MY QUEST TO 50- NEW JERSEY

MY QUEST TO 50

May 6, 2012

Long Branch Half Marathon 13.1 Miles

Long Branch, New Jersey

Next stop on my quest to 50 states is New Jersey which is 6 weeks away, let the training continue. I have a 15k (9M) race in Central Park next weekend on April 1 so that will be incorporated into my training plan. My training will be going all the way through November until I complete the NYC Marathon. So technically once my first race of the year begins, training doesn’t stop till November.

Me and Lara

Besides New Jersey being my 4^th of 50 states that I will be running I will also be celebrating my friend Lara’s birthday who will also be running it. So for this race I will be dedicating my run to Lara and my gift to her is to finish in sub 2:00 hours (hopefully), I’ve been close so many times only by a few seconds.

Stay tuned for my RUN DAISY RUN Posts!

Until then Happy Running!!

MY QUEST TO 50- WASHINGTON DC

MY QUEST TO 50

March 17, 2012

Rock and Roll Half Marathon 13.1 Miles

Washington, DC

I completed my second half marathon for 2012, and completed another half marathon my 8^th since I started running in 2009.

DAY BEFORE THE RACE

Friday the day before the race was quite an adventure I was scheduled to take a bus from Port Authority at 11:30am and arrived in DC around 4:00pm didn’t go quite as planned. The bus got as far as 2 blocks before it broke down and we waited almost 2 hrs to transfer to another bus which made my arrival time at DC 6:30pm. When I arrived to DC had to reschedule dinner for 9pm because we wouldn’t have made it to our 7:15 reservations and headed straight to the race expo where we picked up our race packets, they were already packing up and ready to shut down.

At Race Expo

HOTEL

Subway Mayhem on Race Day

Waiting for the Metro



We leave the expo and take the Metro which is DC’s transit system which was a bit confusing you have to buy a fare card and put it through the machine but as you exit the station you have to use your card again to exit. We arrive at the lovely Mayflower Renaissance hotel which my friend had booked because it was the closet to the start of the race but not that close because we had to take the metro to get to the race.

We then head to dinner to Dupont Italian Kitchen to carb load the food was really good and did the job we headed back to the hotel to prep for the race the next morning.

RACE DAY

The race was scheduled to start at 8:00 we leave the hotel around 6:30 or so to take the Metro to RFK Stadium where the race starts. The train was so congested with runners that they shut the train system down and kicked everyone off the train, many of us were just stranded and had no way of getting to the race, the taxi’s weren’t taking anyone because the streets were closed and walking was just too far. The only thing to do was just wait until we were able to fit in the train and wait for it to continue to our destination. I don’t think the city was prepared for this and the estimated 21,000 runners.

 Congrats Alex and Jose!!! 



We get to the stadium and rush to check our bags, I think we crossed the start line 40mins after the race officially started and with the late starters which some were walkers which was very difficult to run through because so many people were walking in front of you so for the first 2-3miles I was zig zagging through people until I finally found my stride and was comfortable with my pace and enough space around me. I found this race a bit difficult because of the humidity was about 90% but made sure I stayed hydrated but felt my hands swelling up. The first half was pretty good until we reached the first elevation after mile 5 and was pretty constant the hills up till the 12^th mile. Overall I did pretty well considering the hills were bothering me a bit but was happy to have complete another half marathon.

POST RACE & DAY AFTER

Fueled up after the race relaxed a bit and headed back to the hotel to change and had some empanadas, you should have seen the size of these things I forgot to take a picture but they were very good. We headed to the National Mall which is what they call the area with all the monuments. Some things we were able to see was the Washington Monument, World War II Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, the Martin Luther King Memorial and we passed by the Potomac River to see the Cherry Blossoms in bloom after that we were a bit tired and my feet kept yelling at me to just sit down and relax haha.

The day I was set to head back to NYC I had a few hours to do some more sightseeing. I went to Georgetown which was a beautiful little town and went to visit the stairs that was filmed in the movie The Exorcist, quite steep said to be 5 stories high and I climbed them. After Georgetown we headed to the Art Museum to view a Video Game Exhibit.

Overall DC was a great weekend getaway despite the delayed buses and trains definitely want to go back and visit places I didn’t get a chance to see.



 

  

MY QUEST TO 50- NEW ORLEANS HALF MARATHON

3 DOWN 47 TO GO 

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA

MARCH 4, 2012

13.1 Miles



DAYS BEFORE THE RACE

My trip to New Orleans was for the Rock and Roll Half Marathon which was my first half marathon of the year and my 3^rd state in my Quest for running 50 states. Besides going for the race I had to experience the culture and all the delicious food they had to offer.

I arrive in New Orleans Thursday March 1^st and my race was on Sunday so I had a few days to indulge on the foods of New Orleans and the city. I arrived Thursday evening and went straight to Bourbon Street to have dinner. I tried traditional Creole cuisine Alligator Bites, Bodin Balls, and Jambalaya and for dessert I went to Café Du Monde for their famous Beignets.

Alligator Bites

PO-BOY



Sample of New Orleans



Beignets from Cafe Du Monde


On Friday I went to the Garden District by Trolley to Audubon Park for a nice pre race 4 mile run and take in the scenery. Then went to the race expo and picked up the race packet afterwards I ventured to Treme area and went to Willie Mae’s Scotch house which is known for their famous fried chicken which I must say was quite good and their red beans delicious.

I also tried the famous Hurricane which was a big slushy drink with alcohol. Later on that evening I went to a Hornets game, although I’m a Knicks fan it was cool to go to another Arena and the game was pretty good.

 

One Day before Race Day

Saturday morning went on a Cemetery tour which was pretty cool, apparently their famous over in New Orleans for this, the weather was cold and dreary which was perfect for the tour ha ha, yes I said cold the temps dropped a lot the last two days I was in New Orleans low to mid 50s. After our tour we decided to venture and try the famous Po-Boys which is a French bread sandwich with shrimp, it was really good. For dinner I had spicy pasta and then called it a night early since the race was at 7am on Sunday.

RACE DAY

Woke up at 6 am had peanut butter crackers and a cliff bar before the race and walked to the start line which was about 15min walk, it was a bit cold at first in the morning low 50s. The 13.1 mile race was a nice flat course and temperature was perfect. The last 2 miles were a bit rough the streets were really damaged and felt as if I was running on a trail so definitely had to be careful not to trip or hurt myself. As I looked at my watch when I reached the 13 mile marker I thought I would finally break the 2 hour mark so I sped up a bit more but was cautious at the same time because I didn’t want to hurt myself, I finished strong and fast and my official race time was 2hours and 5 secs. Although I didn’t hit the sub 2hr mark I am happy and I know I trained hard and worked hard for this race and considering all the food I ate with the days leading up to it I am Happy. 

 

To celebrate I had a Frozen Margarita, I know not typical New Orleans drink but it was good along with crawfish which was a lot of work for such little meat and a Muffeletta which is a huge sandwich they make over there.

Next Stop DC Rock and Roll Half Marathon March 17, 2012, Stay Tuned….