Tornado Tuesday in Cincinnati...

Today at Cincinnati Children's we had a Code Grey! Code Grey is a tornado warning, and all employees and staff have to go into the basement.  So, I spent a good 15 minutes in the basement of the research building board and without my cell phone.  Since when did I become so addicted to my iPhone.  It was grueling because I wanted to know what was being posted about the weather, I've become a glutton for instant information.

Tornado adverted and all are safe.  I just hope little Philip is alright at home (he gets a bit of anxiety with thunder).

Great weekend...

This past weekend was tour de Kentucky and loads of fun!  I headed to Lexington to spend the weekend with Jonah.  On Saturday after getting in a decent run we headed off for our first live horse racing experience at Keeneland.  People were tailgating and dressed from casual to formal.  We were able to watch several races and bet on one.  Although I chalk it up to beginner's luck we won $5 (we didn't bet all that much) and picked the winning horse!  GO US!  After having a great time watching horses we headed to Shelbyville, KY to watch Noremac play at a block party!  Noremac rocked the block and were the best band of the evening!!!  If you haven't heard noremac here's a link.  Mo's husband is the drummer :)  The show was made even better by the presence of lots of friends we don't see that often.  We stayed in Shelbyville that night and the next morning I took my first trip to Waffle house for breakfast with friends.  The summary of this weekend......lots of great friends, good food, and fun new experiences.

Lots of work to do this week, the memories from the weekend will keep me going!

Chicago Marathon 10.10.10 in review...

Last Sunday was the day to put my months of training to the test......race day.  This year's Chicago Marathon was on 10.10.10, who could have picked a more perfect date?  We arrived in Chicago on Saturday afternoon and headed to the race expo.  The anxiety I've been experiencing for this race is no secret, however, as I was standing outside the expo waiting to meet up with Mo I realized that I was no longer anxious but extremely excited.  There was a confidence knowing that I trained hard and I was physically ready for this challenge.  The night before the race we laid out all of our gear for the next day and went to bed early for a good nights sleep.

The morning of the race I got up, got ready, and caught the bus to Millenium Park.  We hit a hiccup when we got to the bus when we found out that we wouldn't get change for the bus fare.....so we would have ended up overpaying by about $16.  Luckily, there were some very generous runners who had an extra bus pass that we got to use!

The race started at about 75F, a bit warm for a marathon!  The first 16 miles felt great and a bit warm.  Then we hit a stretch of road that was in the direct sun....and a bank thermometer read 98F in the sun by the asphalt.  I had salt caked on myself and started to feel sick to my stomach making it hard to take in any gels, water, or gatorade.  After run-walking the last 8 miles or so I ended up finishing and finding my way to the runners reunite area to meet up with Jonah and some of our friends.  I was so thankful to be done...I have to admit it was the hardest thing I've ever done!  The alert system for the marathon went from green in the morning to red by the time I started run-walking.  Red alert is just below the black alert when the race is  shut down due to extreme conditions.  Although it took me about 5:27 (nearly an hour slower than the last marathon I did) to finish there were still TONS of people finishing at the same time and after me.  Approximately, half of the field finished after me.  Insane!  I decided I needed to run another marathon in the next year so this experience isn't the last memory of a marathon.

On the bright side....boystown was the most exciting and motivating area of town.  If the whole marathon was that energetic it would have been amazing!

I'm glad I experienced this type of race and I'm slowly recovering this week!

4 days til the race...

Today is supposed to be a rest day...but....I took the pup on a 45 min walk and did yoga.  That counts as resting right?  Well I'm still nervous about this weekend, but after yoga and lots of stretching the last two days my sore muscles are virtually no more.  I think my dog is enjoying the tapering period since he gets many more walks and a bit more attention.

In the spirit of relaxing I'm going to a new restaurant with friends tonight, poco a poco, and it's a tapas style latin place.  I'm hoping the food is good, but if it's not I still get to spend some time with friends before I head home to begin packing for the weekend.  (I have to start early or I'll forget something.)  I'm also considering revamping my playlist for the marathon and adding a few new songs!  This is going to be a great weekend!!

I need to through out a big GOOD LUCK to the Cincinnati Reds, they are playing their first playoff game since 1990!  The city is a buzz of excitement.

Totally started to freak yesterday...

Yesterday I realized that it's was exactly one week until I run the Chicago marathon.  Up until this point I've been excited and I felt relatively ready since I had completed the training.  Yesterday as Jonah and I were running errands I began to get the dreaded tapering blues.  There was a mini freak out when I starting thinking about all the bad things that could happen.  This morning I got up and did a short run, but I'm still feeling nervous.  Let's help that watching spirit of the marathon tonight will help get me excited and less nervous about Sunday 10.10.10.  Only 6 days until the race!

Finally fall

The first few days of fall were scorchers with highs in and around the 90F mark.  But finally fall has made it's fashionably late appearance this past week, and we enjoyed a full weeks worth of amazing fall weather.  There's a smell that comes along with fall, and I love it.  The mornings are cool and crisp while the afternoons are sunny and mild.  It's perfect weather to be outside and to snuggle up with a cup of tea and read in the late evening.  


Last weekend I ventured out of Cincinnati and to Rouster's apple orchard.  I picked up some delicious honeycrisp apples, cider and applebutter (all true signs of fall's arrival).  Can you tell that I love fall?  


Fall also makes me want to get out and run.  It's like it activates the running gene.  I'm sure it has a lot to do with the low humidity and cool temps.  So, as we're approaching Chicago marathon 10.10.10 my nerves are a little soothed by the excitement of fall.  However, I'm still super nervous and anxious about the marathon and everything turning out alright.  


It's be best time of the year!  So, get outside to enjoy the wonderful weather and have something pumpkin and/or cinnamon flavored!!!