrow and our tour of ten had to take turns walking into the rooms as our guide told us facts about the author and his family as well as his body of work. Also there's no air conditioning (makes sense) but we lucked out in that it was another drizzly day and a bit cool. I cannot imagine what that house must be like when it's 90 degrees.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside. This porch area was off of the parlor. The doors could be opened to expand the entertainment space.

My favorite room was one of the lady's rooms. One slanting wall had striped wallpaper, which apparently during the Napoleonic wars was quite the height of fashion in Europe as it resembled the soldiers' tents. Irving saw it while in Europe and had the room modeled in the same way. I just found that fascinating. Also, the bed on the other side of the room was tucked into its own little alcove and looked incredibly cozy.

The house contained quite a large kitchen, which even by today's standards looked pretty modern considering what most people had in their homes at the time. A huge multi-burner stove to cook on and even a water heater. Outside privies were still in use, though, and the men in our group all made sure to check them out. The pantry contained an icebox and a humane catch-and-release mouse trap. All the best conveniences of the time.

The Ice House!

We didn't get to explore the tower that Irving added on with the money he received from the railroad company and apparently there had been a ballroom added on at some point which was torn down when the house was restored for tours. Both were a bummer to miss out on, but the house and guided tour were still lovely. There are picnic tables set up outside and had the weather been nicer, it would have been a beautiful spot for lunch.

The tower added on for extra living space

We left, grabbed some lunch, and decided to make one last detour to the Captain Lawrence brewery in Elmsford. I went to school in Elmsford as a child so I'm familiar with the area, but as the GPS took us closer to the location, I was a little skeptical as to what we might find. The brewery is in the same business park as the Westchester Broadway Theater (one of my favorite places) and tucked away next to a Snapple shipping facility. There's a little beer garden setup outside and the inside has plenty of tables inside. The first thing that struck me was how loud it was inside! Flogging Molly was blaring from the speakers and it was difficult to hear each other speak. In the warehouse itself it was much quieter. The tour itself was a general overview of the history of the beer and what goes into it (a recent trip to the Shmaltz brewery was much more informative and enjoyable). I'm not a huge beer drinker but I did taste the beers they offered, and they mostly just tasted like beer to me. The rest of the group seemed to enjoy it though. This was our last stop before heading home.

Safety first at Captain Lawrence!

All in all it was a pretty great weekend. As you might be able to tell, I enjoyed the house tour more than the baseball game and brewery, but that certainly could be chalked up to the crappy weather at the game and not being a beer fanatic. If you're ever in the Hudson Valley, I highly recommend checking out Sunnyside, or even one of the other great house tours that are available. It literally feels like you're stepping into the past.

WDW Marathon (Or How I Forced My Body to Move in a Forward Motion For Over 7 Hours)

On January 11th, 2015 I did something that I still think is pretty crazy. I ran my first full marathon. Well, walked and jogged. Either way, I completed it. And it was one emotional roller coaster. I was joined by Kristin and Courtney, for which I am so glad because I probably wouldn't have even made it to the starting line without them.

The day started at 3am. I got up after getting maybe 2 hours of sleep and began to prepare. We made boiled eggs the night before in preparation, and Mike tells me that the sounds of cold boiled eggs being peeled sounds like spiders crawling down the walls. Fun fact! I dressed, double checked my camelbak. Triple checked it. Decided to pack some pretzels and counted down the minutes to getting on the bus.

Swag

Disney provided shuttles to the beginning of the race, which was awesome. We saw the line of cars dropping off runners and I was so glad we didn't have to deal with that. The bus left our hotel at 4am, went to another hotel, made some wrong turns, then finally dropped us off. It was 4:30. It was dark. It was chilly. I felt wide awake!

Marathoners!

I didn't bring a throwaway shirt because I figured that it being Florida I wouldn't need one. Wrong! It was really chilly in those early hours and I looked on in envy to each runner draped in an aluminum blanket. So, if you're planning on running a race with such an early start, bring something. Anything! Also, bring money. Disney had lovely hot coffee available...for sale. What jerks!

A little after 5 we decided to head to the corrals. It was a schlep. From the pre-race party to the corrals was about a mile. The corrals were roomy, though (at least back where I was) and there were plenty of portapotties. After one last hug, Courtney and Kristin headed to their section (K) and I headed back to mine (N). There were huge screens set up that showed movie trailers and the party going on at the actual start line. I was so far back I couldn't even see the start.

At 6am the wheelchair racers started. What was pretty cool was that as each corral had their start, they set fireworks off. Everybody got their magic moment. Also, as each letter corral approached the start line, the DJ played songs starting with that letter. I can't for the life of me remember what songs they played for my section, but I remember finding it amusing.

A full hour after the first racers started, I finally got to approach the start. I was chilly and ready to get this show on the road. Everything kind of felt surreal. I couldn't believe I was actually there about to take on this massive thing. And just like that, fireworks were set off and Mickey sent us on our way.

The first few miles flew by. At the first portapotty stop people were already lined up. I couldn't even fathom stopping that early in the race! There were also a few character stops before we reached the Magic Kingdom and those lines were even longer. I ended up not doing any of the character stops because I knew time was going to be an issue for me. They were fun to look at, though.

Welcome to the Magic Kingdom! Now run 3 more miles for the castle!

So I completely forgot that even once you think you're getting close to the Magic Kingdom, you're nowhere close. We ran along the roads leading up to the park but it wasn't until almost the 6 mile mark that we even entered the park. We ran down Main Street and just as the sun was rising, I got to see the castle for the first time. It was actually pretty magical. In front of the castle there was barely a line for pictures, so I decided to wait and get my pic taken. I'm glad I did. A girl in line and I traded phones so we could snap pics of each other. It was really sweet of her.

Once in a Lifetime Experience

 We ran through Frontierland and just like that, we were out of the park. Next was the Speedway. It's  probably really cool if you're into car racing, which I'm not, so for me it was just running in one big circle. Getting in and out was really congested and everybody was forced to walk. It was halfway through the Speedway that my calves started cramping up. I expected it as I have yet to solve that problem. I drank my water, had some Gu Chomps and began my run/walk. I was so glad to get out of that portion.

It was back onto the roads, which really were a downer. They try to spruce it up with fun facts on the sides of the road, but there is nothing going on. At one point you pass their "water treatment facility" which is a fancy way of saying sewage plant. And boy did it smell. We finally made it to Animal Kingdom and I knew Mike and Kristin's family would be waiting somewhere to cheer us on. They ended up being in the parking lot and were all screams and claps and it was really awesome to see them. I ran the whole time I saw them because they just lifted my spirits and as soon as they were out of sight, I began to walk again. This is where things started to go down hill, and I'm not talking geographically.

"Guys, I'm still alive!"

Soon after I passed them I reached the 13.1 mark. Halfway! I started walking and noticed that the bottoms of my feet were beginning to hurt. Not in a muscle way but in a "Oh my God, I'm getting massive blisters" sort of way. I had never gotten blisters in all of my training. The bottoms of my feet had never been an issue. All I can think is that the day before I had worn sandals and those must have rubbed the wrong way. What a horrible day for this to start happening!

It soon because incredibly painful to run so I just walked as fast as I could. Other walkers were passing me and that became disheartening, but I hadn't gone that far to quit. I was sticking to it!

Roads, roads, and more roads brought us to the ESPN World of Sports, which was really no fun. They need to get the 26.2 miles in somehow, but this part just sucked. It was also here, at mile 19, that I hit my wall. I was limping at this point and I felt just absolutely horrible. They had us go around a baseball diamond and I was like, "Is this real life right now?" I started crying and I decided that at the next aid station I was going to give up. I sent the following text to Mike, "At mile 19. Everything hurts." To which he replied, "Keep going. You're almost done. You're doing great." And just like that, I knew I had to finish. We was right. I only had 7 miles to go. Only...

This was actually pretty funny, because it was true

I continued my limp walk on the road toward Hollywood Studios. It was somewhere along this road that a total stranger came up to me and said, "Not to alarm you, but I just saw the balloon ladies." Who the f--k were the balloon ladies?

Disney tells you that you have 7 hours to complete the marathon. What they really mean is that you have 7 hours from the time the last people cross the start line. And those last people are known as the balloon ladies because they wear, you guessed it, balloons. Nice big Mickey balloons that you can see from far off. These women can walk a marathon in 7 hours. If they pass you, you're out.

Rumors started to fly through the crowd. Literally. I'm not making this up. Stranger man told me that he had heard that if you made it to Hollywood Studios, you were safe. Another man chimed in that it was the Boardwalk hotel. Why were these men even talking to me? I couldn't even see the balloon ladies. This somehow made my panic even worse.

I made it into Hollywood Studios with the threat of the balloon ladies looming over my head. I started to run and I think at this point my body was numb to the pain because running didn't feel too bad. I'd run, look over my shoulder, run some more. It was like I was in Jurassic park and the balloon ladies were the velociraptors. As we ran out of Hollwood Studios, the crowd passed under an overpass and began to cheer. Apparently this was the invisible line to cross to be safe from the balloon lady cutoff.  I cheered myself. I cried. The end was really near. The balloon ladies passed me and told me I was safe. I cried some more. A woman next to me started having a fullblown meltdown. That stopped my crying. Things were just getting weird at this point.

I entered EPCOT and had 1.3 miles to go and it was the longest part of the whole race. The park was packed at this point and people watched in horror as the wounded warriors I was with (that's how I began to think of those of us in the back of the pack) dragged our weary bodies through all of the countries. At this point my fellow runners go chatty. Maybe the adrenaline kicked in. One woman told me I was limping because I had kicked so much ass. Another woman told me how she had run the whole Dopey Challenge (5k, 10k, 1/2 and full marathons in 4 days) with two broken toes. The end was so close I could taste it.

I'm smiling, but I'm crying...

As soon as I saw the finish line, I began running. Well, limping in a jaunty style. There was no way I was just walking over that finish line. And then it was done. I crossed the finish line. A man put a medal over my neck and it was all over. And then I started crying again, because of course I did. I had completely lost control of my body and my emotions. My feet felt like they were each one big blister. The heat and humidity had started to kick it up in full gear. I had used two portapotties that had run out of toilet paper and had gotten creative (bye-bye cool cloth from mile 21). And I had finished.

How was I still smiling at that point?

My first (last?) marathon took me 7:24:24. Yeah, I took more than the allotted 7 hours, but oh well. My one goal was to finish and that's what I did. And now I have that forever under my belt. I don't know if another one is in my future. I think that 1/2's might be where I stop from now on, but you never know.

One of the selling points for this race is that you get to run through all of the parks, but you're only in each of them for about a mile. And even when you're in them, you're not really enjoying them. We barely saw anything in Hollywood Studios, just people gawking at us. The crowds were enthusiastic, though, and some of the signs were hysterical. Also, looking at the costumes some of these people ran in was greatly entertaining.

One of my favorite parts of the whole weekend was going to the bar the next day with my medal on and sharing this conspiratorial  nod and a congratulations with my fellow runners. It didn't matter how long it took me. I finished and now I'll forever be in the 26.2 club.

(Epilogue: the next day Mike and I went to Universal and he pushed me around in a wheelchair. I don't even feel a little bit guilty about it.)

The Yonkers Half Marathon AKA Hills, Hills, and More Hills

So this past Sunday, 9/28/14, I ran in the Yonkers Marathon & Half Marathon. I registered for it kind of late, as I had decided that my time for the Half Sauer/Half Kraut wouldn't suffice to submit for the Disney Marathon. So with two weeks before the race, I paid the late entry fee ($60 to be exact), and psyched my self up for half marathon number 2. Boy was I unprepared.

My marathon training as of late hasn't been going as well as I had hoped. I'm finding it very hard to motivate myself to do those two short weekday runs, and it has been affected my long weekend runs. The last long run I did before this half was just over 10 miles, and calf muscle spasms/IT band pain in the knees had me limping at the end of that one. To remedy this, I bought a pair of calf compression sleeves and started adjusting my foot strike. These will come back later in the story.

With only two short runs before this half, I was a little worried about my leg strength for this one. In my marathon training, however, this week's run would have been 13 miles anyway, so I just wanted to use this as a training run and wasn't too concerned about my time. That being said, I kind of wanted to blow my first half's time (3:10:59) out of the water, and set a rather ambitious goal of 3 hours for myself. I prepped by drinking what I thought was a ton of water the day before and reading Run, Karla, Run!'s race report from last year's marathon. She does a great job, btw, of outlining the course. On the morning of, I felt nervous, but pretty excited to be participating in such an old race.

The race started just a little bit after 8am, just in time for the sun the shine right into the racers' eyes. Karla warned of hills at miles 4 and 10. In my opinion, she should have warned about hills in every single freaking mile. Seriously. The race started up hill and seemed to climb the entire time. The first couple of miles I felt pretty good. I was running at a bit of a faster pace, but that usually happens to me when I get swept up in the excitement of the starting line. I had to make myself slow down with the reminder that I had 10+ miles ahead of me. I would see the hills and be like, "No problem, I've got this." By mile 3, the thrill of conquering the hills had worn off when I saw even more hills, and they all seemed to go up and barely ever down.

Mile 3 is also where my stomach started to have some complaints. I tried to stick to a low fiber diet the days before and I even took some Immodium the night before in hopes of staving off the GI issues I've had in the past. These precautions, however, were to no avail. My stomach demanded I find a porta potty, and as hard as I tried, I could not so the life of me remember which miles they were supposed to be at. When I by chance saw a runner literally run out of one just past mile 5, I almost cried with relief. A quick stop in, and I was back on the course. Unfortunately, not at the best of paces.

The sun at this point was rapidly rising and the blessed shade of the residential areas faded away as the course made its way into more urban areas. The temperature on Sunday got up to 84 degrees, but in the sunny spots, it felt more like 100. Even in the flat areas, it became difficult to motivate myself to run, and I found myself walking way more than I have in past long runs. And when those hills were in the sun, I had no choice but to walk. By mile 9, I was in a very urban area, the cars were racing right past me, and at times it felt like I was the only one on the course. I had hoped, with close to 1000 entrants, the course would have felt more populated. This was certainly not the case.

The water stations were the saving grace to this race. Each was manned by individual community organizations, at at many there were small children happily handing out cups of lukewarm water and Gatorade, cheering you on. One shop owner on the course even set up his own unofficial table, handing out cups of ice and cups of Coca Cola. The ice tasted so amazing. I passed on the Coke, however.

By mile 10, I was exhausted. Thanks to my calf sleeves, my calves were spasm free, but my new strike pattern was unusual to other parts of my legs, and late in the race, I began to get cramps in my Achilles tendons. One painful moment, the toes of my right foot curled up and would not uncurl for a whole agonizing minute. As hard as I tried to keep hydrated, my body was telling me that it was not enough. I tried to eat one blok of my Cliff Shots Bloks per mile in the second half the race and I drank a cup of Gatorade at each station where it was available, but the heat and the hills had me sweating way more than I expected in a late September race in NY. By mile 11, I wasn't sure if I was going to meet my goal.

At mile 12, I texted Mike the following message, "1 mile to go everything hurts gonna finish this bitch." I was at 2:43:00 and I had just seen some of the marathoners pass me. I thought, "Even if I walk this mile, I might still be able to hit my goal." But I didn't want to walk the last mile. I started the race feeling great and I wanted that feeling back. So with some blessed down hill in sight, I began a slow trot to the finish line. I did stop a couple of times to stretch out my tight heels, but by the last half mile, I was gliding to the finish line. I turned the final corner and saw that the official time clock hadn't yet reached 3 hours and my heart just lept. I didn't sprint to the finish like I have in the past, but I sure did run to it.

My official time: 2:59:03.

Race Cons:
*All of those retched hills. There is no way to describe how disheartening the constant incline was. Even when the hills weren't steep, the course still had a slight upward tilt to it.
*Lack of portapotties. I only saw the two at mile 5. There might have been more, but I didn't see them and there definitely weren't any signs pointing them out.
*The late start. The race started at 8, when it probably should have started at 6, so as to avoid heat and traffic. Kristin tells me that the trains out of Grand Central don't start running until about 6am, though, so getting runners up to Yonkers from the city would be an issue. An annoying reality.
*Sparse food spread. I know I finished find of late, but the only fruit I saw were grapes. At the end, I could have really used a banana, or 5.

Race Pros:
*Yonkers PD and Crossing Guards. There was one or the other at each and every traffic crossing, and even though I was alone for most of the second half, they stopped traffic for me every time I came to a crossing. I thanked each and every one of them because that is so awesome.

*Water Station Volunteers. Young and Old, they were all very enthusiastic and dealt with that heat for all of those hours. Some kids even seemed to be competing to see who could give out the most water. It was adorable.

*Very cool t-shirt and finisher medal. I was worried that I had signed up too late to get a shirt, but they had enough. The design and fabric are very cool and I'd be excited to wear it at a future race.

This was obviously a very hard race for me, but I pushed myself through it and it highlighted the issues I need to work on in my future training. I'm really glad I did it, though. I felt really great all day today knowing I had really persevered through it and I feel like if I can finish that, that I can totally finish the Disney Marathon. I think it has brought back my enthusiasm to run and I'm already planning on doing a short run tomorrow.

Super special shout out to Kristin and my husband Mike, both of whom stayed from start to finish and were waiting for me at the end with big smiles. Even more special was the fact that 9/28 was Mike and my 2nd wedding anniversary, and he basically spent it waiting 3 hours for me to cry my way through Yonkers. He's a champ and proves everyday why he's the best man in the world.

A New England Adventure

For some reason it has felt very important this summer to do things and not let the summer just pass me by like it has in the past. Whether this is a result of the heinous winter we just had or the major changes that I'm sure are about to take place in the coming year, I've been filling up the weekends like it's nobody's business. Between trips down to the city to visit my family, the trek to Philadelphia to run the 1/2 marathon, baseball games, fireworks, drive-in movies, in-theater movies, trips to the Hudson, races, and a wedding, I've barely been home long enough to do some much needed laundry. This past weekend was no exception.


Kristin proposed a girl's trip to me at the beginning of the summer, and the original plan was to go to Montauk, LI. Neither of us had been there and thought it seemed like the perfect summer getaway. Unfortunately with all of those summer plans I mentioned, I never really got around to looking at hotels. Kristin, who is even busier than me, also forgot to look into booking a hotel. So with 2 weeks left before our vacation, Kristin took the initiative and looked up some prices. Spoiler alert: Montauk is freaking expensive! I'm sure there are less expensive hotels to stay at if you have the foresight, but if you wait until the last minute like we did, all that's left are $600/night B&B's. Ummmm...no thank you. So we changed gears and looked elsewhere. Our elsewhere happened to be Mystic, CT.

If you read Kristin's post about the trip, she'll tell you that she vacationed in that area as a child, so we knew ahead of time that this area would be more up our alley price-wise. We stayed at the EconoLodge there, which ended up being the perfect distance from everything and had a great view of the neighboring cemetery. I pretty much stole the Prius from Mike, leaving him stranded with my manual shift Kia (which he cannot drive), picked up Kristin early Friday morning, and we were off!

I was a little surprised Kristin was willing to spend the whole weekend with me alone, as in my younger years I wasn't always the most pleasant of travel companions. I feel like I've matured greatly and am now pretty chill to travel with, but I'll let her be the judge. She put up with my constant nose blowing throughout the weekend, as I've been battling my 2nd summer cold, and for that she gets major props. We even shared a bed. 

 

When there's ice cream involved, everything is a-ok.

Mystic was great. The perfect New England town. We hit up the aquarium, which I had been to once in my adolescence, and was definitely smaller than I remembered. There seemed to be more mammals than fish, which is something I actually enjoyed because I think fish are kind of boring to watch. Give me a penguin swimming around any day, all feelings brought on by Blackfish aside. Afterward we walked around Mystic and Old Mistic Village and chatted and ate bad food and ended up in bed before 11. Party animals!

"Stop taking pictures of me, weirdo."

The next day we headed into Rhode Island to go to a beach in Watch Hill. While not that sunny, it was warm enough to enjoy the frigid Atlantic (seriously, when does that thing heat up?) and to get a bit burnt on the shoulders. By 1:30 we were ready for lunch and headed into the little town to eat and browse. We ended up at the Ocean House Hotel, which is so fancy, it has a dress code. At least the bar did. We sat out on the verandah in rocking chairs and sipped our delicious cocktails and pretended we were incredibly wealthy for the afternoon. I loved it. The hotel itself reminded me of how I pictured the White Sands hotel in the Anne of Green Gables books growing up, and I'd love to be able to afford to stay there someday. I mean, they had a freaking croquet court. How Victorian elegance can you get?

This is what I'm hoping my future house looks like.

 

A high tide and a low tide and a hefty bar tap for two drinks.

 

Dinner that night was at Mystic Pizza, which is totally touristy, but felt like a must-do. As some one who loves coming of age movies staring young women/Julia Roberts, of course I needed to hit this place up. We both figured it would be only ok quality, but after shoveling away too many potato skins and half of a buffalo chicken pizza, I can definitely say that this place puts its money where its mouth is. So good! I'm drooling right now thinking about how scrumptious it was. If you're in the area, check it out! Like right now!

It really was.

 

Another early night on my part made way to an early morning Sunday. The original plan had been to do our long Sunday run together, but the cold had moved back to my chest, so running didn't feel like such a great idea. Instead we went to Kitchen Little at the Mystic Marina and I ate scrambled eggs with melted cream cheese. Just as healthy as exercise. A too brief meal lead to driving Kristin to the train station in New Haven and heading home. After an incredibly close call to running out of gas, I made it back to Albany around 1:30. Just enough time to relax before the Bruno Mars concert!

If you don't like Bruno Mars, check out of the videos of him performing on YouTube and reassess. He's freaking awesome! He opened with Moonshine and encored with Locked Out of Heaven and everything in between was pure magic. He's been a staple on my running mixes for the past year, so it was amazing to see this songs performed live. Sharing it with my friends Aprill and Joey was just the icing on the cake.

Tipping my borrowed hat the Mr. Mars

 

So another fun filled summer weekend in the books. Having that time alone with Kristin was so awesome and we talked about so many things and I always just feel better somehow after spending time with her. Maybe a new tradition is in the works? I can only hope so.

Bonus, found a video of Bruno's encore a the show I was at. It makes me want to dance just watching it!

Let the Marathon Training Begin!

This week I begin my marathon training! I'm nervous, but excited and I cannot wait to see where this journey takes me. To really get into the running mindset, I decided to go on an internet dig to see if I could find the results of all the races I've run in the past 4 years. Here are the results:

SPAC Rock & Run 5k 2010 (My First Race!)- 35:13
Freihofer's Run for Women 5k 2011- 35:29
Freihofer's 5k 2012- 39:22
Albany Run For Pride 2012- 36:21
Putnam County 8 Miler 2012- 1:52:53
Freihofer's 5k 2013- 38:18
Firefly 5k 2013- 39:51 
Boilermaker 15k 2013- 1:58:17
Color Me Rad 5k 2013- ???
Troy Turkey Trot 10k 2013-1:15:01
Trot Off That Turkey 5k 2013- 35:20
SPAC Rock & Run 10k 2014- 1:09:19
Freihofer's 5k 2014- 35:15
Half Sauer/Half Kraut Half Marathon 2014- 3:10:59
Take Your Base 5k 2014- 40:18
Team Sarcoma 5k 2014- 33:24 (Personal Best!)

It's nice to see it all laid out and to remember each run. Looking at the list I see easy runs with friends, hard runs alone, injuries, intestinal discomfort, and lots of work. I didn't realize that yesterday's race was a personal best for me, and I'm glad to start marathon training on a high note. In case you're interested, I'll be (more or less) following Jeff Galloway's Training Program for experienced runners who don't have a time goal. I'm jumping in at Week 3, but it's still early enough that I don't think those 2 weeks are going to hurt me in the long run (pun intended).

My main concern, which is not really an issue at the immediate moment, is where I'm going to do my long runs once the cold weather sets in. With the marathon taking place in January, where will I be able to run 26 actual miles in December without having to worry about knee-high snow? Research will need to happen, but any suggestions as to locations/gear for training are certainly welcome.

Let's do this!