Turkey trotting.

Hello and happy belated Thanksgiving! Today is the first day of my last week at my current job, and today also marks one week until I start my new job. So, this is a busy week, but I want to take a minute to post some promised updates:

The Annapolis Half-Marathon: On November 19th, I ran the inaugural Annapolis Half-Marathon. Much like the first iteration of a new electronic gadget, the first iteration of a race tends to be a bit bug-y. This race was no exception. The date had to change from September to November, and there were a number of other problems, most of which I won't list here.

For me, the most significant issue was a lack of mile markers. This was my first race after the NYC marathon, so I wasn't sure how it would go. Still, I felt good in the week or so leading up to the race and decided to try again for my goal of a 2:15 half. I started the race at what felt like a comfortable, slightly fast pace. After 9 or 10 minutes, I started looking for a mile marker to figure out my exact pace. I didn't see one, so I thought I might be going slower than I thought. After a few more minutes with no mile markers, I looked up and saw my boot camp instructor Kate about 100 yards ahead of me. That was a surprise. Kate had told me that she didn't train much for this race, but Kate is faster without training than I am with training. I should never see her during a race. Finally, I passed a volunteer who yelled, "You're almost at mile 3!," which confirmed two things: (1) There were indeed no mile markers, and (2) I had gone out way too fast.

For the next few miles, I worked on slowing down and adjusting to the lack of mile markers. In some ways, it was nice. I think it made the race pass faster. On the few occasions where a volunteer or runner with a GPS watch told me where we were, we were always further along than I thought. Still, for someone without a GPS watch (aka: me), it made pacing very difficult. When I look at the data gathered on my phone's GPS during the race (which I can't see while I run), it shows that I ran almost all of miles 1-10 faster than my goal pace, and then slowed WAY down in mile 10 when fatigue caught up with me. Those last 3 miles were agony. I was super-tired and experiencing my usual hip and knee pains, along with a brand-new pain in my upper right quad. I was SO happy to reach the finish line, even though I didn't get there until 2:19:25.

One thing that DID go well with this race was the medal- beautiful!

  
A Pain in the Neck: I experienced so much pain during the Annapolis half that I expected to wake up the next day in agony. Miraculously, that did not happen. I felt okay for the rest of the weekend and went to Group Power as usual on Monday. I was worried about the squat routine because of my legs. It turned out that my legs felt fine. The trouble happened when I took the weight off my back after the squats. I think I moved my neck while I was lifting up the weight, because I suddenly felt a little "snap," and then the neck pain started. By the time I got home after class, it was so intense that I took a few sick hours in order to ice it and lie down. So, that was the end of weightlifting for last week. I am happy to say that Advil, ice, and some massages from my lovely and patient boyfriend finally made that pain go away and I went back to GP this morning with no problems.

Turkey Trotting: Thursday morning (aka: Thanksgiving), I attempted my first run since the Annapolis half: the Fleet Feet Sports Turkey Trot. This wasn't a race- just a group run in downtown Annapolis with 3 and 5-mile options. It was a beautiful day, and I was looking forward to running the 5-miler with some friends.
Almost as soon as we set out, the pain from the Annapolis Half- the one in my upper quad- came back with a vengeance. By the 1.5-mile turnaround, I knew that the wise course of action would be to take the 3-mile loop instead of pushing through to 5 miles. But what did I do? I pushed through.

Miles 4 and 5 were absolute misery, as was the walk home. By the time I got there, I knew I needed to lay off running for a little while. So, my current plan is to take it easy for the next couple weeks and hope that I can finish out my last two races of the year (which are on 12/11 and 12/17) without agony.

Ironman!: Finally, I have to give a HUGE shout-out to my friend Scott, who completed his first Ironman yesterday. For those who don't know, an Ironman triathlon is a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a full marathon (26.2-mile run). Even attemping an Ironman takes incredible fitness and determination. I looked at some IM training plans when I was reading up on triathlons, and most involved 30-40 hours per week of training. Its like a second job! I, along with many of Scott's friends and admirers, tracked him online yesterday as he raced for an awesome total of 12 hours and 5 minutes. It was so exciting! When he finally posted video of himself crossing the finish line, I think he had at least a dozen people crying into our laptops. Way to go, Scott! You are an inspiration!    

Marathon photos and quick updates.

Hello, readers! Apologies for my lengthy absence. In the weeks after NYC, I had volumes of writing to produce for various projects and I had nothing left for anything else. Fortunately, almost everything is done now and I can get back to important things like blogging!

This past Saturday, I ran the Inagural Annapolis Half Marathon. I will give that race its own entry later this week. For now, I'll just note that my post-marathon recovery remains smooth, as evidenced by the fact that I could run a half less than two weeks later!

In other news, I finally have a start date for my new job: December 5th! Unfortunately, I also have a final date for my current job: December 2nd. That's right- I am quitting one job on Friday and starting the next one on Monday. I really hoped I would be able to take some time off in between, but things simply didn't work out that way. Oh well. I'm trying to think of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday as my between-jobs break.

Finally, as promised in the title, I have a few more NYC marathon photos to share. These are the professional ones:

I'm not sure where this is, but obviously its fairly close to the North Pole. Note Santa in the background.

Not sure about location here, either, though the leaves in the background make me suspect Central Park.

I'm pretty sure this is on the Queensboro Bridge.

Victory! I was so happy at this moment!

That's all for now! Stay tuned for my report on last weekend's race.

NYC Marathon weekend part two: milestones.

Striking a Superman pose with my space blanket and medal.

In my last post, I told the story of my NYC Marathon Eve 5-mile race. In the post before that, I gave a quick rundown of the marathon itself. Now, I offer a little more about the marathon and about what happened afterward.

I was fortunate enough to spend Saturday night with two veteran NYC runners: Lara and Jen. Lara was running on Sunday and Jen was spectating. So, Saturday night, Jen helped Andrew map out his spectator route. Then, Sunday morning, Lara helped me find my way to the start. I was grateful for the help, because it was a bit complicated: subway to Staten Island ferry, the ferry to a (packed) bus, and then the bus to the race start. Even the start itself was intimidating: with 47,000 runners to organize, it was massive and crowded.

Despite the big crowd, I managed to check my baggage, grab some breakfast, and meet up with my friend Kim.

Kim and I. The sun was intense!

A few minutes before we entered the corrals, I grabbed a second bagel. I was nervous about getting hungry during the race (this can be a major problem for me), but I was also just stress-eating at that point. I wonder if bagel #2 was the culprit in the intesinal distress I experienced later.

As I mentioned in my first race post, I made a last-minute decision to move back two start corrals in order to start with Kim. I thought it would help me avoid going out too fast, I wanted to support Kim in her first marathon, and, most importantly, I just wanted to share the experience with someone. I am so glad I did! The start was both exciting and surreal. Kim and I just kept looking at each other and saying "I can't believe this is happening." It would not have been the same on my own.

Kim and I separated after mile 2, just as we entered Brooklyn. During the third mile, the race turned onto 4th Avenue and I got my first taste of the amazing NYC crowds. They were like nothing I have experienced in any other race: huge crowds of people (3 and 4 deep in places) lining both sides of the streets, screaming and waving signs. Amazing. Plenty of people noticed my shirt and yelled "Dinner Church!" at me, to which I eagerly responded "St. Lydia's! Right here in Brooklyn!"

It was in Brooklyn that my stomach trouble started. Its hard to describe what was going on without giving too much information, so I'll just say that I developed a very painful cramp somewhere below my stomach. The longer I ran, the worse it got. As much as I did not want to lose the time, I realized that I had to make a bathroom stop to try to ease the pain and to prevent anything worse from happening. (When you run marathons, you hear plenty of horror stories about what happens when you try to run through stomach issues!)

After passing long restroom lines for several miles, I finally gave up on finding a shorter line and made my first stop in mile 7. I naively thought this might be my only stop. Instead, my mile 7 stop was the first of 7 stops. I lost count during the race itself, but based on my GPS data, I think I stopped in miles 7, 9, 12, 15, 20, and 22. My goal for the race was a sub 5-hour finish, which would have required a pace of just under 11:30/mile. Based on the GPS data, I ran at that pace or below- when I was runnning. Once you factor in the stops, though, my pace drops down to 12:38/mile. Oh well. At least I know I can run a marathon at my goal pace, even if I didn't get credit for it this time.

The good news is that neither the pain nor the frustration of needing so many stops kept me from enjoying the race. The crowd support continued to be amazing for the entire 26.2 miles. Also, this was my first race where I had friends meeting me at multiple points along the course. When things got harder, I pushed myself by thinking "I'll see Andrew and Matt in 40 blocks... 35 blocks... 30 blocks..."

My YDS friend Matt, who met me twice in Manhattan.

The other good news is that the intestinal distress I suffered during this race was the only distress I suffered during this race. Normally, when I race over about 10 miles, I struggle with pain my left hip and stiffness in my right knee. These were the pains that did me in during MCM 2010. For some reason, my usual pains decided not to accompany me to NYC. Maybe it was the frequent stops. Maybe it was the crowd support. Maybe it was the Advil I took at mile 16. Whatever it was, I was grateful! Starting around mile 13, I greeted every mile marker amazed at how strong I was feeling. I can honestly say that this was not the hardest race I ran this year- both the Baltimore Half and the Metric Marathon felt harder.

Sprinting across the finish line was a milestone in several ways. I had finished my second marathon and knocked almost 40 minutes off my previous time (from 6:10:03 to 5:31:05). More importantly, I really felt like a marathoner this time. I was truly unprepared for my first marathon and finished it feeling like some kind of imposter. When I crossed the NYC finish line, having run the entire race and still feeling strong, I proved to myself that I really can do this. I'm actually excited for the next one!

After the finish and the mayhem of exiting Central Park, I ate a quick meal with Andrew and Matt before heading over to St. Lydia's. I arrived a bit late, but just in time to witness a St. Lydia's milestone: their first baptism! The baptismal candidate was none other than my YDS classmate and Emily's partner in ministry, Rachel. I felt so privileged to witness this event, and even more to hear the testimony Rachel offered over dinner. You can (and should!) read it for yourself here. I was only with the St. Lydia's congregation for a couple of hours, but even that brief visit affirmed why I dedicated my marathon to them. They are building something truly special together and they deserve to know that people believe in them and support them- even runners from several states away!

When I left St. Lydia's, I rode the subway for a few stops with a member of the congregation, who shared  her excitement about the baptism.  She said "This feels really important. It just makes St. Lydia's feel more..."
"Official?," I suggested. She agreed. Having their first baptism felt like a big step in the growth of St. Lydia's as a church. After she left the train, I thought about how St. Lydia's celebrated their milestone as a church on the same day I celebrated mine as a runner. I can't think of better people to celebrate with!

Everyone at St. Lydia's signed my shirt!

NYC Marathon weekend part one: the pre-race.

Andrew and I in front of the Manhattan skyline, minutes after our arrival in NYC!


I am finally back from NYC and back to semi-normal. Fortunately, my physical recovery has been amazingly fast. I felt very stiff Monday, less stiff Tuesday, and I feel fine today. I even went to the gym this morning! Unfortunately, I came home to two very busy weeks in terms of work and other commitments. Still, I want to take a few minutes to tell a bit more of my NYC marathon story. Its a long story, so I am breaking it up into two parts. First up: my marathon pre-race, which happened on Saturday morning.

As I have mentioned before, Saturday was both the day of the Annapolis Striders' Down's Park 5-miler and the last day of the NYC marathon expo. Because Down's Park is part of the Champ Series, I really did not want to miss it. Because the expo is where you must pick up your race number in order to run the marathon, I really did not want to miss that! Thankfully, the Down's Park race director (Don) and my lovely boyfriend (Andrew) helped me find a solution: Andrew agreed to volunteer on my behalf as a parking attendant Saturday morning while I ran the race early as part of the worker's run. Thus, I got credit for the race in the Champ Series and I got to leave for NYC with plenty of time to spare. I could not be more thankful to Don and Andrew!

When I ran Down's Park in 2010, I had a great experience but not a great finishing time. I went into the 2010 race hoping to finish under 50 minutes. Then, I spent the first mile or so chatting with friends and not paying attention to my pace. I picked it up in miles 2-4 and really pushed it in mile 5, but it wasn't enough. My 2010 time was 51:58.

This year, I knew my time for the race would not matter (worker's run times are not official), so I planned to take it easy and practice my marathon goal pace of 11-11:30 minute miles. My biggest fear going into the marathon was going out too fast, so I thought of Down's Park as a final chance to practice slowing down. For the first mile, I ran what felt like an easy pace and focused on not getting lost (easy to do without other runners!). When I saw the first mile marker, I checked my watch: just over 10 minutes. Oops.

For the second mile, I gave myself a new mantra: "Slow down. Take it easy. Slow down. Take it easy."  At the 2-mile mark, I checked my watch again and learned that I had run mile 2 in less than 10 minutes. The part of me that was worried about the marathon got frustrated, but the competitve part of me started thinking "You could do this in under 50 minutes easily." I decided to stop looking at my watch.

Miles 3 and 4 were fairly relaxed and fun. I passed some beautiful scenery. I also got to run through a crowd of Striders gathering before the real race, including several who yelled "Good luck in NY!" At mile 5, I decided that a tiny push to the finish wouldn't hurt and stepped it up just a little. In the end, I crossed the finish line with an unofficial time of 48:35. Not bad for taking it easy! Now, I just need to find another 5-mile race so I can set an official PR.

After I finished the race and Andrew finished his parking attendant duties, we got in the car and drove straight to NYC. We made it to the expo at a little after 2pm and I picked up my number with hours to spare. Whew! The expo was so crowded that I decided to skip shopping in lieu of getting to my host's apartment and taking a long-overdue shower. After that, we had a lovely dinner with some NYC friends and then I went to bed nervous and excited for race day!

The Quick and Dirty Race Recap, 2011 edition.

At the Expo with my amazing head cheerleader!

Hi everyone! After one of the craziest, best days of my life, I am still in NYC with a few things to do before I head home. Thus, I don't have time now to tell the whole story of my marathon weekend. Instead, I offer a bit of a teaser: some highlights from the race itself.

Start- Mile 2: At the start, I was very happy to meet up with my college friend Kim. Kim and I have been training in close proximity to one another for months, but have never managed to do any of it together. Kim was planning to run a bit slower than me, and was assigned to a corral a bit behind mine, but I decided to go to her corral so we could start together. I think this was a good decision. It made the start even more fun and exciting, and kept me from going out too fast. By midway through mile 2 though, I could tell that I was pushing Kim to go too fast and I was ready to step it up a bit, so we high-fived and separated.

Mile 3-Mile 8: Somewhere in here (I think it was around 4), I started experiencing some, to use my coach's words, "gut issues." I will not go into detail because you do not want to know, but it was unpleasant and I knew I had to make a restroom stop. I kept putting it off because the lines were crazy long. Finally, in mile 7, I decided to just suck it up and wait. Unfortunately, the stop did little to calm the problem. At mile 8, I was met by my boyfriend Andrew and my friend Tracy. It was SO great to see them! By that point, I had not eaten anything because I was worried that my Sport Beans would upset my stomach. Fortunately, I had given Andrew a bag of pretzels to carry, so I took some of those.

Mile 9- Mile 19: My stomach troubles persisted throughout the race, but they were worst through about mile 15. All in all, I think I made at least 6 bathroom stops, most of them during these 10 miles. The bad news was that this put my goal of finishing under 5 hours out of reach pretty early. The good news is that I started finding banks of port-a-johns with shorter lines. By keeping my eyes out for the shortest waits, I avoided losing too much time. All in all, I think the pit stops probably cost me about 30 minutes over the course of the race.

One unexpected advantage of the frequent stops is that they helped me keep my pace down. My biggest fear going into this race was going out too fast and running out of energy mid-way through. Turns out, I didn't need to worry about that at all. By mile 19, I was well off pace for my original goal, but I could not believe how strong I still felt. Around mile 19, I saw Andrew again, along with my friend Matt, which gave me another great boost of energy.

Miles 20-22: At mile 20, we made a very quick trip through the Bronx. This was probably my favorite part of the whole race. The people in the Bronx know how to cheer and how to play great music! If it were up to me, they would get more of the race. We moved into Harlem for miles 21 and 22, and there was great energy there too. Just before mile 23, I saw Andrew and Matt for the last time before the finish. By this point, I had re-set my goal to 5:30 and I was right on pace to get there, so I didn't stop for long!

Miles 23-26.2: Going into mile 23, I still felt okay, but I was ready to be done. Thankfully, we moved into Central Park, where the energy was intense and inspiring. It felt like one long finish line. At mile 25, I sped up, racing for the 5:30 finishing time. When I hit the 26 marker, my watch was somewhere around 5:28. I sprinted for the finish. Sadly, I just missed it- I crossed at 5:31:05. Almost immediately, though, a fellow runner tapped me on the shoulder and said "That was an impressive sprint you just did." If I did not already have an amazing boyfriend, I might have kissed him.

Postrace: The journey through the finish area was absolute mayhem. There were so many people that we quickly formed a huge traffic jam and it took close to an hour to get out of the park. Then, after an unfortunate wrong-turn that resulted in an 8-block detour, I joined Andrew and Matt at a diner for the most delicious plate of pasta I have ever tasted. After that, I went to St. Lydia's and finally met the people I was running for! It was an amazing night and I promise I will say more about it later.

All in all,  I had an amazing day. In 2010, I survived a marathon. In 2011, I ran one, and I actually enjoyed it! Thanks for your many, many kind messages yesterday. I will write more soon!

The Final Countdown.

This is it, everyone! A few more hours of work and then I pick up my boyfriend from the Metro and the crazy marathon weekend begins! Way back when I just had my name in the NYC marathon lottery, I promised my friend Pat that, if I got to run, I would make an entire playlist of just the song above. I don't think I'm going through with that, but I'm sure I will make the aforementioned boyfriend listen to it at least once or twice during the weekend.

Once I leave work today, things will get very hectic and stay that way until about Monday afternoon. So, sadly, I think my blogging about things like the Expo, the race, and the aftermath will have to wait until next week. For my final pre-race blog post, here's a brief review/rundown of what is happening this weekend:

Tonight (Friday): I pack, eat lots of carbs, and go to bed very early.

Saturday: At the crack of dawn, Andrew I will be driving to the site of the Annapolis Striders' Downs Park 5-miler. This is leg 7 of the 8-leg Champ Series. When I learned that I would be running NYC, I thought I would have to skip this race. It starts at 8:30am, and running it on time would put me at risk of not making it to the NYC number pickup. For awhile, I resigned myself to just missing out on the 2011 IronMan award. 

Once I was halfway through the Champ Series races, I changed my mind: I had to try to do Down's Park somehow. I contacted the race director and begged for his assistance. He very generously agreed to allow me to run the course early (at 7am) in exchange for some pre-race volunteering. Then, when our pre-race volunteer plans fell through, Andrew stepped up and agreed to volunteer on my behalf while I am running. So, through the generosity of these two great guys, I will get to earn my second IronMan!

After the race, Andrew and I will drive up to NYC as quick as we can in order to pick up my number. Once I have it in hand, I think I will exhale for the first time in weeks! Then, we are spending the night with my gym/running buddy Jen, her partner Tracy, and a few fellow runners in Brooklyn.

Sunday: Race day! Over the past few days, several people have asked me about runner tracking. If you want to track me during the race, see this blog post  for all of the details. After the race, my friend Matt will be helping me find my way to Brooklyn so I can finally meet the St. Lydia's folks in person! (BTW, its not too late to pay them a visit or give them a donation!) Then, I'll be spending the night with another Brooklyn friend.

Monday: My alarm will go off at 9am so that I can register for IronGirl 2012! If any of my (female) readers are considering doing this race, I have two pieces of advice: (1) DO IT! and (2) Register at 9am! This race will sell out in a few hours at most. By noon, you may be out of luck.

Once I get registered and moving, I will be meeting the last of my lovely Brooklyn friends for lunch and then heading back home to rest and blog!

Thanks so much for all of your support! I look forward to sharing my race with you when I get home!

Impossible projects.

These are Moo mini cards (http://us.moo.com/products/minicards.html), really cool tiny business cards. The perfect size to carry and hand out while running a marathon! I will have about 50 of these in my pockets on Sunday to hand out to anyone who asks about my St. Lydia's shirt.

A few years ago, I participated in a Bible study group using the excellent book Creating a Life With God: the Call of the Ancient Prayer Practices by Daniel Wolpert. Each chapter in the book describes a different form of prayer, from walking a labyrinth to writing in a journal, with instructions on how to try them out as an individual or groups. The final chapter is about taking on an "impossible project."

In the impossible project chapter, Wolpert asks readers to dream up a goal that feels worthwhile and exciting. For example, readers from a small church might decide they want to reach out to the hungry in their community. Once readers settle on an idea, Wolpert asks them to think of a way to achieve it. So, our church group might decide to collect money and donate it to the nearest food pantry. The ideas generated at this stage tend to be good, but not particularly ambitious. Our church group certainly can collect money and it would help, but is it the most they can do? This brings Wolpert to the next stage of his process: he asks readers to stretch their idea further, to a place where it feels impossible. Our church group might decide they want to open a food pantry that feeds 50 families every week. The goal is to end on an idea that readers are really excited about- something they would absolutely love to be part of- but which they do not believe they can actually do.

The final stage of the process is to make it happen. Wolpert asks readers to acknowledge that their project seems impossible and then commit to doing it anyway. He shares stories of churches that have successfully taken on impossible projects and highlights some of the things they have in common:

First, the excitement of a shared goal gets people working together in ways they never did before. When churches take on really exciting and ambitious projects, people come out of every part of the community to help and think up really creative ways to get things done.

Second, the churches realize they have more resources than they ever imagined. The church groups Wolpert describes all discover previously unknown talents among their members and untapped resources within all of their networks. They all ultimately realize that they had not been ambitious enough in previous projects.

Finally, impossible projects require embracing some dependency. A truly ambitious project is always risky, and requires a certain amount of help. A single person embarking on an impossible project will quickly become overwhelmed. To take on this kind of project, an individual or group must learn how to ask for help and rely on other people. This is where the project becomes a prayer. Wolpert wants his readers to learn how to say "God, we think we have a great idea for a really worthwhile project, but we can't do it on our own. We're going to need your help for this."

The impossible projects Wolpert describes are successful in two ways. They bring really worthwhile ideas to fruition, and they also teach the people who dreamed up those ideas that they are capable of amazing things. They learn that they can dream even bigger.

When I read this chapter of Wolpert's book, I just thought it was a nice idea. I don't think I really grasped the idea of the impossible project until I learned about  St. Lydia's. Last week, I wrote about a conversation I had with my friend Emily, in which she told me about quitting her day job and making St. Lydia's her work. I remember thinking "Now this is an impossible project." My friend had dreamed up something ambitious that she really believed in, found others who were also excited about her idea, and found the resources to make it happen. She was also accepting (and even embracing) the risk and dependency that were part of moving toward her goal.

I'm also reminded of the impossible project as I watch Emily, Rachel, and the St. Lydia's congregation weather their various challenges. When Emily learned that St. Lydia's would have to vacate their Brooklyn home because of structural issues, she sent a letter to the congregation. This is just a short excerpt, but I think it captures many of these ideas:

We will have a place to gather each Sunday night. We are surrounded by people who love and support us. We will keep being the church. And though this time may not look like what you or I might have imagined, it offers us incredible opportunity to be bold and creative in the midst of all that’s unfolding. Let’s sit in the not-knowing and see what God is up to...

...That’s what I have to tell you today, my nomads. Rachel and I look forward to seeing you on Sunday. A recurring theme in our many discussions over the last little while has been how blessed and grateful we feel to be traveling with all of you on this journey. We have both experienced a surprising sense of calm and curiosity amidst all of this that has reinforced our faith that the Holy Spirit is moving, however swiftly and surprisingly, in the work we are all doing together. And we know that whatever comes next, it will continue to be a gift and a blessing to share this work with all of you.

In many ways, running a marathon feels like an impossible project too. My first marathon pushed me well past what felt possible physically, but it stretched me in other ways too. For me, one of the most challenging things about the marathon is that it really can not be done without help. I am a very independent person who likes to to things on my own. Up to a point, running can be a pretty independent, solitary sport. I spent several years running casually and entering the occasional 5K without really involving other people in my life.

When I started running longer distances, I also started to need help. I needed coaches to teach me how to build my endurance. I needed training partners to help me weather the mental challenges of fatigue and boredom. I needed people to cheer me on. Most of all, I needed the people who rely on me to understand and accept the demands running makes on my time and energy. It has not always been easy for me to ask for the help I need, but I have been amazed at every stage of my journey by the overwhelming generosity of people in my life.

Over the past few days, I have finalized the itinerary for my marathon weekend and the number of people involved is staggering. I have friends letting me sleep on their couches, a friend guiding me to the start line, friends cheering me on along the course, and friends keeping my boyfriend company as he waits hours to see me finish. At the end of the day, I have a friend helping me find my way to Brooklyn so I can finally join the folks at St. Lydia's for dinner church. I can't wait to sit around the table with my new friends and share our amazing impossible projects!

Side trips.

Hello, readers! According to my handy tracking app, the NYC marathon is 3 days, 20 hours, 56 minutes, and 10 seconds away! I will have more to say about that soon, but first I have some miscellaneous updates. I will tell you about these updates via the stories two trips I made this past weekend.

First- I got a new job! This has actually been in the works for several months, but I got an official "yes" about two weeks ago. Things are still in process, so I don't want to give too many details at the moment, but the gist is that I will be part of a small team providing a specific model of family therapy at several sites in the Baltimore area. I won't have an official start date until our whole team is assembled, but I think it will be sometime next month. I am very excited that I will actually be using my degrees soon!

My boyfriend Andrew also started a new job not too long ago, so we decided to celebrate both of our successes by going out to dinner last Saturday. At first, we were going to go the steakhouse route. Then, the temperatures plummeted and the DC metro area got hit with the freak early snowstorm known as #snoctober. Given the nasty weather, I lost all desire to put on a dress and we both decided that a pub would give us a better "first really cold day" atmosphere. The OpenTable app on my Iphone suggested a place called Hunter's Head Tavern. It looked awesome to me, so I suggested it to Andrew.

What I failed to realize is that Hunter's Head is down in VA wine country, a good 45 miles from Andrew's house in Alexandria. A less generous and adventurous guy would have put the brakes on this idea, but Andrew was game for making the drive. So we drove, through the oddly beautiful landscape of fall leaves and snow, until we got to the pub. Only when we pulled up the driveway did we realize that we had both passed Hunter's Head on previous VA wine country trips and really wanted to stop in. For that reason alone, we both agreed it was worth the drive. It didn't hurt that the food was delicious and the atmosphere was really fun.

The weather was awful for photos, so you will have to trust me when I tell you that we were standing in front of one of those old-fashioned red London phone booths.

  

Foxes featured prominently in the Hunter's Head decor.

The morning after our pub-travel adventure, Andrew and I woke up to find that the snow was gone and the sun had returned. This was excellent news, because Sunday was Marine Corps Marathon day! Late in the morning, Andrew and I went to Crystal City and joined my marathon coaches at mile 22 for the Annapolis Striders water stop. We were handing out several things, but the most popular turned out to be pretzels. They were so popular, in fact, that we were running out just a few minutes after Andrew and I arrived. Knowing the area, Andrew suggested that we make a 10-minute walk to a nearby Costco to get more. Thus began the Great Pretzel Trek.

The walk to Costco was complicated by the fact that we had to cross through the marathon itself twice. Once we pulled that off, Andrew realized that he had lost his Costco card. So, we waited about 30 mins in a crazy Saturday line so he could get a new one. Then, once we got into the actual store, we were told that they do not carry pretzels. I refused to believe it. What Costco doesn't have pretzels??? We walked through the entire store just to verify- indeed, no pretzels. We left in stunned disbelief and started walking toward a grocery store. About 10 minutes into that walk, we came across a Rite Aid and cleaned out their entire pretzel stock- 7 pounds! Then, we made the trek back to mile 22, crossed over the marathon again, and resumed our stations... only to learn that most of my friends from the training group had passed while we were gone. D'oh!

So, I had missed most of my friends, but the immediate gratitude from pretzel-hungry, exhausted marathoners made it all worthwhile. We had a great time handing out goodies and cheering people on. I was happy that Andrew had a chance to see what mile 22 of a marathon looks like- or, more importantly, what a middle-to-back-of-the-pack runner looks like at mile 22 of a marathon. Now, he is all ready for NYC!

As we drove home after the race, I checked FB and learned that all of my friends had amazing races. The first-timers finished strong and the veterans, Val and Noreen among them, all set new PR's. Congratulations, runners!