What a fun weekend in Chicago.  It's the easiest race weekend I've had since I couldn't run the half.  I sprained my ankle about 4 weeks ago and it still hasn't healed well enough to finish a half. However, according to my Moves app, I walked about 20 miles between Saturday and Sunday, so maybe I could have walked it.  It was a Remix weekend, so I at least was able to do the 5K with the gang.  It was nice to take it easy and run the last half mile or so with my bffs.  

The 5K was mostly in Grant Park/Millenium Park along the lake front trail.  Gorgeous. I could run here every day, there is so much to see and I always love running along the water.  Since we had to get up pretty early, we were able to go see the bean, Cloud Gate.  Got a pretty sweet pic of it that looks awesome in black and white.  I tried to get some shots of my reflection thinking that I'd look distorted like when you look at yourself in those funhouse mirrors. Not so.  It was mostly a bunch of hand prints all over it.  I wonder if someone comes out there periodically to wipe all the handprints off. It looks gross. Stop touching it people.

After the 5K, we went to get our packets at the convention center and tried walking to an area that our Uber driver told us would have "adult beverages", but I'm pretty sure we were just taking a stroll through residential areas where no one lived. It was pretty empty. So we ended up Ubering back to the hotel, dropped our stuff off and went to find somewhere to chill and drink.  First stop, Theory, where we they had a bloody mary bar where you could make your own.  It was interesting, but I think they could have done better.

After that we went to Bottlefork for even more adult beverages.  This is pretty much when I went off the rails and started hitting the hard stuff.  This place is great, they make really delicious and unique drinks. I tried a sazerac and it was really good. We just sat around watching the cute Kentucky-bred bartender make drink after drink and adult flavored snow cones. I never got around to getting one.  

After that, we got dinner at RockIt and dessert at Firecakes.  Dessert was a glazed donut gelato sandwich.  Oh man, was that the best thing in the whole world. I don't know how this isn't a huge thing everywhere.  If you're in Chicago on the north side, definitely find this place and get one.  You won't be disappointed.  So after all this, it appear I pretty much passed when we got back to the hotel.  I think it was about 7:30pm.  But, at least I was able to get enough sleep to get up and cheer on Rachel and Traci while they ran the half.  It wasn't terribly hot, but it was huuuuumid!  I think I would have had a slow run, but could have handled it if it weren't for the ankle that was swollen from running the day before.   

Walking along the course made me really want to be able to run it. The architecture in Chicago is amazing, the buildings are so unique.  I'll probably come back for the half next year or maybe the marathon, just to run through the city.  

Woo, it was a tough half.  I've read lots of reviews about the DC half and marathon.  Every single one of them commented on the monster hill at mile 6.  It did not disappoint.  I had been training a lot, ran really strong halfs in AZ and NOLA, so I thought I could take this.  

The first few miles were fairly flat and if the weather had been better, it probably would have appeared a lot more scenic.  The overcast skies, drizzle and cold temps made for a miserable start.  I now wish I would have tried to enjoy it more by stopping to take pics in front of the Washington Monument and White House that we ran right by as we made our way down the mall.  Mile 3 went over a small bridge and back towards the mall.  I think I completely missed a memorial, maybe the Jefferson, while down there.  All I could think of was, "Is it going to get warmer" and "I'm pretty sure my waterproof jacket is not so waterproof".  By Mile 9, I was pretty sure my inner shirt was entirely soaked and I was miserable.  

The misery started about 50% up the monster hill at mile 6.  I was running a pretty good pace, and even made an attempt to charge my way up the hill, even if it meant I would have to walk once I got to the top, I wanted to conquer that hill.  However, about halfway up, I caved and started walking, rather hiking.  Many people were walking up it, it was narrow and crowded, which made it even tougher because you had to navigate and yell your way through the crowds of people walking side by side.  

After mile 6 monstrosity, the rest of the course just felt like it was big hills, up and down, up and down.  I finally had to give up and start doing walk/runs after mile 9.  My legs were beat, I was cold and wet.  When I finally finished, it was about a half mile walk to the Metro station.  By now it was raining pretty steadily.  By the time I hobbled my way to the station, there was a huge crowd waiting to go down.  I ended up waiting almost 45 minutes out in the pouring rain in a huge crowd, which did nothing to help keep you warm, to go down into the station. When I finally got down, I saw they only had about 3 out or maybe 10 turnstiles working and long lines for the machines to buy metro cards.  What a mess...DC Metro, you should definitely take a page from Philadelphia on this one.  Allow the runners and spectators ride for free from the finish.  

I'll very likely never do this race again. It just didn't seem worth the hassle and the course wasn't as great as I had hoped for a city that has so much to see.  Total bummer, but at least race number 3 for the year is done.  

I was getting bored, so decided to register for a local 5 miler. The Ambler Area Running Club's Frostbite 5Miler in Ambler.  I've done a race in less than 30º and it was freezing.  Today I ran one in under 20º weather. Luckily it was sunny.  So what do you need to run in below freezing temps...lots of layers.  A pair of polyester fleece lined running pants, with another pair of cotton spandex ones on top, fleece lined turtle-neck, long sleeve shirt, and sweatshirt on top, with neck gaiter, earmuff headband and and old man cap, and thick gloves.  I'm pretty sure I had about 10 extra pounds of clothes on today.

Despite all that, I had a good run.  I made it up every hill and never stopped to walk.  I finally feel like a strong runner, not fast, but strong.  If you're in the mood for hills, this 5 Miler is great for it.  It starts out downhill and then has a series of short and long uphill climbs. I think the longest one was about half a mile, but there's always a downhill shortly after, so you get a bit of a break.  A comment on the race site described it as moderately hilly, which I think was pretty accurate compared to the races I've done in the past.  This race has a lot of turns, which I liked because it just makes races less boring.  

This race seemed to draw, what looked like, a hard core running crowd. They released runners in two waves, so it was never crowded. It thinned out after the first mile. It's mostly through neighborhoods. I think there was one part that was supposed to be along a paved trail, but the trail wasn't completely cleared of snow so they moved the course along the road by the trail.  The start and finish line are by the Wissahickon HS. They had the gym open and seemed to have a lot of food, but the line was ridiculously long (even after my very late finish).  

Despite the freezing temps, I think this is gonna be a race to add to my regular list of runs.  It's nice to have something this early in the year to make sure I keep training over the winter. It was also a good barometer for me to see how I'd do in such cold temps.  The DC half is right around the corner and it doesn't look like it's going to warm up all that much.  

This photo is accidental, from when we were waiting to start in the corral.  Mine are the bright pink, Rachel's is the bright green-yellow. The NOLA half went even better than AZ. I probably could have run the whole thing if my knee didn't start bothering me.  I also should have eaten something more substantial for breakfast. I was starving by mile 8, but held on until 10.  I sucked down one of those awful GU packets.  I think this one was apple banana or something. Bleh!

We arrived on Friday evening and started with a stroll down Bourbon Street.  We stopped at Pat O'Briens' and tried some alligators and fried oysters.  The alligator and oysters weren't so great.   I also got a hurricane, also not so great, but I downed the whole thing.  One was all it took.  I really need to work on building up my tolerance.  Since I was still hungry, we headed back to the hotel and got some real dinner at Luke's at the Hilton on St. Charles.    

We slept in Saturday.  I feel like I haven't slept for weeks, so this was a nice treat.  We got cafe au lait and beniegts from Cafe du Monde.  Picked up packets at the expo and tried to hunt down some KT tape.  Rachel is raving about this stuff and I'm dying for knee to not feel so stiff.  I'll have to remember to pick some of it up this week and some full length compression something for my legs.  

We were pretty tired after wandering around the city on Saturday and both interested in getting plenty of rest before the race.  We did the usual pre-race dinner. Burger and fries. Or in my case, portobello burger and fries.  The start was just around the corner from our hotel. It was nice not having to get there super early to find parking and get to the start. We pretty much were able to roll out of bed and go over. The weather was a little chilly at the start, but I warmed up around mile 1 and ditched everything extra I had on.  Except the beads, they were bouncing and jingling the entire race.  

Post-race, I was starving.  We went over to the French Quarter to the Stanley for bloody mary's and brunch.  Then wandered a bit more before heading back to the hotel for a little rest.  We ended up heading back to Bourbon Street for a quick dinner...of course, i had to get another beverage. A frozen pina coloda, which was just enough to make me sleepy.

Monday morning, we started packing up and then got messages that the flight was canceled.  Luckily, despite winter storm Juno, we still made it home.  2nd half is done.  Hopefully I can get enough of a break to get my knee back in shape before half #3 for the year.

Everyone should go to Arizona in January to run!  I couldn't have asked for better weather to kick off my year of traveling races.  First up was the Rock 'n Roll Arizona Half Marathon on Sunday, Jan. 18th.  Well, actually, first up was the Rock 'n Roll Arizona 5K on Saturday, Jan. 17th.  As part of the RnR Remix Challenges, you have to run the 5K and Half or Marathon in the same city over two days.  

Let me back up a few months...This all started sometime in the Fall of 2014 when I discovered RNR Heavy Medals.  The Rock 'n Roll running series offers additional medals for running combinations of races and multiple races in the same calendar year.  Since I'm a sucker for sparkly shit, I decided that I'd try to go for as many as I could.  I'm aiming for 10 half marathons to qualify for all 10 Heavy Medals, as many Remix medals as I can do, and some extra ones.  Since I'm finally in a place in my life where I'm financially stable and physically able, it seemed like the perfect time to do it.  I've always wanted to travel and seeing major cities on foot is a great way to do it!

I spent 4 days in Arizona, mainly Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe.  I flew in on Friday, landed at noon, and hopped a cab straight to the race expo to pick up my packets, luggage in tow.  I made a new friend while waiting in line for the 5K packet pick up.  She's also aiming for multiple halfs this year, so hopefully we can meet up at some races we're travelling to alone.  I was able to visit my great aunt in Peoria for dinner that evening and then headed back to Scottsdale to crash at Nicole's digs before Saturday's 5K at Tempe Beach Park.

Nicole and I did the 5K together Saturday morning. She's in pretty good running shape for not training. I was having a hard time keeping up.  Maybe I can convince her to keep training and do a half with me later this year.  

So, I'm a little nuts. I wanted to make the most of my time in AZ, even if it meant a painful half the next day.  We decided to make the drive up to the Grand Canyon after the 5K on Saturday morning.  We finally made it after 4 hours on the road.  We hit the gift shop to see if they had any sweatshirts or blankets because it was freezing when we got there.   Clearly I suck at planning for weather changes.  I had a similar incident in Australia when I accidently kept looking up the weather for Melbourne, Alabama instead of Melbourne Australia.  Anyway, we found thermal shirts and wandered from Mather's Point on the South Rim to Yavapai Point (almost a 3 mile round trip). It was incredible and a little scary.  Looking down made me feel a little funny, unsettled, and dizzy.  But I got to see it.  I'm hoping to come back and spend several days hiking around.

We got home around 9ish, but not before stopping for food  My typical veggie burger and fries pre-race dinner.  I was a little nervous since this was my first half in about 7 months, so only slept a few hours. I kept waking u and checking my phone because I was nervous about oversleeping. It's happened before.  As for training, I had planned out a pretty intense training schedule based on Hal Higdon's half marathon training plan.  I incorporated his Novice 1, Novice 2 Half and Full Marathon training plans into a year long training plan so I can get to the Philly Marathon in 2015.  But one step at a time.

I woke up at 5am on Sunday morning.   I was starving! I usually don't eat the morning of halfs because it makes me feel sick, but I knew I had to fuel a little bit. Otherwise, I'm not sure I would of had such a successful first half. The only thing that works for me is the chocolate Power Bar.  The texture sits well for me and gets rid of the hunger pangs.  I'm not sure if I trained enough this time, or if it was the weather, the excitement of the first half of the year, the flat course, or the scenery, or I just finally got my playlist right, but I did damn good.  My goal is not to be the fastest, but rather run more/walk less and hopefully continue to improve on my own times each race.  Slow and steady win this race.  

I went back to Nicole's after the race, and got showered and we went out to eat some brunch.  We came back to the apartment and I took a nap.  Later, we decided to check out a hiking area near where we were staying then went to Blano for dinner. It's supposed to be one of the better tex/mex places in the area.  It was pretty good, the margaritas were excellent.  

Below are some more pics from hiking around the McDowell mountains in Scottsdale. This was at the Sonora Preserve. We went on a short walk on Sunday evening and then a 4.5 mile hike on Monday morning before my flight.  I was getting a little pissed off that I kept getting passed by old people on the hike, but it was gorgeous! I could spend everyday hiking in this area.