Rock and Roll Half Marathon - Sunday, September 16, 2012

On Sunday, September 16th, I participated in the Philadelphia Rock and Roll Half Marathon.  Since I had finished the Broad Street Run (10 miles) in May, I figured now would be the best time to try for the 13.1 mile half marathon distance.  I trained hard all summer.  Getting up early so that I wouldn't be running in the heat.  I even ran 3 days while on vacation in New England! 

This race was the best organized of any races I have ever done.  Packet pick-up was on Saturday at the Philadelphia Convention Center.  I was expecting a mob scene.  John dropped me off at the door and planned to circle the area until I called to tell him I was done.  I was in and out in 15 minutes! 




On race day John, Madeline and I headed to the start at Eakins Oval in front of the Art Museum.  We found an open on street (FREE!) spot as soon as we exited the Vine Street Expressway.  The staging area had tons of Port-a-potties.  The ones we used were still clean and untouched!  We wandered around for awhile waiting for the start.  We climbed the Art Museum steps and took some great photos.




When I signed up for the race I estimated my finish time to be around 2 hours - so I was in start corral #12.  I headed to my corral and waited to begin.  I'm pretty sure I crossed the start line before 8:30.  We headed passed Logan Circle toward the Delaware River and turned back toward the Art Museum at 4th Street.  It was weird running through the empty city.  The race features bands every mile or so which gave me something to mark the miles.  When I passed Logan's Circle and the fountain on the way back, John and Madeline were there to cheer me on and take pics.  The runners continued around the Museum onto Kelly Drive all the way to the Falls River Bridge which we crossed over to head back along the West River Drive. 

I felt pretty good the entire race. The weather was perfect - sunny, low humidity and in the 60's.  I got water or Gatorade at every water stop.  I had a packet of GU that I ate by mile 7.  I picked up a new GU at mile 9. After the 10 mile mark there was a Christian rock band wearing kilts and playing bagpipes - very strange!  Then I started to feel my left knee get tight.  My breathing was fine and I was having no stomach issues.  I used my yoga breathing to power trough the last 3 miles. 

I finished in 2 hours 3 minutes 7 seconds, which I am very proud of.  John and Mads met me at the end. I ran the whole way (except when I needed to drink - I still haven't mastered running and drinking!).  My left knee was aching the next few days.  I was limping quite a bit.  I have run a few times since and my knee s not happy.  I am taking a break from running.  I will swim, do yoga and Zumba.  But I'll be back. 

Color Run

My three girls, Madeline, Grace and Frances, participated in the Color Run in Philadelphia in early July. The Color Run is a 3.1 mile (5K) in which at various points in the race the runners are painted with powdered color. 


Clean and white

Participants are required to wear white. So the girls wore matching outfits.

 

First color pink



Post pink

It was a beautiful day in Philadelphia. The event began and ended in front of the Art Museum. A heat wave was upon us, so the organizers decided to start the race at 7 AM instead of 8:30AM.  Since the train from our area doesn't run that early on a Sunday we had John and Henry drop us off near the start . 
 


Last color yellow

Eakins Oval was jammed with runners - over 24,000! Each group of 500 was sent off in waves about 3 minutes apart.

Almost finished

When the girls finally took off I ended up running alongside for the first mile to take photos. Then I doubled back and ran from the finish to mile 2 for more photos. It was a kaleidoscope of color!

Into the crowd of color after the race

At the finish each runner had a packet of color that they threw into the crowd. The girls were covered in color by the end.   

Philadelphia Museum of Art



Multi-colored hair



Frances sweating color



Grace in living color



Madeline's super white teeth

Our plan was to take the train home.  Thankfully the girls weren't the only Color-Runners on the train.  We received lots of starnge looks.  Upon exiting our seats, I noticed a heavy dusting of color was left behind!



Ben Franklin Parkway and City Hall



Beach Pond 2012

Four Level Pyramid

 We had another fantastic vacation at Beach Pond!  The week flew by.  The weather was beautiful - warm and sunny almost everyday we were there.  The kids spent hours with their cousins - swimming, kayaking, and hanging out on the floating dock.

 It was nice to see so many of the cousins and aunts, uncles, etc.  Everyone seemed to get along great, creating their own forms of entertainment.



Jumping off the cliffs was a must for all the kids - the higher the better!



Paul set up a ramp and then rode a bike off the dock into the lake.  Click on video to watch his first jump.

Watching the kids ride off the dock

Party on the pontoon boat!  Link to see Henry dancing on You Tube:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H55cnW168U&feature=plcp

Sherry took Frances for quite a wild ride on the jet ski.  They both fell off a few times.



 Henry's personal hot tub.

Grace eating a hamburger!

Paulie promised Grace he would teach her to drive his BIG truck if she ate a hamburger.  She managed to complete the task.







Fisherboy photo 2012





Thank you to our wonderful hosts!  We love you!



Summer 2012 - Part 2

July 2012 was a very busy month.  Swim team with the Darley Dragons was in full swing with Grace, Frances and Henry all swimming.  Henry had improved so much that the team had him swimming up an age with the 8 year olds. He did very well at championships finishing 8th overall in freestyle and 18th overall in 8 and under breaststroke.  Frances and Grace also did well at champs.  Frances took 6th in breaststroke, 10th in the IM and both her medley and free relays came in 8th.  Grace was limited in her strokes due to her shoulder issues.  Although she did not place (the 18 & under bracket is the largest and arguably the most difficult bracket to swim in), she did do well in both the 100 free and the 50 breaststroke. 


Frances had an amazing year in softball as well.  Her 12 and under Chichester Thunder Travel team came in first place in the DelVal "A" Division.  Her team had an undefeated season going 17-0 with 3 shutouts.  Frances pitched in the championship game with no walks.

Meg's croaker

My first fish!

In late July, I finally took my mom on the promised deep sea fishing trip.  Meg and Agnes came along too.  We drove to Wildwood, NJ and signed up for Ladies Day on a boat called the Royal Flush.  The trip was really fun.  The crew took good care of us - showing us how to use our poles, providing bait and even removing our fish from the hooks.  Meg caught the only keeper, a croaker.  The crew even cleaned and filleted  her fish.  The water was a bit rough at times. Agnes caught a very small shark and a king fish.  I caught a couple of weakies.  Mom caught a croaker too.  After the 4 hour trip, we headed to the beach and walked out to the ocean.  We had a delicious seafood dinner at Urie's before heading home.




Mom deep sea fishing

Agnes caught a shark

Summer 2012 - Part 1

It has been a very busy summer this year.  We started back in June with Monster Jam at Lincoln Financial Field.  Henry, John and I went to see our favorite monster trucks compete.

Madeline had given me a whale watching trip for my birthday back in February, so we went as a family in early June.  The trip was out of Cape May.  We drove down early and stopped at Cape May Point to walk on the beach.  We had lunch at the Point Grill on the deck overlooking the beach.  There were lots of dolphins including many babies, but we saw no whales.  We had a nice dinner in Cape May.  The day ended with ice cream on the boardwalk.

The following weekend was the Warrior Dash - a 3.1 mile run through obstacles.  This was our second year doing this event but the venue was new.  The course was located at Pocono International Speedway in the fields and woods around the track.  There wasn't much mud, but lots of walls to scale, rope bridges, plank bridges, fire leaping and the final mud pit at the end.  Many members of my family also participated as well as friends from Darley and even Don Poletti from O'Hara!

Grace had her dance recital in late June.  She was in the ballet Cinderella as royalty.  She also performed in two tap dances.  Her favorite was Bogey-Wogey Bugle Boy.  She did an amazing job - as usual! I also included a prom picture from April.

Henry had his 7th birthday on June 27th.  He got a new bike.  Frances made him an fantastic Titanic birthday cake!