On Saturday morning I took Leroy for a walk and then spent the rest of the morning and afternoon tidying up the apartment and catching up on some reading. I'm a bit of a magazine-aholic, and with some major book-reading going over the past couple of weeks, the piles of unread magazines have been increasing at a rapid pace. And don't even talk to me about my New Yorker stockpile. I think I'm at least 10 issues behind at this point.
D arrived home from a week in the field in (snowy) Colorado around 5p on Saturday, and we decided to head out to Rita's to get a snack, dog in tow. We both got a chocolate-vanilla swirl custard; I have to admit I wasn't that impressed, though I'm a bit of a soft-serve snob (is that even possible?). We'll definitely go back at some point for water ice, however, since that's their claim to fame. Six o'clock came and went, and aside from a storm brewing, which quickly blew over, we did not witness any rapturous events. Which I took as a sign that we'd have to come up with something for dinner. We opted to punt and got a vegetarian pizza from Lazaro's, which we ate alongside a(nother) salad made from the greens in our CSA box. We spent the rest of the evening watching the latest Harry Potter movie (though I completely forgot what had happened in the previous movie, so was a little lost). To bed around 11p.
Up bright and early on Sunday -- 5:15a to be exact -- I had a half-marathon to run! After my traditional pre-race meal of a large glass of water and a slice of bread slathered in peanut butter and jam, I headed out the door around 6a. Though the race start was located about five miles away in the Belmont district of Fairmount Park, luckily there was shuttle service between the official hotel at 18th and Market and the starting line. I hopped on the bus once I arrived and made it to the start with plenty of time to spare.
The lines for the port-a-potties were a bit long, but I decided to wait it out, since I didn't want to have to scramble to find facilities along the course, nor did I want to spend the entire race wishing I had gone earlier. This resulted in my starting the race three minutes after the official start, but given that everything is chip timed, the "official time" really didn't matter all that much.
The first five or so miles went by quickly, and even up through mile eight I was feeling great. Around mile nine my joints began to protest, but upon the arrival of mile ten I was ready to rock it out. With only a measly 5K (3.1 miles) to go, I decided to kick up my pace. The last half-mile included a bit of a hill (luckily, most of the hills on the course were downhill, but at some point, what goes down must go up!), but I chugged upward, and sprinted toward the finish once I hit the last turn to the finish line. I ended up finishing in 1:57:09, a personal record. My previous record was 1:59:25 in the 2007 Chicago Distance Classic. I was quite excited to run so well, particularly since I hadn't run that distance in nearly two years.
D had planned to walk with Leroy up to greet me at the finish line, but unfortunately the two of them never made it as the directions to get to Fairmount Park were a bit confusing. I waited around for about an hour to see if they would show up before taking a shuttle back to Center City. The two of them were back at home, resting after their epic eight-mile walk.
I showered and then D and I walked over to Morning Glory Diner for brunch. I opted for the Monkey French Toast:
Monkey French Toast: challah French toast stuffed with caramelized bananas & mangoes, topped with caramel sauce and whipped cream
Holy cow, it was good. But I'm pretty sure I made up for my half-marathon-induced calorie-deficit for the day, and then some. Following breakfast, we walked down to the Headhouse Farmers' Market, where things were winding down. We were still able to purchase a loaf of honey wheat bread and a dozen eggs from pasture-raised hens. Success!
Back at home for nap time. (Well deserved, I think!) Dinner was a repeat of Saturday night's meal -- except this time the pizza was cold, and since someone ate all the praline pecans, I made up a batch of homemade croutons to top our salads instead. The remainder of the evening was spent watching the Harry Potter marathon on the Family Channel (wild and crazy!) and calling it an early night. All in all, a great weekend. Now I've just got to figure out what my next running goal will be. I'm still not quite convinced that I want to run a full marathon, but my great experience at the Odyssey Half-Marathon has definitely got me thinking.
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