Providence, RI.... the real Windy City

Tiny lighthouse in Providence Harbor

Living in Chicago, you might think that I'm used to wind.  Well, I might be used to it, but that doesn't mean I  like it.  And I certainly do not like it when I'm trying to run a marathon.  On May 4th, I ran the Cox Providence Rhode Races Marathon, and while there were inklings of rain in the forecast, the rain held off and it was a sunny 60ish degree day.  But there was the wind.  Oh, the evil, evil wind.  Gusts were up to 45mph according to the National Weather Service.  And just like Chicago, no matter which way the course turned, it always seemed like it was blowing right at you.  Well, actually, for much of it it was blowing at me from the side, as we ran along the Providence Harbor where the wind was coming off of the water.  But at least you could smell the salt water and there was even a tiny lighthouse. (don't you just love the ocean smell?) 

Coastal homes

 To go along with that ocean smell, the course took us through a part of Rhode Island that certainly had the feel of being in a little harbor town.  If you've ever been to the small towns outside of Boston, a little bit of that feel.

I arrived in Providence in the late afternoon before the race and had some time to walk around the downtown area.  Speaking of races, I had some difficulty finding a bar with a t.v. so I could catch the Kentucky Derby.  I did find a small burger bar that was airing it on the one TV in the whole place, and I caught it just in time to see my horse Chitu loose the $5 I bet on him.  (insert sad trombone here). 

Back to sightseeing...  After walking around a bit, heading across the river towards the Brown University campus, I noticed that I was walking primarily uphill...and a steep ones at that.  I began to develop this sense of dread about the following day, not realizing at the time that the course did not head that direction.  (woo hoo!!)  So fortunately my hill climbing was limited to sightseeing, which was fine by me.  By the way, visiting the Brown campus made me feel incredibly old and of course made me wonder, did I act that ridiculous when I was in college? Wait..yes I'm sure I did.  It was nice to see though that even the Ivy Leagues are not devoid of vomiting college students on a warm Saturday afternoon. 

Old courthouses, old bank; new capital

Fleur de Lys (upper left) Circa 1885 and Victorian style houses

One thing Providence has a lot of are old Victorian houses, and old government buildings that reminded me of being in London.  (I guess they don't call it New England for nothing).  And a bit of trivia, Providence is home to the First Baptist Church in America!  Circa 1638.  Old. 

Providence is also home to an old historic art deco-styled movie theater, the Avon Cinema.  I had already seen the movie showing there (The Grand Budapest Hotel) so I didn't take in the movie, but it reminded me a bit of the Logan Theater for those of you familiar with Chicago (which is coincidentally where I saw The Grand Budapest Hotel).

Old baptist church; Asian food fest; Avon Cinema; Riverwalk

The area just east of downtown was fairly lively, probably because it's proximity to Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design.  There was an Asian food fest sponsored by students that had an insanely long line to get in (or I might have tried it) and that area also has a nice little river walk area.  I had dinner at a place called New Rivers, which I'd recommend.  Diner Alert: Don't get the appetizer portion of the pasta thinking, "Oh, I'll just order this because I don't want to eat a whole giant portion of pasta."  The real portion of pasta is actually a normal portion and the appetizer portion is...well, a true appetizer portion.  The server put it in front of me and my first thought was, well, where should I go eat after this?  Fortunately I had also ordered a salad, so I ended up satisfied.


The day after the race I ended up visiting the Swan Point Cemetery.  For some reason, I am always a big fan of cemeteries.  Maybe it's because they are always so peaceful and quiet. They have majestic monuments, and there is always a lot of fresh flowers, and who doesn't love that? Swan Point Cemetery is pretty huge and rumor has it, has security guards who get angry if you take photos.  I will attest to the fact that they do have security guards and, while no one yelled at me for taking photos, the security guard was driving around the grounds like a mad man.  A little fast for a cemetery where people are walking around and trying to reflect upon stuff, if you ask me.  

After the cemetery, I decided to visit the Federal Hill neighborhood.  It definitely had a different vibe than other parts of the city.  Some really cool architecture, but it seemed a bit rundown.  I ran into an older gentleman in a popular plaza (well, in the summer it apparently is a little more lively).  He informed me that I shouldn't wander too far from that area.  Oops, already had been wandering around in the parts where he told me not to go!

Federal Hill

Overall, I enjoyed Providence and would love to revisit Rhode Island to take in some of the beaches.  After all, it is the Ocean State!  The race was a good course, but if you are a person who needs a LOT of crowd support, maybe not the best one for you.  And with that, race number 19 is complete!  Looking forward to a short break before starting to train for my next race in the fall.  Number 20 isn't 100% decided yet, but I'm thinking the Big Cottonwood Marathon in Utah.  Mostly downhill! Weeeeee!  (but how do you train for that in a flat city?)

Running of the Derby...... Festival Marathon

They say it's every jockey's dream to run the Kentucky Derby.   And while it may not be every runner's dream to run the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon, maybe it should be. OK, so I might be exaggerating a little, but this is definitely a race that is worth the trip.  The course is beautiful, plus you get to run into the infield of Churchill Downs.  Even though it's a couple weeks before the Derby itself (can you imagine blocking off roads during the Derby???), the excitement in Louisville in the weeks building up to the Derby is palpable.  Plus, Kentuckians are pretty darn friendly, and you can tell they are incredibly proud to be from Kentucky, especially during Derby season! It's endearing and hard not to love. 

Humongous bat

 

The Downs

First off, the weather was per-fect.  Sunny, with highs in the 70s.  It was in the 50s when the race started and slowly warmed up so to me it never felt too hot.  You get to run by the ginormous Louisville Slugger bat and, as I said above, into the Churchill Downs infield where were already setting up for the festivities on race day.  They sell an unlimited number of tickets to the infield on race day, and it fills up with tens of thousands of really sober people (a little bit of sarcasm for ya).

One of the hills

Coming up to the halfway mark, you run through Iroquois Park, which is beautiful, but also the hilliest part of the race.  I swear this hill is MUCH bigger in reality.  

You also get to run a little bit through the University of Louisville's campus, past a row of fraternities and sororities.   I passed my sorority, Chi Omega's Louisville chapter house, along with the other frats and sororities, and it was obvious that either they were all on spring break or had stayed out the night before as there was not one single frat boy or sorority girl out there cheering. And this was at mile 19ish, so it wasn't THAT early in the morning. I mean, it was at least 11:00 a.m.  Side note to the Louisville Chi-O chapter...make cheering on the runners a Hootie Duty.

Note the absence of sorority girls

 This race was combined with the half-marathon, and the vibe certainly changed when the course split off.  There were probably about 10,000 half-marathon runners and a little over 2000 marathon runners.  But for being such a small race, there were very few areas devoid of supporters, which was a nice surprise.  

Unlike some races I've done, where the crowd waits for their family or friend to run by, to me it seemed like they were cheering for everybody..me included.  So thank you citizens of Louisville!  And if you were in the need for some additional inspiration, there was this guy.  Running in full firefighter gear for charity.  Pretty awesome, huh?  Speaking of charities and being awesome, if you wanna donate to the Autism Society, click on the link on the right there that says Autism Society and it will take you to my fundraising page. Thank you in advance!  

If you're looking for a great place to eat, head to Harvest in the neighborhood I think they are calling NuLu.  According to Will at the Beer Store (also a great place to stop) it is really called Butchertown because that is where all the slaughter houses used to be.  This sounds a bit morbid to me, maybe because I've been watching too many episodes of American Horror Story and The Following.  But Will says NuLu is the city's way of making the area cool and hip.  It does have a bit of a hipster vibe to it, but if you are anti-hipster, it's still a very cool part of town.  But I digress.... So to get back to Harvest, this place is a farm-to-table joint which sources it's ingredients pretty much entirely from a 100 mile radius.  There is a map on the wall where you can see where the food is coming from and all over the walls are the smiling portraits of the farmers supplying you with the delicious meal in front of you.  And their drinks are also fabulous.  Grab a beer afterwards at a place a couple doors down called "the garage" where they have lit up ping pong tables and fake grassy ledges to sit on.  It's lively and great people watching.  Another cool spot to hit up if you're into dive bars is a place downtown on Broadway called Freddie's.  The place has been open forever and the owner is a former WWII Navy vet.  I hear he's in there everyday at some point in the afternoon, but I was there in the evening.  And if you're from a place like Chicago, you might experience a bit of sticker shock from the prices....because they are so low!

Inside Freddie's. Copyright Todd Winters Photography

I also recommend a trip to Bardstown, which is about 40 minutes from downtown Louisville.  It's quaint and historic with some distilleries in the surrounding area. There is also a shop where you can get yourself a stuffed longhorn head for about $3,200 from probably the friendliest cowboy this side of the Mason-Dixon line. His dog Cheyenne is also incredibly friendly but apparently has a drinking problem since her dog dish is labeled "bourbon water." 

Barrels of bourbon. Copyright Todd Winters Photography

As always, thanks to everyone who supports me in running all these races.  I feel like I should give a shout out to Healthsource on Milwaukee here in Chicago, Drs. Kari and Robert who keep me injury free!   And and a huge thanks to everyone who has donated to my fundraising site and for your awesome words of encouragement.  I truly appreciate them and they certainly keep me motivated to continue moving forward on this goal.  Which is great, because I've got another one coming up here next weekend, on May 4th, in Providence, Rhode Island!

Kentucky, check! Copyright Todd Winters Photography

Spring training? Not exactly.

Happy St. Patrick's Day weekend!  I've been a bit MIA since the new year as I started a new job in November and have been trying to adapt to my new surroundings.   So to catch you all up, I've been training since the end of December for my next race, which will take place this April in Louisville, Kentucky.  The Derby Festival Marathon!  (does not take place during the Derby, btw).  So while I am training for a spring marathon, I would not call this spring training.   Not even close.   As everyone is aware, this winter, especially in Chicago, has been a rough one.  (last count I saw was over 75 inches of snow overall).   Here are some scenes from my training runs this winter....

 
 OK, so I did get one weekend in Florida thanks to a work-related trip earlier this month to Tampa. I'm not gonna lie, the sun felt awesome  But for the most part I've spend a LOT of time on the treadmill.  On the upside, I've really gotten into The Following, season one, and have had the opportunity to watch SEVERAL episodes on Netflix while on the treadmill. 

April is Autism Awareness month so I thought it fitting to dedicate my 18th marathon taking place in April to raising support and awareness for the Autism Society.  My inspiration for this comes from a good friend who has a son with autism.  This actually was something that I wasn't entirely aware of until I read a blog she wrote last April.  I already knew she was an overall cool and amazing person who appreciates fine music like JT, Bell Biv Devoe, and other classics like Keith Sweat.  But after reading her post,  I was in totally in awe of the challenges she and her family face daily, and how they face those challenges with a lot of humor and a lot of love.  Running a marathon seems easy in comparison.  Please take a few minutes to read her post, it's really fabulous and eye-opening. http://www.quadcitymomsblog.com/2013/04/02/patrick-a-blessing/  (Kelly, I hope you don't mind me sharing).  She's also a frequent blogger for Quad Cities Mom's Blog and hilarious, so read her stuff. : )

Please help me in supporting the Austism Society, which is dedicated to helping those affected by autism and also to helping those of us who haven't experienced autism first hand gain a better understanding of the condition.   Please head to my link to donate to the Autism Society.  http://www.gofundme.com/7kqr28.    I appreciate your support as I continue training for Louisville  next month and as I continue to train throughout April for #19 in Rhode Island the first weekend of May.

And if you live in the Quad Cities, you should consider participating in the Royal Ball Run this year in Milan. Here's a link for ya! http://royalballrun.com/    Don't worry, it's not a full marathon.  It's a 5K.  : )

Now to head down to that treadmill for a 10 mile run (it's currently 21 degrees outside and "feels like" 5). 

Making History with the Historic Route 66 Marathon!

This may not be the kind of history that will make history books one day, but a historical one for me in that it was technically my first (and probably last) ultra marathon!  The Tulsa Route 66 Marathon gave runners the option to take a detour which adds 0.3 miles to the race making it a total of 26.5 miles.  The detour takes you through Tulsa's Center of the Universe landmark.  A quick explanation for this landmark:  Apparently if you stand in the center of this circle and yell you can hear your voice echo but no one outside of the circle can hear the echo.  I'm not sure if this actually works as I didn't hear any echo, but maybe I didn't yell loud enough.  It was a tough decision to take this detour as it's placed between miles 25 and 26 of the race (a bit cruel if you ask me).  But despite the fact that I couldn't feel my fingers (temperatures were in the 20s) I opted to take the detour, and I was rewarded with this fancy coin!

 I certainly didn't expect for Tulsa to have so many rolling hills, but it did.  I was wondering when it would actually become flat, and it never seemed like it did.  But I have to say that the people of Tulsa were incredibly friendly and supportive.  As I mentioned, it was freeeeeezing, and many people had little fire pits set up in their driveways.  Probably more to keep them warm while cheering the runners on, and I have to give them credit for being out there, but they were more than happy to let you warm your hands and buns at the fire for a few moments.  One group even offered me a bloody mary!  Businesses were also letting runners hop in to warm up for a quick minute.  I don't know much about Tulsa, but there is certainly an affluent area that we ran through.  I've never seen so many women in fur coats cheering runners on.  And holy moly the mega churches!

Mega Methodist Church

Mega Presbyterian Church

I had a chance to walk around downtown Tulsa the day before when I walked to the Tulsa Convention Center to pick up my race packet.  Actually one of the least frustrating Expos I've been too, so good job Route 66 Marathon!  Tulsa has some interesting architecture.  Lots of art deco looking buildings. And like I said, lots of churches. Big, fancy ones. 

Tulsa also had some interesting buildings, bridges, fountains.  Although it was cold and windy as I walked around and eventually I couldn't feel my legs, I enjoyed the couple of hours I spent milling around downtown Tulsa.  And unexpectedly, Tulsa also had some pretty good restaurants downtown.  I stayed at the Fairfield Inn, and if you plan on running this race, it's location is perfect.  Easy walk to the start and REALLY close to the finish line, which is very important.  By the way, they had hot spaghetti at the finish line, which actually seemed appetizing, compared to the plain hard bagels and bananas most races have.  Of course, I was freezing and anything hot might have been appealing, but another "well done!" to the Route 66 Marathon.  

Oh, right, I was going to tell you about some restaurants. I highly recommend The Tavern, which was pretty much across the street from the Fairfield Inn.  Very cool place, sort of a gastropub.  I actually had lunch there on Saturday AND dinner there on Sunday.  Grilled cheese (which included turkey and a pepper spread) and tomato bisque for lunch and for dinner; a delicious kale salad with beets, brussels sprouts, apple and pumpkin. Pretty fancy, huh? I would not expect to find such interesting and delicious food in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but lo and behold, there was.  Oh, and I would also suggest the Rusty Crane for some good, but slightly atypical bar food.

It is is always hard to roll out of bed when it's 20 degrees out and decide to run 26.2 miles (or 26.5 in this case).  But there was a quote that I had seen posted on the Route 66 Marathon's facebook page the day before that stood out to me.  It said, "Never take the finish line for granted.  We are the lucky ones."  I try to remember this every time I run a marathon, how lucky I am for being able to get out there and have that experience.  And as it's Thanksgiving today, it seems appropriate to recognize I have a lot to be thankful for.  I'm thankful that I have good health so I can run all of these races.  I'm thankful that I have so many friends and family that are supportive of me in everything I do.  And I'm thankful for having the opportunity to share my experiences with all of you who are so kind to read about them.  A safe and happy holiday season to all of you and thank you for all your support through 2013 and through 17 states!  I wonder which states 2014 will take me to?  

Inspiration. Marine Corps style.

I always thought that as I was training for this race that it would be one of my favorites.  Well, as only the Marine Corps can do, it lived up to my expectations and then some.  This was my first trip to Washington D.C. and one of my most memorable races to date.  Of course, much of that was due to a great host (the generous Jon Garcia) and my fabulous travel partner (airport seizure super hero Jessica Statz).

We arrived in D.C. and were whisked away to the White House Garden Tour by Jon.  Jon's VIP status got us in the short line to enter so we didn't have to wait for tickets, which is always a bonus.  As cheesy as it sounds, it was pretty cool to be on the grounds where so many president's and first ladies had been.  And apparently they all planted a tree.  Each tree planting seemed to be memorialized by the same silly ceremonial dirt-throwing photo.  Kinda cool though to see those photos of trees planted decades ago and compare the size of the tree in the photo to the monstrosity it has grown into today.  Circle of life people...good stuff.  

After that we went to the Expo to get our goods.  I'm not going to comment much on the expo other than to say it was as annoying as most race expos are.  Why do I never like those things? After the expo, Jon took us to a traditional carb loading dinner at a Lebanese restaurant.  In my opinion, way better than some boring old pasta!  I'm pretty sure eating fried cheese and skewered meat is the best way to prepare for a race.

And now it's race day.  Despite having done a few marathons before, I always wake up the morning of a race (wondering why I've decided to do this since I have to get up so early) feeling like I haven't trained enough, that I've forgotten something really important like a sports bra, and pretty much have an overall feeling of being unprepared.  Fortunately, I remembered everything so now it was just whether my training was enough.

Waiting for the blast

I walked in the dark to the race start line with a friend of Jessica's, Sarah, who was also running the marathon.  We walked past an eerily dark and beautiful Arlington Cemetery to get there, passing through a bag check point manned by Marines making sure we were all safe for the start of the race.

 

The Howitzer

The race start was by far the most patriotic one I've experienced, of course, that probably shouldn't come as a surprise.  As the National Anthem played, paratroopers dropped from the sky with the largest American flags I've ever seen.   And of course, the Marines wouldn't dare start off the race with a tiny little gun pop.  They go all out Marine Corps style and start it off with a Howitzer.  And so with the blast of a cannon, the race begins! 

We started the race in Arlington, Virginia and made our way into D.C. and back.  We ran along the Potomac where you could catch a glimpse of Georgetown University.  We ran along the National Mall, past all the Smithsonian Museums and right up to and past Capital Hill.  All along the course were Marines, either standing serious in watch to make sure we were all safe, or cheering all of us runners on to keep us motivated.  There were also soldiers participating in the race in full gear and I have no idea how they could do that with those giant packs on, as I was struggling just getting little ole me to the finish.

 One of the most memorable and emotional moments was a right around mile 12.  The organization wear blue: run to remember had set up a runner support area.  As you ran along, you ran past sign after sign of people who had died during active duty. Their names, tour of duty and date of death were posted. The faces seemed to go on forever.  There were so many and they looked so young.  Running a marathon, at least for me, is always an emotional event. Seeing this, well, brought all the emotions right to the surface and I'll admit I was tearing up.  And while this all might sound depressing, it actually was really inspiring.  Because when I could feel the blisters forming on my feet (and for some reason, I had several this race) I thought of those faces.  I thought about how lucky I was to be able to be out there doing this when so many couldn't, and I cared a lot less about the blisters, and my tired legs and feet.  And at the risk of sounding cliche, the sacrifice made by these soldiers and their families.... well suffering through 26.2 miles pales in comparison.

To bring the mood back up,  let me mention the several signs along the course that were pretty entertaining.  Since the race was in jeopardy of being canceled because of the government shut down, there were several "You're running better than our government" signs which made me chuckle.  Another chuckler, "1 out of 100 runners poos themselves.  Are you that one?"  Actually, there were a lot more signs than I'm used to seeing relating to poo.  But who doesn't love a good poo reference?  And of course, there was the typical "I love turtles" poster. Huh?

And then there was the finish!  Oh, the beautiful finish line, which was just at the top of the steepest hill of the race.  Leave it to the Marines to toss a big challenging hill in front of you the last 0.2 miles!  If you made it up this hill, you were rewarded by literally hundreds of Marines lining the finish corral and each one of them was personally congratulating and shaking as many sweaty runners' hands as they could.  (No one told me that Marines were so attractive, by the way).  And when you finally got to the medals, one was placed around your neck by a Marine, who then congratulated and saluted you.  I often get feel a little emotional at the finish line, but this just made the moment so much better, because it's not everyday that a civilian gets a salute from a Marine.

A truly amazing, great, amazing experience!  And except for that last stretch on the expressway, crowd support was ample all the way.

The remainder of the day was spent walking around Georgetown.  Wow, are there some amazing houses.  We hit up the historic Martin's Tavern which is celebrating it's 80th year.  And according to American Way magazine, it's rumored to be the place where JFK proposed to Jackie O.  Regardless if that is true or not, they place was still pretty cool.  Although, I was not thrilled by the bathrooms being upstairs.  Stairs are the enemy post race!  So not cool.

Sorta reminds me of my alma mater, Illinois State. Sorta, but not at all.

Yay laws!

E + MC zzzzzzz....

The day after the race was jam packed full of sight seeing!  The Capital, where our gracious host Jon got us a little behind the scenes peek of the Senate Press Room.  He took us the historic Ebbit's where we had lunch.  He took pictures of our butts in front of the Lincoln Memorial.  He showed us planes that went really fast, and outer space fecal bags. We saw the Vietnam Memorial and sat on Albert Einstein's lap.  What more could a girl ask for?  Best. Host. Ever.

You sir, a question?

Vietnam Memorial

We ended our last day in D.C. visiting some of the Smithsonian museums.  The art galleries, the Natural History Musuem.  I'm pretty sure I have never done so much walking after running a marathon.  It was pretty painful, I'm not gonna lie.

Despite the tired legs, I'm glad I spent an hour on my computer hitting refresh over and over and over and over to have made it into registration before it closed.  I'm thankful for having the chance to participate in such a great event and to bring awareness and support to a great organization like Pits for Patriots.  I'm thankful to everyone who donated to my fundraising event.  I'm thankful for all of those who've served and continue to serve in our military.  And as always, I'm thankful to all of you who read this blog and continue to support me.  That's a lot of thankfuls.  Tis the season to be thankful, right?  Each and every race I run, I'm inspired by the runners around me who are either running for a cause, in memory of a lost loved one, or to celebrate overcoming some of life's hardest challenges.  So most of all, I'm thankful to all those complete strangers for their continued inspiration.