Vancouver Half Marathon - May 2006

Vancouver Half Marathon - May 2006
Originally uploaded by denisebue.

Smiles everyone, smiles!! How happy was I to see the finish line???

Oh...running attire "find" of the season...Running Skort from LuLu Lemon.

Runners World Editorial Contest

The June 2006 issue of Runner's World invited readers to enter an editorial contest.
Info from Runners World "In 50 words or less tell us what motivates you to run."

Funny thing is, I was just thinking about this over the weekend. Until that moment, I never really considered myself a "runner". I run for a lot of reasons, but first and foremost, I run for me.

Here's my 47 word submission:

Am I running for something, to something, from something? Maybe it is all of those things, or maybe I just run for me. I escape when I run. I am alone with my thoughts when I run. I feel complete peace in my soul when I run.

Fun people and places

Last week was a whirlwind... I must admit, when I boarded my 7:50 am flight on Friday from Boston, I breathed a silent sigh of relief. The first 3 legs of my adventure were almost over..

Boston: I was literally in Boston for only about 16 hours. My sightseeing consisted of a run along the Charles river and Newbury street.

Had dinner at Clio at the Eliot -- Great Sashimi bar and amazing cocktails! My favorite was their signature drink "Enter the Dragon". http://www.cliorestaurant.com/

After the Eliot, we ventured on to Sonsie. Swanky place that was in close proximity to my hotel. We grabbed a table near the front of the restaurant, so we could people watch. When we sat down, a waiter came over and indicated that the tables were for dinner patrons. We weren't eating, but ordering a bottle of Cristal seemed to do the trick...there was no more mention of food after that exchange. Glad I wasn't paying that bar tab...

http://sonsieboston.com/?cslink=profile_info_website_cust

Providence:

I must admit, they is not a lot going on in Providence on a Wednesday night, but I did find a fun spot for dinner. MODA restaurant and Lounge http://www.modarestaurant.com/

Vancouver:

My friend Marc recommend Glowbal in Yaletown. Excellent atmosphere and wonderful food!

Oh...and as for the people, my favorite quote for the week was "Dino, Nino, Pino, Vino???"...Where's Gino!

Vancouver in review

KC and I both achieved our best ½ marathon times to date – despite the following:

Inadequate training – both in distance and duration

Torrential downpour (the entire race) and COLD weather! Oh...and the wind!

Limited hydration...they only had water stops at mile 3, 11 and 12! Yeah, I was completely dehydrated by the time I hit mile 11. KC (the smart one of the duo) had her water bottle in tow. Silly me, I didn't bring a water bottle, since there were supposed to be water stations throughout the course. The Vancouver Marathon Society actually sent out an apology e-mail today. "We deeply apologize for this and we promise to have a more immediate back-up plan in place in future years. We assure you that this type of incident will not be repeated."

Consumption of copious amounts of beverages known or thought to contain alcohol in days, weeks, months leading up to race.

Cinco de mayo’s unfortunate date…2 days prior to said race

KC, thank you for your contribution to this blog posting!

Did I wake up in Seattle?

My flight to Boston from Rochester was supposed to leave at 6 pm last night…we ended up being 4 hours delayed, due to weather. After a horribly turbulent plane ride, we arrived in Boston around 11:30 pm…after retrieving my luggage and rental car, I still had an hour+ drive ahead of me. The north east states were experiencing torrential rains, so driving in my CHEVY Malibu rental was a little scary. My life flashed before me several times. Oh yeah, and thanks to google maps, I got LOST. Yes, LOST at 1am with an almost dead cell phone battery.

This AM...

Did I wake up in Seattle? Gray, gloomy and rain. I was so excited to do one of my last training runs in Providence. I didn’t envision that run taking place in the westin gym. Alas, I forced myself to run a grueling three miles on the treadmill. I am trying to repress the thought of running 13 on Sunday...