NYC: Day 2 (pt. 2)

Friday, November 5th

After breakfast, we hopped in a cab and made our way to the American Museum of Natural History. Chad loves museums so he was pretty excited - I was just hoping to catch a glimpse of Dexter, the little monkey in "A Night at the Museum." We didn't see Dexter, Ben Stiller, or Robin Williams, but we did see a ton of cool artifacts and exhibits.

After leaving the museum, we walked through Central Park from the museum over to Columbus Circle. Even though the day started off cold and rainy, it gradually warmed up and cleared up. It ended up being a gorgeous day. The leaves in Central Park were beautiful, and the park was everything I imagined it would be based on my multiple viewings of "You've Got Mail."

After exiting the park through Columbus Circle, we made our way back to the hotel and stopped at a little pizza place called Luigi's Gourmet Grill for lunch. I shared a pepperoni pizza with Mr. David and Mrs. Suzy, and Chad had a meatball sandwich. Delizioso!

After our late lunch we headed to Starbucks and then back to the hotel to rest for a little bit before going to dinner and to see The Lion King.

We had a few hours to spare, so Mr. David and I headed back to the expo. Mr. David wanted to buy a jacket and I was eager to buy some more stuff, too. Once back at the expo, I bought a Saucony t-shirt and another Asics hat. I saw Tyson Gay signing autographs, and I walked right past Bart Yasso in the crowd. I said "Bart Yasso!" and he looked at me, so I said "I am a big fan" and patted him on the back. It was pretty cool! I wish I would have brought my latest issue of Runner's World with me so that Bart Yasso, Mark Remy and Tyson Gay could have signed it.

Once we got back from the expo, I changed into my evening wear (ha) and we headed out to get dinner before the Lion King. We ended up at Roxy's, a delicatessen in Time Square, and it was pretty disappointing. No one really enjoyed their dinner but me - I had a meatloaf sandwich that was pretty good - and it was extremely over-priced. I guess that is what you get for eating in Times Square! But we were seated right next to a lady who has run something like 50 marathons in the past 5 years, so it was very interesting to talk with her about her marathon experiences.

After dinner, we walked a few blocks to the Minskoff Theater to see The Lion King. It was pretty incredible. We had fantastic seats that were smack dab in the middle of the theater, so it was very easy to see. It was very interesting to see how they interpreted the characters and brought the cartoon to life. I did nod off a little during the second half, but I think it was from sheer exhaustion. The little guy who played Simba was very talented, but he wasn't quite as good as Jonathan Taylor Thomas. After leaving the theater, we headed back to the hotel and (after a 19 hour day) I immediately fell asleep!

Some pictures from Friday afternoon:

Theodore Roosevelt statue in front
of the Museum of Natural History

"Leopard Man" in the rafters of the museum.
It was terrifying!

They even had flying turtles.

Mr. David and Chad with a T-Rex

Chad made a souvenir penny at the museum

Skyline view from Central Park

Mrs. Suzy and Mr. David in Central Park

Chad and me in Central Park

A pretty bridge in Central Park

No soup for you!

Tyson Gay and some random guy at the expo

Definitely unlike anything I had ever seen!

NYC: Day 2 (pt. 1)

Friday, November 5th

After a good night's rest, I was up at 4:00am on Friday morning to get ready to walk down to the the Today Show. This was probably one of the top things I was looking forward to doing on the trip - I love the Today Show and watch it every morning. I couldn't wait to be there in person and hopefully touch Al Roker.

I met Mrs. Suzy in the lobby at 5:15am (major props to Mrs. Suzy for agreeing to go with me at the crack of dawn!!) and we headed to Rockefeller Plaza. I had done some research online and found that it was best to arrive by 5:30am if you wanted to get a prime spot for the taping. We arrived right at 5:30am, and there was only a handful of people there - yes!! There was a group of women promoting a new show for BET, and a group of women who were on a girl's trip, so we got behind them in line. The way it works is that the actual plaza is barricaded until about 6:45am. Then, the police open it up and you enter the plaza in the order of the line. With only 10 people ahead of us, we were primed to get a great spot!

There was a coffee truck parked right next to us giving away free coffee, hot chocolate and bagels. We spoke to the guy who runs the truck - turns out he was featured on The Marriage Ref last year. After waiting in line for a while, I realized that I needed to find a bathroom before we moved into the plaza. I asked the guy in the truck if there was a public restroom anywhere nearby, and he told me to go into the parking garage across the street and find an open space! I'm sure my eyes just about bulged out of my head when he told me that, because he started laughing and said "or you could go down to that little diner down there." I opted for the diner.

Pretty soon Lenny arrived, and then the police began allowing us to move into the plaza area. A large section of the plaza was blocked off, as the Rockettes were scheduled to perform that morning. We tried to get as close to Lenny as we could. We ended up being right on the fence, at the corner near Rockefeller Center. We were told this was a good location, as when Matt, Meredith, Al, Anne and Natalie come out, they normally head straight for this corner. This wasn't the case for our morning, but oh well!

They have large monitors and speakers outside so that you can hear what they are saying as you watch them filming inside. We watched Matt do the pre-Today show teasers for local news stations to play and watched as Meredith had her make-up touched up. It was all very fascinating.

Around 7:15 or so, the Rockettes came walking down the street - they were making their way from Radio City Music Hall to the NBC Studios. It was very surreal to see this group of 30 or so Rockettes just walking down the street in their trademark Santa outfits!

At about 7:30, Matt, Meredith and Al came outside! The crowd went wild and everyone was clamoring for them to come and see them. Matt walked right up to us and we got to shake his hand. I saw him coming closer and closer to us and I ended up with my camera right in his face. So, of course, I took a picture. I told him I was sorry and that I had no idea he was coming so close! A few people asked if he was running the marathon and he said "no, I'm a cyclist." He was also much smaller in person, and very stylish. I was happy to meet Matt, but my goal was to meet Al - I even had a sign for him.

The Today Show was a lot of fun, but it did involve long portions of standing around and waiting. They would normally come out of the studio every 30 minutes or so which wasn't bad at all, but it was a cold and rainy morning so they didn't spend too much extra time outside. Can't say that I blame them! I was wearing jeans, running shoes, a short sleeved shirt, a long sleeved shirt, a light jacket, and my Brooks running jacket and I was STILL cold! I lost feeling in my feet about half way through, but it was all worth it to experience the live taping of the Today Show. The main guest that morning was Christine O'Donnell, and I didn't really care to see her. I was very excited though when they interviewed Mary Wittenberg (President of the New York Road Runners) and the Chilean miner who was going to be running the marathon. Mary is a big inspiration to me, so it was really neat to see her in person. They also interviewed three Olympians outside, but I didn't catch who they were. While they never filmed a segment directly in front of us, at some point during the broadcast me and Mrs. Suzy made it on screen! It was one of the times where they were panning across the crowd. Chad texted me to let me know he had just seen us, so it was then I knew that we had made it on the big screen. It was exhilarating. Later that day, my boss sent me a text of a screen shot of me and Mrs. Suzy that they had taken off their DVR! Al did come by and shake our hands, but it was very brief and I didn't get to wish him good luck in the marathon. He is much smaller in person, too!

After four hours in, we gave up the fight and headed back towards our hotel in search of breakfast and a bathroom. I was really hoping to go to Dean and Deluca, but the Rockefeller store closed in August! I was not able to channel my inner Felicity.

By now Chad and Mr. David were up and ready to hit the city, so we headed back to the hotel to freshen up and get breakfast in the lobby. After breakfast, we headed to the Museum of Natural Science. More on that in Day 2 (pt. 2)!

Pictures from Friday morning:

Waiting to enter this area!

Rooting for Al.
The window over my right shoulder is where Matt and Meredith sit!
(Note to self: do something about those puffy eyes!)

The crew was always right in front of us -
filming to our right and to our left!

The Rockettes!

The screen shot from my boss' DVR!

Matt, Meredith and Al
(that's Lenny in the black plaid coat.
The BET girls were between me and him)

Matt Lauer, up close and personal!

Al

Mary Wittenberg

Rockefeller Center

We passed St. Patrick's Cathedral on our way back to the hotel.
It was odd to see such a beautiful cathedral amongst skyscrapers!

Inside St. Patrick's

NYC: Day 1

Thursday, November 4th

On Thursday morning, Chad and I boarded a plane in Lexington, KY that was bound for the bright lights of New York City. I was so excited to get to the airport and get the gears in motion for our vacation to New York. We had been planning for the trip for exactly one year - Chad's parents called to invite us to go with them to New York for the 2010 NYC Marathon on the day of the 2009 NYC marathon. When we found out that we would be going, I immediately entered the lottery for the marathon. I didn't get in, but I was ok with that. I was looking forward to being a Grade A Tourist on this trip - walking for blocks, taking pictures of everything, and eating all of the food that NYC has to offer - without having to worry about resting up for Marathon Sunday.

After a short flight to Charlotte, NC., we switched planes and headed to LaGuardia. Our flight was scheduled to arrive around 1:30, and Chad's parents would be arriving from Louisiana around 2:00. Once we arrived at LaGuardia we picked up our bags and then managed to successfully use the airport shuttle to get from the US Airways terminal over to the Continental terminal. Now I grew up in Houston, which is a pretty big city, but it is absolutely nothing like New York. And Chad gets nervous in big crowds. And our time in central Kentucky has us accustomed to a slower pace of life. It was kind of like "country comes to town" there for a few minutes, so successfully managing the airport shuttle on our own was quite an accomplishment.

Once we made it to the Continental terminal we staked out their baggage claim area and then headed over to a small food court to get a snack. After splitting a piece of pizza, we headed back to the baggage claim and Chad's parents arrived pretty soon. It was so good to see them! I felt much better after we met up with them - it was so comforting to know that we wouldn't have to traverse through New York on our own anymore. Even though at this point we had only had to manage the airport on our own, ha ha.

It was a cold and rainy day, and a lot of flights were delayed. A limo driver came up to us and asked if we needed a ride - he said his client's flight was delayed, so he could give us a good deal on a quick ride to our hotel. We couldn't really pass up the offer to arrive at our hotel in a white stretch limo, so we followed him to the parking garage. I probably should have been thinking "this guy is probably going to take us to an old warehouse, kill us, and then dump us in the East River" but all I was thinking was "limo, limo, limo, limo." We hopped in the limo and headed to mid-town Manhattan.

We pulled up to the Hampton Inn - Times Square North and got checked in. This hotel was perfect - the rooms were very comfortable, they had a 24/7 complimentary coffee and tea bar, and a free continental breakfast every morning. But the best part was the location. We were in the heart of midtown - just a few blocks from Broadway, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Lincoln Center, and Central Park. It was awesome and I highly recommend this hotel.

After we got checked in and dropped our bags off, we headed across the street to the Cosmic Diner for a late lunch. It felt very Seinfeld-esque, and I ordered the chicken noodle soup. It was the perfect meal for a cold and rainy day. After lunch, we met up with Mr. Doug and Mrs. Leslie Gaithright. Mr. Doug is Mr. David's running partner, and they have been planning on running this race together for years.

(Note: even after five years of marriage, I still refer to Chad's parents as Mr. David and Mrs. Suzy, and Chad refers to my parents as Mr. Ron and Mrs. Jan - this might seem weird, but this is what we called each others parents when we were dating, and it just stuck. I can't imagine calling them David and Suzy, although I know they wouldn't mind at all. Must be a Southern thing! I will be referring to them a lot in these posts, so I just wanted to give a little explanation!)

So after lunch we met up with the Gaithrights and hopped on a free shuttle bus from our hotel to the marathon expo at Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. I was really looking forward to going to the expo, even though I wasn't running! I knew there would be all kinds of vendors and speakers and interesting stuff to see. Once we got to the convention center, Mr. David and Mr. Doug got in line to pick up their packets, and the rest of us walked around the expo. I saw Bart Yasso speaking at the Runner's World booth, and then I saw Mark Remy signing books. I bought a shirt and a hat at the Asics' Village (which was amazing, I could have done some serious damage in there), and then bought shirts from the New Balance booth and the Mizuno booth. All of the vendors had such cool New York 2010 merchandise that I just had to pick some up. Plus I had been saving for a year for this very moment! I was glad we went to the expo on the very first night so that I would know what kind of spending money I had to work with for the rest of the trip. : ) Who knows what kind of damage I will do when I finally run the dang thing!

After the expo, we headed back our neck of the woods and walked around Times Square and Rockefeller Plaza and then stopped at Junior's for dinner. I had a BLT that was pretty amazing. We were pretty stuffed, but we had to try their world famous cheesecake. For dessert we all split a black and white cookie and a piece of original cheesecake. It was incredible - definitely worth the hype!

Here are some pictures from Day 1:

Mr. David and Chad in the limo.
Chad was probably tweeting about it!

Cold and rainy evening in Times Square

Bart Yasso speaking at the expo and making strange hand gestures

Mark Remy and me

NBC Studios!
Mrs. Suzy and I were scoping it out for our visit to the Today Show on Friday morning.

People ice skating at Rockefeller Center

Cheesecake at Juniors' - a perfect end to the day!

Stay Tuned

Coming up soon (probably over the course of the next few weeks) I will have a few posts recapping our recent vacation to New York City! It was an incredible trip and I took tons of pictures, so it will take me a little while to get it all organized in blog posts.

First up will be NYC: Day 1 and Day 2. Stay tuned!

Iron Horse Half Marathon race report

This past weekend my friend Kelly and I ran the inaugural Iron Horse Half Marathon in Midway, KY. It was a pretty good sized race (800+ runners), but it was also fairly low key.

The race started at 8:00am, and we arrived in Midway around 7:00am. It was dark and freezing when we arrived, but things warmed up a little bit as the sun came up. The race started in the middle of Midway and went out to the east (or north) and then back into town, and then out west (or south) and then back into town for the finish (a guy who ran the race posted the map and elevation of the course here: http://runkeeper.com/user/bencjedi/activity/19251117?&channel=web.activity.shared.facebook.manual)

The first part of the course was beautiful and we knocked out the first 6 miles keeping between an 8:50 and 9:00 pace. Our goal was to finish under 2:00 hours, so we were hoping to build in a little bit of a time cushion. The 6 mile mark was right in the middle of town, and then we headed back out into horse farm country to finish up the rest of the miles. The second half of the race was the Midway 10k course that I did earlier in October, and it is pretty hilly. The word brutal even comes to mind!

Nonetheless we kept chugging along at a pretty good pace. As we were nearing the end of the 11 mile mark, I was definitely starting to get fatigued. I was actually feeling pretty fatigued at the 10 mile mark, but Kelly is great at keeping the pace up so I just tried to hang with her. So when we were almost to mile 12, a girl came up behind us and said "we have 11 minutes to finish under 2 hours, let's do it!" And we were like "we are sticking with you!" I'm not sure who the girl was, but we stuck with her and really picked up the pace for the last 1.3 or 1.4 miles - more than I would have picked it up if I was on my own. We came back into downtown Midway and crossed the line at 1:58:44! At the Lexington Half I finished in 2:00 on the nose and set a PR, so it was nice to set a new PR by 1 min. 22 seconds!

After the race we got some water, food and Gatorade and headed home. Once I got back to Nicholasville, I went straight to Taco Bell! Then I took Emma for a long walk to ease some of the soreness in my legs.

A special thanks to Kelly who has been my running partner for the last 3 years (or is it 4?)! We have trained together and raced together many times, and I know I wouldn't have made it in 1:58 without her!

And another shout out-to Tony, Kelly's husband, who came to the race and carried our bags, cheered for us, and took lots of great pictures. Thanks, Tony!

Here are some pictures from the day (taken from Kelly's Facebook):

A dark and spooky shot for Halloween morning

Walking to the start

(Ok, Megan. I guess you are right after all these years...I DO have a big butt!)

Ready to race!

At the start

The Midway water tower was like a beacon to us!

Downtown Midway - so cute!

Proud finishers! We got engraved rail road spikes instead of medals, pretty cool!

Darlin' Jeans, which was race HQ

The end.

Midway Race for Education 10k race report

I repeated my normal pre-race meal of gnocchi, green beans, and toasted sourdough bread before the Midway Race for Education 10k on October 9th.

I was up at 5:30am, had breakfast, got ready, and hit the road at 6:50am. Midway is about 40 minutes away, and I wanted to get to the race site around 7:45 to pick up my packet and be ready for the 8:30am race start. It was about 39 degrees that morning, so I didn't want to have too much standing around time.

I made my way to Midway, which is nestled right in between Lexington, Versailles and Frankfort. It is an awesome little town! I've heard great things about it, but never been. It is a great little place with a cute downtown that is filled with local restraunts, cafes, shops and art galleries. There is a place called Darlin' Jeans Apple Cobbler Cafe and that is where the packet pick-up was located. I hear they have amazing cobbler! Chad was out of town and couldn't go to the race, but I think he would really love the town. We are planning on going out to Midway to have lunch and pick up my race packet the Saturday before the IronHorse half-marathon, which is in Midway. I will probably make my way to Darlin' Jeans, too.

So it was pretty cold that morning, but it warmed up and was a perfect clear morning for a race. I think there were around 200 or 300 people racing the 5k and 10k. The race started in downtown Midway and went through town and then out into horse farm country. It was a nice out and back course that was pretty flat for the first part, got hilly near the turnaround, and then flattened out again near the finish. I was really hoping for a sub 55 finish, but I ended up finishing in 55:06. The only bad thing about the race is that there was a pretty narrow finish line, and so as I was finishing running the 10k there were also groups of people who were finishing walking the 5k so it was a little congested there at the end. Overall it was a great race and I wish that I would have done it the past few years. The race packet was great and came with a long sleeved t-shirt, a water bottle, cereal samples and Larabar samples.

When I got back from the race I relaxed outside and read the November issue of Runner's World while Emma played in the backyard. It was a perfect morning/afternoon - and it was my birthday, too! Chad got home from Atlanta around 4:30 and then we went to dinner at my favorite mexican place, La Hacienda, then we went to see Secretariat. If you haven't seen Secretariat yet, it is a must see!

A lot of it was filmed in Lexington and Louisville, so it was really cool to recognize a lot of the locations. Spindletop Hall (which is basically UK's country club) was in the film, and that is where I did the Markey Race for Women's Cancer triathlon this summer. Keeneland was used for all of the Belmont scenes, and (obviously) Churchill Downs was used for the Kentucky Derby scenes.

It is a fantastic story of triumph of the human (and equine!) spirit. That is something about horse racing that I have really come to appreciate during our time in Kentucky - the stories of dedication and determination and perserverance that the owners, trainers, and jockeys put into these thoroughbred horses is pretty incredible. In honor of Secretariat, I will leave you with some horse-related pictures from our time here in Kentucky!

Dan the Bluegrass Man at the Old Friends horse farm
Georgetown, KY

Me petting a horse's nose at the Kentucky Horse Park
Georgetown, KY

Chad and Emma at the Mutt Strutt at Keeneland
Lexington, KY

Emma and me at Keeneland
Lexington, KY

The Barbaro statue at the Churchill Downs Kentucky Derby Museum
Louisville, KY

The famous Twin Spires at Churchill Downs
Louisville, KY

RJ Corman Duathlon Race Report

On Friday evening I had a pre-race dinner of whole wheat gnocchi with marinara sauce, toasted sourdough bread and green beans. It was a good meal! I went to bed around 9:00pm and slept soundly until my alarm went off at 5:30am.

I got up at 5:30am and had a bowl of Cheerios with a banana, and a cup of coffee. I woke up Chad around 6:15 - I was so happy that he was able to come to the race! We finished getting ready and left the house around 6:50, getting to the race site about 6:55. Yep - it was only 5 minutes away! That was really nice. It was freezing outside. Not quite 32 degrees, but 45! It was very chilly. I was dressed in layers and moving around a lot, so it wasn't too bad. And it did warm up a good bit once the sun came out.

After dropping off my bike and bag in transition, I picked up my chip and got body marked. The race was held at the RJ Corman Railroad company property, which is extremely nice. RJ Corman is a big runner and cyclist, so he has his whole property (which is huge) paved with running and biking trails. He hosts a lot of 5ks on his properties, but this was the first duathlon.

There was a duathlon and a 5k going on that morning, and we all gathered at the starting line around 8:00am. I think there were about 100 duathlon participants and 100 5k runners, but I'm not 100% sure on the totals. The men's duathlon started first, then three minutes later the women started, and then a few minutes later the general 5k started.

The women's field was pretty small, so it was tempting to want to take off and be near the front of the small pack. But 1) I am not that fast and 2) there was no way I could maintain that pace for even 5k without burning out. I tried to stay nice and steady during the first 5k, and I was shooting for a 9:00/9:15 pace. I felt good and finished the first 5k in 25:35, an 8:15 pace. Whoops! A little fast, but I felt good at the end. I wore my tri shorts, a t-shirt, a long sleeve tech tee, and gloves. I really warmed up during the run, and I took the gloves off for the last mile of the 5k.

The transition area was about a quarter mile from the start and finish of the 5k, so I crossed the finish line and kept going right on through to transition. Once there, I decided to keep my long sleeve shirt on but ditch the gloves. I pulled on my sunglasses, helmet, and bike shoes and headed out on the bike course. The bike course is steep, hilly and pretty fun. I was really excited about this race because I know the majority of this bike course pretty intimately. I've been riding these roads for two years now, and the duathlon course covered a lot of my regular riding routes. The course also featured some great riding on RJ Corman's property, including riding the length of his private air strip! I was hoping to finish the bike course in 1 hour, and I pulled in at 1:00:17...pretty close. The whole pack was pretty spread out, so most of my ride was alone. I really liked that - I hate when courses get congested and a lot of drafting occurs. My legs were hurting when I got off the bike, but I knew I had one more 5k in me. As I was running out of T2 Chad saw me and said "oh, you look tired!" Well, thanks! It was pretty funny though. As I was heading back down to the 5k start I took off my long sleeve shirt and tossed it on the ground for Chad to pick up like 10 seconds later. I didn't think anything of it, but after the race Chad told me I almost got DQ'd for doing that! I couldn't believe it! He said the volunteers saw me do it and almost reported me for getting "off course assistance". I know abandonment is a USAT rule (littering on the course), but I didn't know that you can't hand an article of clothing to a spectator. Now I know! Luckily I didn't get DQ'd.

The last 5k was a steady shuffle. I felt like I was on the course all by myself - it was like a ghost town out there! The 5k course is one big loop, and towards the end I started to catch up to some guys but they were still a good bit ahead of me. My goal was 2 hours, and I finished right at 1:59:34:30, so I was pleased. I think I could have raced smarter and trained better for this race, but this was my first duathlon and I had a great time. I do think that duathlons are much harder than triathlons! The swim in a tri is a great warm up and doesn't tax the legs quite like a 5k does. Overall, it was a beautiful day and a great race!

Here are some race details, and some pictures!

• Total time: 1:59:34:30
• 3rd place in 25-29 age group
• Run 1: 25:35 (8:15/mile)
• T1: 3:33
• Bike: 1:00:17
• T2: 2:43
• Run 2: 27:23 (8:50/mile)

Time to get up, sleepy heads!

Our extra bedroom doubles as a staging ground for my races

He was being sassy here, but he really did have a good time!

Ready to start (#107)

It was a true shotgun start.

Coming in on the bike

Heading out of T2, exhaling!

Bringing it on home

Trying to pick it up at the end (that's Chad in the black jacket)

The fantastic volunteers handed me Gatorade at the finish

I ran into some friends who ran the 5k!
Some of these pictures are from Tammy's (#426) Facebook album.
She set a PR and got 3rd in her age group in the 5k-awesome job, Tammy!!

25-29 age group winners - I got 3rd!
The lady on the right is the President of RJ Corman Railroad Group.