Race Recap: Heartland Half Marathon

October 3, 2016 - Mel 3 Comments

So, I ran a half marathon to train for my half marathon, and to do that, I drove to Omaha for a little running adventure. The closest long-distance race to me was in Nebraska for my 14-miler, and it seems like every runner that I know in Iowa is already tapering (*gulp*). The Heartland Marathon series, presented by the Omaha Running Club, has a full marathon, half marathon, a 10K and marathon relay. And YAY, I get to cross state #5 off my map!

Registering for this race the week before, I was a little nervous in how I would do all of this on my own — this was MAJORLY out of my comfort zone. I also freaked out a little about not having limited details on the website (including not having confirmation of the course for the full, which can sometimes mean cancellation of the whole event) and not a lot of information about water stops, etc. on the course. For a race from the local running club, you’d think they understand what things runners are looking for when it comes to race day, but maybe we’re all just a little too close to things.

heartland-half-blog-runner-30something

Registration and Cost: Oh, boy, this was an expensive race for me (when considering hotel, travel and late registration) — I tried recouping some cost by bringing a BUNCH of food with me. That said, cost of the race after fees was $102.13 (I think it was $95 before fees). OUCH.

Expo and Packet Pick-Up: Your typical small race expo that was at the OTHER convention center in Omaha at the Ramada (south side-ish of downtown). There was no race day packet pick-up. Very cool that Olympic runner Frank Shorter was a guest speaker at the Expo!

Free Swag: Another long-sleeve tech tee to add to my collection — and a beer koozie with the race logo o it (the joke was that you carry it on the course, and that was how they knew to give you beer instead of water LOL).

heartland-half-marathon-blog-running-30something

Bag Check and Transportation: There was a bag check at the start line, but I didn’t know about it until I was at the start line. I walked from my hotel, and the weather was OK enough not to have to bring any additional layers. The website mentioned having shuttles to the start line from the host hotel… but not if they were taking runners back (a big reason why I decided to stay downtown).

Start Line: As I mentioned, the host hotel was quite a drive from the start line of the race. I had a mild freakout when the email arrived for race day info that included a different start line location than what was on the website (it wasn’t different, but I just read it different). It ended up just being a non-helpful location of a FORMER store (hashtag, places that are not there anymore).

I was super impressed by the start line — it was like a mini festival before the race, with a few vendor booths, a line of port-o-potties, the chocolate milk guy (!!!) and some hot coffee (AWESOME). The race started at 7:00 am, which is really dark at this time of year, but they had a bunch of lights. I was more nervous about walking in the dark by myself to the start line, which ended up being OK.

Weather: I wasn’t too happy to see 90% humidity on my weather app the morning of the race. But good news was that the rain moved out of the area, so I didn’t have to worry about forgetting to bring my rain jacket. Small wins. It wasn’t super sunny until the last couple miles of the race, and the cloud coverage kept it the weather pretty comfortable.

Course: Out and back course, navigating two states! Not quite the experience of crossing the national border like in the Niagara International Marathon, but still a very cool race highlight! The front three miles of the course had a few unexpected hills, which are always fun for me. After you cross into Iowa, there is a lot of time spent on the trails, but it was flat and tolerable. To be honest, I found running around the cornfields more peaceful this time around than I did during the gnarly heat of Dam to Dam.

Fans: What I loved most about the “fans” part of the experience were the volunteers. I LOVED being able to hear them shout “Gatorade first; water last” before you approached the aid stations. THIS IS SO HELPFUL!!! And once you got to the stations, everyone was super supportive, cheering you on to continue. There were chalk drawings on the sidewalks near where the relay exchanges were, too. Man, this Midwest Nice is LEGIT.

heartland-marathon-omaha-start-and-finish — Dark Start and Finish Line Showcase of the Race — the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge!

Experience: The coolest experience of the race was running over the cable-stayed Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge — a 3,000-foot footbridge across the Missouri River, where you cross the border from Iowa back to Nebraska — and, perfectly, the “beginning of the end” approach to the finish line. It was lit up in the darkness at the start and a really neat element of the race experience.

Finish Line: Did I mention chocolate milk? 😉

There was also a TON of food available at the finish line — bananas, orange wedges, snack bars, cookies, pastries, chips, coffee. It was impressive! I didn’t stick around too long, as I had another mile to do. I did a portion of it (.7 miles), and then realized how tired my body was. So, I jogged back to the finish line party to hear the overall winners for the half, grabbed a cup of coffee, and then walked back to my hotel — on the way back, naturally, meeting someone who relocated to Omaha from Pennsylvania (Harrisburg). It was cool to do that East Coast vs Midwest exchange for a few minutes with someone who gets it.

After Party: Party of one for this lady (read: shower and a sandwich back at the hotel), and then I had a two-hour drive back home.

Bonus: After the race (the same day!), I received an email of my individual results. The race’s results page included a LOT of info via Online Race Results. And I really like that the race provided a participant summary:
Number of finishers: 253
Number of females: 153
Number of males: 100
Average time: 2:12:25

Notable 30-somethings: Shout out to Ann Hubl (age 37) taking Overall Female at 1:35:43 — WHAT AN AMAZING TIME!

Random Bullshit: My hotel key didn’t work when I got back to my room. GAH, SO ANNOYING!

OVERALL
The Great: If you already follow me on Instagram, I ran another PR race!
The Good: Despite my initial thought of this race missing some helpful info, I thought it was incredibly well organized, and I really enjoyed my experience.
The Bad: Anxiety before the race was kind of dumb.
The Ugly: The start time at 7:00 was SO DARK.

Splits (per my Garmin):
10:29 (1) / 10:47 (2) / 10:18 (3) / 10:18 (4) / 10:12 (5) / 10:33 (6) / 10:25 (7) / 10:19 (8) / 10:03 (9) / 9:53 (10) / 10:10 (11) / 9:43 (12) / 9:15 (13) / [8:32]

This is my first half with no splits in the 11-minute range. This race was some WORK for sure. It felt hard, and I kept pushing when my mental game was starting to fail me. And when I had that moment of “I can beat a 2:15,” I pushed even harder to get it. That last mile felt like the LONGEST length to the finish line of any race that I’ve ever done — and I was kicking it in at a VERY low 8-minute pace to end (I definitely thought I was going to throw up lol).

heartland-half-omaha-running-blogger-pr

OFFICIAL RESULTS
2:14:23 — almost a 3-minute PR!
(My 10k split was 1:04:58)
13th in 35-39 age group
156th overall

Weekly Therapy: Pumpkin all the things!

October 1, 2016 - Mel

the week:
Well, there went September. BYE!

pumpkin spice everything fall october
YAY, FALL!

I’m so excited that Fall weather has arrived, and I spent my week mapping out what races I wanted to do over the next couple months (including staying up late again last night to register for one that frequently sells out). I also spent a considerable amount of time pinning pumpkin recipes. I’m pretty excited about my schedule — varied distances, trail races, another half marathon, AND a fun “adventure” run.

If you missed my news on twitter, I committed to running the Vermont City Marathon in 2017! Online registration opens up on rOctober 10 — save $5 with discount code BibRaveDsct17.

weekend:
I’m off on a little adventure to Omaha. BYE!

seven things, seven days:
1. Kinda bummed out about the membership fee increase for LifeTime (unsure if it’s a global pricing change). I’m reconsidering the ROI — particularly because I utilize the facility for a lot of special events, which cost me even MORE on top of my monthly charge. Ehhhhh, I hate making these kind of decisions.
2. Small win this week: I wore my hair down for an ENTIRE day of work!
3. Now that I’m officially on the payroll, adjusting to not getting paid every week is HARD.
4. 3 Reasons to own your career in 2017 — love this article, particularly the section on “martyrdom” {via INC}
5. The death of the phone call. Also BYE. {via Slate}
6. I had no idea that The Secret of NIMH was based on a real-life research project — how did I spend the bulk of my childhood and adult life not realizing that the NIMH of the movie was the acronym for National Institute of Mental Health?! {via Atlas Obscura}
7. Practice matters… but it doesn’t make perfect. {via New Yorker}

Weekly Therapy: A post-Olympics haze.

August 26, 2016 - Mel

the week:
I skipped last week’s update, as I was traveling to Ohio for my grandmother’s memorial service — and basically the biggest family reunion of my life. We also drove to Pittsburgh to spend a little time there (and have margaritas and my favorite burgers!). While in Pittsburgh, my former roller derby league was hosting a 10-year anniversary celebration of its league with an alumni celebration, and I was happy that I went out to be a part of that history.

Oh. This place looks familiar! ?? #lovepgh #roadtrip #timeformargaritas

A photo posted by Mel! (@melliesmel) on Aug 20, 2016 at 11:05am PDT

Naturally, I cried a LOT last weekend — returning to Pittsburgh made me miss it a whole lot, while also realizing it would never be the same even if I eventually returned. And then I had a lot of stress at my job (including interviews!), and then my period started five days early (because haaaaaaa OF COURSE!). So I’m trying to find some balance with my emotions again.

weekend:
So much to catch up on at home (I seriously have dead plants all over the place)! But we also plan to take the bikes out on the trails, and then I have another 8-miler. I do plan to have some fun on the golf course on Sunday (after brunch, natch).

seven things, seven days:
1. Catching up with one of my uncles, I found out that he runs 4 miles every morning and is on a 400+ day run streak. It was kind of fun to have someone in my family to geek out over running with (though he is definitely more intrinsically motivated than me).
2. Flew first class for the first time, and now I can’t ever travel another way.
3. I always wondered why cars had heated seats but not cooling seats, and randomly, our rental car in Ohio had COOLING SEATS! They are weird and not at all what I expected.
4. I’m putting races on my 2017 calendar, which means WOOOOO training through winter! (It gets me sincerely so excited.)
5. The Olympics are over, and since I was traveling Sunday night, I missed the closing ceremonies. I also didn’t hear much about them. How were they?
6. So you just won a gold medal… welcome to the rest of your life! {via Washington Post}
7. The myths and realities of doing what you love. {via Lifehacker}

Sunday Lately for this 30-Something:: Week 80

July 10, 2016 - Mel 3 Comments

Blogger Tribe_Sunday Lately Happy Sunday! Sunday Lately is a weekly linkup hosted by the Blogger Tribe (lead by Angelica, Meghan, Nicole, and Katy) where everyone is welcome to pop a tent and share some S’mores. Catch up and read all of my Sunday Lately posts and camp out with the Tribe on Facebook!

The prompts for July 10 (Week 80) :: Completing, Visiting, Repeating, Writing, Scheduling

kansas city giant shuttlecock art museum blogger — My favorite part of road trips: Finding random giant objects!

COMPLETING:: my last day of vacation. Bummer, man. Nine days off seemed like so many when I started…

VISITING:: Taking a road trip to a few of our nearby cities was a really fun way to see different parts of our state (and cross another state off the map). We’ll definitely be making future visits to Kansas City and Omaha — and I’d like to go back and check out Council Bluffs, since we skipped that part of our adventure on the way home.

REPEATING:: Going through the motions of another Sunday, preparing for my work-week with meal planning and scheduling my workouts and putting together outfits for the week. I have a little variety planned, so it won’t feel like I’m being too repetitive and inflexible with my habits (and just returning to work as I left it). That’s probably the worst thing for returning from vacation — to just drop back into your old routine without giving a little pause to reflect on what’s working, what’s not, and how to manage your time even better.

WRITING:: So, I’m writing out a plan of action for my work week to include what days I need to pack items/bring things with me to work — and actually SETTING THOSE ITEMS ASIDE and/or putting bags in my car. I really have a tendency to make big plans and get progressively overwhelmed by the novelty or preparation as the week builds, so taking some time to plan in advance to help prevent the potential burnout from making too many decisions during the week. Sunday is really a great day for me to GYST (aka: Get Your Shit Together).

SCHEDULING:: Sleep! I’m nowhere near “fixed” on my sleeping schedule that started falling apart before vacation. If last night’s awful cycle is any indication, this is going to be a ROUGH week. Not to mention that I also have an appointment with a new dentist. :-/

Weekly Therapy: RTYI

October 9, 2015 - Mel

the week:
I’ve felt rushed, tense, and scattered all week. I’ve felt burned out by city life. I’ve been mostly unmotivated to work out. Not enough hours in the day to do everything on my list. Not enough days in the week to catch up. Craving to slow down and feel some sense of peace… but apparently not this week.

weekend:
Checking out for the weekend. Bye, Felicia. See above.

Although I’ll admit that I am super-bummed to be missing the Harvest Moon race this weekend. This 5K has been my regular race each year (or more closely: my annual fitness test), even when I wasn’t training at all. There’s also a 10-mile race as part of the fun.

52 books in 52 weeks:
#33: In the Unlikely Event by by Judy Blume – I haven’t read a good bit of fiction in SO LONG. And I absolutely loved this book. True to form, upon reaching the last 100 pages, I couldn’t put it down.

That said, I’m still 6 books behind schedule for this year’s goal. Since I’m shutting down over the weekend, I’ll definitely finish another 1-2. But I’m definitely feeling some stress at being able to catch up (for what it’s worth: at least, I’m still enjoying reading outside of school materials every day, very much).

seven things, seven days:
1. So, they’re filming a Ewan McGregor movie literally right outside my door this week; however, don’t let that hype fool you — it’s wholly disruptive and annoying. Thankfully, night two of filming was a lot quieter.
2. It’s on my 30s Life List to bike the GAP Trail — now revised as a “luxe” cycling trip.
3. Speaking of my 30-something bucket list, I have a LOT of stuff to cross off in less than two years!
4. Relevant: WHY you should taper {via Runners World}
5. Also relevant: How to stop skipping your workouts FOR GOOD (or, at least, for today) {via MyFitnessPal blog}
6. The psychology behind FOMO {via Slate}
7. MORE RELEVANCE: What happens to your body during a marathon. Pretty interesting video!

Race Recap: Akron Marathon Relay

September 28, 2015 - Mel

I’m so happy that I was asked to join a relay team for the Akron Marathon. This was my first relay — and one of my favorite races so far. I’ll likely plan to do the half next year because I had such a great experience. Thanks again to my teammates Chelsea, Lauren, Joe and Sarah!

Thanks to Pittsburgh City Girl for this group shot!

Registration and Cost: Individual cost for 5-person relay team was $40 each. Registration page currently shows a cost of $48/per person, so the price must go up at certain intervals as the race approaches (which is typical). Akron Marathon reps were giving out discount codes during the Pittsburgh Marathon Expo, which were not redeemable for the relay portion, but good to look out for if you’re interested in running this next year.

Expo and Packet Pick-Up: The Expo was definitely not as large as Pittsburgh, but easy to navigate with what seemed to be many of the usual expo vendors. I was a little confused about packet pick-up, and ended up at the t-shirt table first… then had to re-route back to the escalators to get my bib. THEN go back and get my shirt. Directional flow just wasn’t intuitive to me, despite there being a blue line right from the escalator to the packet pick-up. DUH. (I know, I know, that’s ALL on me.)

Bag Check: I didn’t do bag check for this race. But on the way to my relay exchange spot, there was a woman who walked along with me and couldn’t find where the drop-off was for Leg 2. Because I wasn’t on that leg, I had zero clue how to help. She was super anxious though.

Weather: BEAUTIFUL, and on the cooler side, especially since the race started in the dark (no thank you, 7am start time). Sitting around waiting for the relay was an interesting experience — and a little cold, to be honest. But I made some start line friends and settled in with my coffee and snacks. I didn’t anticipate building up so much nervous energy while waiting… I just wanted to run!

Course: I really loved my leg of the course — I had one of the steady climbs of the race (there was certainly a worse hill though on Leg 5), which I didn’t mind. This part of the relay leg also took me right by my sister’s house, so I was able to see her and my niece cheering from the tree lawn (or, “devil’s strip” if you’re *that* kind of Ohioan). My leg was 5.5 miles, which started downtown and proceeded out of the city up (!!) W. Market and onto Merriman, continuing onto Portage Path and through the (gorgeous!) Stan Hywet grounds. My exchange ended at Firestone High School.

Heartrate Hill was TOUGH (not part of my relay leg, but part of my run)

I needed to get some extra mileage in, so I ended up looping into the fifth relay leg of the course on the opposite side of Firestone (sidewalks and off the course when I could to not actually be “participating”) to get myself back into the city. Which is really easy to do when there’s a blue line to follow! Some of the spectators were hilarious, commenting “You didn’t run enough?” and “Over achiever!” as I passed through. Unfortunately, I ran out of time to complete the full 18 miles that were on my training schedule, as we had plans in the afternoon with the family.

Fans and Experience: At Pittsburgh, I felt really overwhelmed by the crowds; Akron, I felt just the opposite. They invigorated me — I was giving high fives and thanking everyone, talking to other runners. I didn’t run with my headphones for my entire leg. Music, food (people with oranges are the best!), Swedish fish… probably mimosas, had I asked — everyone was so freaking fun and excited to be cheering us on.

AK-Rowdy lives up to its name, even when celebrating the marathon. I was positively inspired to be one of these kinds of spectators at Pittsburgh next year to experience the opposite side (side note: I’ve decided that I don’t want to run Pittsburgh next year).

"Blue Line badasses this way" -- in front of DBA restaurant (and where I had an AMAZING dinner the night before the race). — “Blue Line badasses this way” — in front of DBA restaurant (and where I had an AMAZING dinner the night before the race).

Finish Line: I didn’t finish off the fifth leg, so after my extra 5.8 miles, I looped around the stadium to check out the finishers festival and meet up with my relay teammates.

Chocolate Milk in my hand, and I am happy from a good run.

CHOCOLATE MILK! That always makes my day. I knew that I would basically be left out of the post-race noms, considering they were a) beer, b) pizza, and c) a power bar with gluten in it; so having chocolate milk canceled out any ill feelings.

Bonus: It was really nice to have water, port o potties and silver blankets available at the end of the relay exchange. Again, this was my first relay, so I’m sure this is probably customary. There were also shuttles available to take runners back to the finishers festival (I opted to run back).

Medals and Swag: Another SUPER bright t-shirt, which I’m pumped about. The medal reminds me a lot of the Runner of Steel medal from Pittsburgh. The race sent out a virtual “race bag” email with discounts and such, but there was a nice physical bag given out with packet pick-up.

Since I ran miles 20-26, I got to see a bunch of different marathoners perspectives and personalities: some looked like they were dying, others smiling and talking to their running mates, another was seemingly video recording her experience by way of the cyclist who kept riding along with her at several places. This one poor girl though was breathing SO HARD at Mile 22 it took everything in me to not tell her to stop and slow down for a minute. But… #notmyrace.

OVERALL
The Great: It totally made my day to see my sister and niece cheering.
The Good: Since I was waiting around for my relay start, we got to watch the front of the marathon pack and WOOO BOY was it amazing to see them.
The Bad: I seriously don’t have anything bad to say about this race! I had a wonderful experience, despite being super nervous and totally Type A about doing my first relay (yes, I printed out the 22-page info booklet).
The Ugly: Oh man, the finishers had to CLIMB UP STEPS to get out of the stadium… and that was rather ugly to watch. I also watched someone run to puke, so… great visuals to bring with me when I run my first marathon in a few weeks.

Splits: 10:12 (1) / 9:50 (2) / 9:56 (3) / 9:31 (4) / 10:03 (5) {and the extra 6:08}

Results: Our official team finish time was 4:43:44.
My watch showed a total of 5.63 miles for an average 9:53 pace; total time: 55:40.9

Race recap: Movie Madness Half Marathon

September 15, 2015 - Mel

After mentally and physically having a rough couple weeks of training, I needed to have some accountability for this past week’s long run. I have also been dealing with weird stomach nervousness and anxiety before I leave for my runs. Since I was traveling to Ohio for graduation, I searched for — and found — a half marathon for early Saturday morning: the Movie Madness Half Marathon in Lewis Center (about 30 minutes from downtown Columbus). My training run called for a total 16 miles, so I planned to do the race at an easy pace then add another three miles to it. But… well, there was a plot twist.

Race Day Selfie. Plot twist was not that dreary sky.

Registration and Cost: Registration was easy and online through Active.com. Since I made my decision a couple days before race day, it cost $59 (plus fees).

Expo and Packet Pick-up: No expo, as this was a super small race. There was race day packet pick, which started an hour before race time. I planned for about half hour before race time and there was no wait. I even had some extra time to relax in the car beforehand.

Bag Check: No bag check, but the state park had PLENTY of available and close parking near the start line.

Weather: When we left the hotel it was about 55 degrees and RAINING. Thankfully (smartly), I packed my rain jacket — so I ran back up to the hotel room to get it. The weather apps all said that the rain would move out of the area by race time (8 a.m.), AND THANK THE WEATHER GODS, it ended up being a beautiful, cool fall-like morning. LOVE.

Course: This “all right turns” course took the scenic route around Alum Creek State Park and its lake.

Map

I liked the course (there were water/snack/Gatorade stops at Mile 3.5-ish, 6, 9, and 11), and there was a relentless climb after Mile 10 as you can see in the elevation below; however, the roads were NOT closed off, so we basically ran in pace lines on the shoulder of all the streets. Mile 10-ish also was the area where the dam is, which I’ve never seen. It was really neat.

Fans and Experience: No fans, and the course was quiet and peaceful (save for passing traffic). I did run with my earbuds and music for the duration of the race. I honestly felt like I was having some sort of spiritual awakening on this run. It was beautiful.

Random Bullshit: Running on the side of the roads, you see the amount of litter that people disgustingly toss out of their cars. I passed at least three dirty diapers. People are just gross. There was also, um… roadkill. I legit had to jump over the carcass of a possum at one point.

Finish Line: There was music playing at the finish line approach, and I sincerely loved hearing my name and time called out when I finished. I played a serious game of mental skill for that last mile. And somehow, my mile 13 split was only 9:37.

Medals and Swag: I like my new pink short-sleeved tech shirt! It’s not race-specific, but has the US Road Running logo on the front. The finisher’s medal is pretty sweet too.

Bonus: Because this was a “Movie Madness” theme, there were several runners dressed in costume. The best of which (and the costume winner) was the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. He was hilarious (and said that he bought the costume the night before and never trained in it).

Double Bonus: Well… I couldn’t run my extra three miles because I GOT A TROPHY AND PLACED 3RD IN MY AGE GROUP!

OVERALL
The Great: The realization that I really, REALLY like the half marathon distance. Also, small races are awesome!
The Good: I had a pace friend for most of the race, which was awesome. I chatted with her a bit after the race and it seemed like we both needed/used one another. Kinda cool experience.
The Bad: I started going into disaster scenario solution mode when Mile 3 didn’t have a water stop (it was about .6 miles after that). But OMG could you imagine?! I was planning in my head the logistics of my boyfriend tossing bottles of water out of the car at random course points for me. LOL
The Ugly: Car drivers. I mean, COME ON. If you obviously see a pace line of runners on the side of the road and there is traffic in both directions, SLOW DOWN — don’t speed up just to pass more quickly. I kept my left ear bud out for portions of the race because I was nervous about getting run off the road at a few points.

Splits: 11:08 (1) / 10:58 (2) / 10:57 (3) / 10:41 (4) / 10:33 (5) / 10:43 (6) / 10:23 (7) / 10:19 (8) / 10:38 (9) / 10:09 (10) / 10:11 (11) / 10:38 (12) / 9:37(!!!) (13)

Results
Official time 2:18:36 – a new PR by two minutes!
3rd (!!!) in my 30-39 age group

Training Week 9: Niagara Falls International Marathon

August 10, 2015 - Mel

I knew going into this week that I would be pressed and stressed for time (probably a self-affirming limited belief as well). Do I accumulate any points this week for driving over the bridge that I’ll be running over for this marathon? How about any for breaking a finger?

(Seriously.)

MONDAY: The usual rest day (but maybe it shouldn’t have been…)

TUESDAY: Had tickets to Kinky Boots after work, and couldn’t wake up any earlier in the morning despite three alarms and one set to System of a Down.

WEDNESDAY: Drove to Toronto, crossed over on the Peace Bridge. Got super giddy about running this race!

THURSDAY: I completed a treadmill run at our AirBnB apartment complex — oh, this is a hilarious one! So, the touch screen on the stupid treadmill in the gym was not working, and it wasn’t until well into my warm up that I realized that I was running IN KILOMETERS. Meanwhile, I had no wifi access (or international plan), so I couldn’t easily Google “how many miles are in a kilometer?” Obviously, I knew my 5K breakdown, so I just estimated from there. But what a hilarious adventure. (I’m quite fast in Canada!)

4.34 miles (or 7 kilometers) which included a six-minute warm-up and .4km walking cool down.

FRIDAY: Rest, convention and finish up final papers and assignments.

SATURDAY: FINALS DUE! Last day (for me) for convention. I wasted a couple hours celebrating the end of school too BECAUSE.

SUNDAY: Drive home from Canada. I was hoping to run IN Toronto in the morning, but decided to just get on the road early and back home to the cats. And then I slipped up the steps in my house while carrying a water bottle and Fig Newtons, and… well, I now have a chip fracture in my left pinky finger and I’m splinted for a few weeks.

Total runs: 1 (yuck!)
Total miles: 4.34 miles
Total training miles: 96.35 miles

This is the first week of my training that I missed my Sunday run. Last week I did one more mile than I should have, and next week is a drop-back week, so I know that I’ll be fine. But a broken finger is definitely not the injury that I anticipated experiencing during my training program! I’ll be taking a couple days off, and hopefully Wednesday I’ll be good again for run//yoga club (adapted for the yoga part, naturally).

A Weekend in Cleveland: Revisited

August 1, 2015 - Mel

Before it gets too far away from me, I wanted to post about my return weekend to Cleveland in July. Now that we’ve been gone for five years, it’s still surreal to go back and see all the changes — and we both cannot get over how weird it is that we don’t recognize anyone anymore! I went back two years ago as part of a blogger trip with Visit CLE, and I have to say that being in downtown Cleveland still feels strange to me. It’s quickly obvious that it doesn’t have quite the life to it as downtown Pittsburgh… but it still makes for a wonderful weekend getaway.

One thing’s for sure, we will NEVER stay at the Doubletree downtown again. That hotel is just the worst, free points or not.

Friday:
We started off with drinks on the roof of The 9. Initially, we were supposed to meet friends for dinner, but they had an emergency and couldn’t make it out. This is another place that I don’t ever have to go to in my lifetime. Lame and not my scene. Too bad, considering the amazing views.

Rooftop, the Flats, and a running tour of CLE stadiums.

But Heinen’s in the old Ameritrust rotunda building is DEFINITELY for me! Those wine vending machines? I hope that inventor won a Nobel or something. I loaded up a card and sampled plenty (including a cab that was $7 for 1-oz taster… yeah, it was perfect), and we enjoyed a wonderful cheese plate (with gluten-free crackers!). Heinen’s, if you’re not from Northeast Ohio, is a local chain grocery store, and MAN do I wish it existed when we lived on East 4th Street! I lived in the suburbs for many of my Cleveland years though, and Heinen’s is even better than Wegman’s in my book.

Heinen's in downtown Cleveland is incredible. — Heinen’s in downtown Cleveland is incredible.

We followed up our cheese with Dinner at the Greenhouse Tavern. The chef’s course is still one of the best deals in town, and we both left plenty full. While we people-watched in the front window, I noticed Sinbad was listed on the marquee at Pickwick & Frolic.

HECK YEAH, WE WENT TO SEE SINBAD! That guy made us laugh for over two hours. Totally spontaneous decision, and after being a fan of his for decades, I can finally say that I saw him live!

Saturday:
I like when I can wake up refreshed and early when traveling — and to beat the brunch crowd. We went to Urban Farmer where a former derby teammate works, and HEY-YO TO THE GLUTEN-FREE GODS, I enjoyed my breakfast immensely. I had eggs benedict (on gf toast) and a large bowl of fruit. Also, the coffee was crazy good.

Afterward, we walked to the West Side Market for snacking and people-watching; meat sticks from Czuraj were a must. On the way, we stopped into Nano Brew (for the boyfriend). After meeting up with my sister for a bit, we continued our “drinking tour” at Great Lakes Brewery (again, for the boyfriend). Considering that I came of age in the hey-day of the Flats party scene, it was interesting to walk through and see all the development on both the West and East banks. Was disappointed to see all the bars and restaurants closed on the East Bank near the Aloft Hotel though — we did go in and check out that building a bit. A cool space for Cleveland! On our climb back out of the Flats, we found Portside and HOLY RUM. The drinks were amazing! What a treat on our self-guided tour.

After a few drinks at Portside, we DEFINITELY needed dinner. I’m glad that we read online about Townhall before our visit because this choice was perfection (and quite busy). I was really impressed by their different options for gluten-free (and other dietary restrictions) and my burger (with gluten-free bun!) was delicious. We also ordered this veggie crudo appetizer, which was insanely gigantic but a good starter to share.

For dessert, we Uber-ed over to the Tremont neighborhood for ice cream at Tremont Scoops — our friends own it and they have gluten-free cones! We also walked over to Lilly’s Chocolate to bring a couple boxes home. We really wanted to check out the New Orleans-style bar (its name escapes me right now) but upon experiencing some weird power outage, they weren’t letting anyone in. Alas, we had a drink at Edison’s by the koi pond out back — a must-visit place for pizza and beer (if you can have both of those things) if you’re in the neighborhood. Really random Cleveland trivia: I almost rented an apartment in my mid-20s above Edison’s. It’s always weird to remember that.

Short night for these two ol’ fogies. But I guess the day was plenty exciting.

Sunday:
We didn’t plan to stay late or do anything tourist-y on Sunday, but I needed to get my 8 miles in. After some quickie room service, I took off to run towards the lake and over the two major bridge spans connecting downtown to Ohio City. The Lorain bridge itself is close to a mile across, and it was a good reason to check out my old stomping grounds at Cleveland State campus. Also, there is this super-old cemetery that I’ve always wanted to walk through on East 9th Street, so I ran through there as well as around Progressive Field (ahem, THE JAKE!) and Browns Stadium (GO BROWNS!).

It was a good trip back, and I’m glad I got a little bit of that lake-side humidity before my half marathon there in August.

Is there anything that I missed that I should do on my next visit?

Vino & Vinyasa: Yoga Retreat on the Lake

June 8, 2015 - Mel

Last weekend I went to my first yoga retreat with South Hills Power Yoga. It was hosted at Lakehouse Inn & Winery in Geneva-on-the-Lake with teachers from the SHPY studio. SHPY was my first yoga “home” in the Burgh, before a studio finally opened up on the north side this year (although I still keep a few sessions loaded up in my account and travel back for special classes). I traveled with a fellow yoga-loving friend, who was also attending her first retreat AND also celebrating her birthday in May. Geneva is an easy 2.5 hour drive from Pittsburgh.

lake erie hotel ohio b&B — The B&B grounds were gorgeous and RIGHT on the lake.

Check-in was late Friday afternoon, and the yoga studio provided each of us with a bag full of goodies upon arrival. Our first two-hour session was soon after check-in with LA Finfinger, former instructor from SHPY who sadly moved away to Baltimore. She embodies a lot of what I love about yoga, and I’ve probably felt more connected to her style because she was my first regular teacher. She oozes warmth and authenticity and has that spiritual connection to the practice that I long to, well, practice. Her practices make me think about much more than just yoga and much more than getting a workout. I feel truly self-aware and present when she teaches. Seriously, her classes are transformative.

The restaurant did a fantastic job in tailoring meals for my (and my friend’s) dietary restrictions, given that food was included in the cost of the retreat. I got to eat gluten-free manicotti for dinner #1 — topped with a pesto sauce and filled with asparagus, spring onions and mushrooms. It was fantastic. And yes, naturally since we were at a winery, we had some wine.

We skipped the “optional” thai massage yoga in the evening, since we planned to wake up early for the lakefront sitting meditation in the morning. Which was incredible. Man, I miss the lake so much.

sunset lake erie ohio beach — Seriously. The BEST sunsets ever.

Saturday we started with the meditation and the day included two additional two-hour sessions on the schedule, with a nice break in the afternoon to explore The Strip. Our morning class was led by LA again, and she’s just so inspirational. She left us each a card at our mats to take with us to continue our practice.

GOTL is a weird place if you’ve never been; it’s nostalgic for me, but I’m always disheartened that it couldn’t be so much more because the setting on the lake is just beautiful and makes you feel as if you’re a hundred miles away from home.

tattoo studio geneva ohio — This is where I got my first tattoo at age 16. Yeah, my mom was mad. (I think she still might be.)

GOTL outdoor patios — Outdoor bar on The Strip.

The afternoon class started outside, but as the thunderstorms rolled in, we rolled up our mats and went indoors. This was my first class led by Darcy Lyle and she is adorable — I would definitely attend more of her classes. She has a more playful style and encouraged us to take some chances with advancing our practice. It was in that class that I FINALLY was able to balance for a few breaths in Crow.

big waves lake erie ohio — The lake was angry Sunday morning.

Our Sunday morning class was only an hour-and-a-half, but man was I tired and sweaty. Stacey really focused on powering us through that last session — and I even attempted a float out of crow (I belly-flopped and it was hilarious). Like Darcy, Stacey empowers us through advancing our movements and supports the learning and practicing (and failing) side of yoga with encouragement and laughter. She brings out the fun in yoga, which we all need to balance (pun intended) our practice.

After breakfast, it was time to check out and head back home to Pittsburgh. I totally sold my friend on Madsen donuts, and she grabbed a box to take home with her (just as a line was growing outside). I was fine with a contact high from the delicious smells.

I’m excited to hear about a fall retreat in Cook’s Forest… I might have to add that to my agenda for this year as a graduation present to myself.