Category: Travel

Tuesday Topics: Some of my best races

Happy Tuesday and welcome to another edition of Tuesday Topics!  Last week I wrote about some not-so-great things that have happened to me at races.   So today let’s discuss some of my best races whether it is because of a PR, the course, or some other reason.

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This week’s Tuesday Topic:  What was your best or worst race You can write about this topic or feel free to post any running related blog post.  Remember to link up with Kim and Zenaida!  Visit at least two of the other linked posts – the more the merrier!  Remember to come back for later linkers!

2016 Chicago Marathon – It it my marathon PR.  I simply love everything about this race.  I’ve run it a few times and also love spectating it.  

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2015 Live Grit 10 MilerI met Wendy and Marcia at this race.  It was warm in the beginning of the race but then the temperature dropped about 20 degrees.  I did not have a jacket and was COLD.

2019 Detroit Free Press/TCF Bank Half Marathon – I was undertrained but loved this race.  I was also dealing with plantar fasciitis but I made the best of it. It is an incredible experience running the bridge to Canada, in Canada, and then back to the U.S.  

2019 Delaware Marathon Running Festival – Hilly course but I met Kim!  What’s not to like about it?  Running in Brandywine Park felt peaceful and very relaxing.  It was just what I needed to deal with all of the hills.

2013 Community Bank of Elmhurst 4 on the 4thI don’t remember how I heard about this race but am so happy I did.  I love everything about it (distance, price, location, to name a few things) and continue to run it each year.  I am sad it is cancelled this year but understand the reason.

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2020 Publix Atlanta Half MarathonSo the race itself was not that great.  It was a VERY hilly course and I was undertrained.  What I loved about it was the Olympic Marathon Trials that took place the day before.  I got excited and goosebumps being so close to many elite runners – LOVED seeing Desi on the course!!

Utah Valley Half Marathon 2017 – A race meeting up with blogger friends!  The views were incredible.  It was the first time dealing with altitude and running a downhill race.  Not easy but I finished in 2:34:59 which is a whole lot better than I expected!!

Walt Disney World Half Marathon and Walt Disney World Marathon – Did this as part of the Goofy Challenge.  Seriously, I have no idea what I was thinking when I signed up.  I don’t think I was thinking AT ALL!  🙂  It was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done.  No regrets at all.

The Great Alaskan Running Cruise 2017 – It was a fun week exploring and running in Alaska.  There were a total of 4 races:

5K Kick Off Run/Walk in Anchorage and Welcome Party
√ Glacier Half Marathon in Juneau
4-Mile Amazing Race in Skagway
5K on the trails in the Tongass National Forest in Ketchikan

♥ Chicago Lakefront 50K 2012 and 2014 – I don’t have a recap from my first race in 2012 but HERE is the second one I did in 2014.  As if running a marathon isn’t hard enough, I decided to run a race even longer than 26.2 miles.  I ran the RnR New Orleans Marathon early in March and then ran the 50k a few weeks later.  Why not, right?  🙂

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I enjoyed writing about this topic.  It was fun reading older posts (sometimes cringing because of what I wrote – Yikes!!), but overall remembering each one which made me smile.

Tuesday Topics

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Good Morning San Francisco!

I am in San Francisco for my nephew’s graduation from the University of California in Berkeley.  There are about 14 of us here.  His parents live in Mexico and most of the family came from Mexico.  

I left Saturday morning with my mom.  I don’t always enjoy traveling to CA because of the long flight and the time difference.  I think I’ve been to CA about 6-7 times.

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After getting our luggage, picking up a car, and meeting my niece and her grandmother, we make our way to our AirBnB in San Francisco.  My nephew got us a place in the Mission District where he lives and where he got another place for his parents and other family members.

Our place is nice.  It has 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, large combo of living room and kitchen.  My nephew warned me about parking and yes it is terrible here.  On street cleaning days, the cars park temporarily on the sidewalk and wait for the truck to drive by and then they park their car on the street.  Also, they are serious about composting here in California!

That evening we did a little sightseeing and then went to Lombard Street.  The view from the top is pretty cool!

The next morning I went out for a 3 mile run.  Interesting things I saw along the way.  I saw a lot of homeless people, a lady peeing on the sidewalk, and so much garbage on the sidewalk too.  The owner of the AirBnB said that this area is the hottest new area in San Francisco.  Umm, OK?

Later on we went on a Mother’s Day Cruise.  It was cold and windy but still was great to see some beautiful views of San Francisco.

Graduation was Monday afternoon.  Isn’t that a weird day for a graduation?  We took a Lyft for the 30 minutes drive to Berkeley.  We wanted to get there early to get in line to pick up the tickets and also to get good seats.  The graduation took place at The Greek Theatre.  

The past few days has been an exciting time for us.  We are proud of our nephew (first in my side of the family but his dad also has a Ph.D.).  Next graduation is his brother in June 2019 from the University of Seattle.

Linking up with MarciaPatti, and Erika for Tuesdays on the Run.

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The Great Alaskan Running Cruise: Vancouver, Canada

You can read about my last day at sea HERE.

We woke up in Vancouver.  Our last stop.  We got our last cup of coffee using our coffee card.  <<If you like coffee as much as I do, I suggest you get this card.  The coffee on the ship is NOT good.  With this card you get 15 different coffees (americano, latte, cappuccino, hot chocolate) throughout the week.  Definitely best purchase ever!

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I’ve never been to Vancouver so I was excited about being there.  We were able to get off the ship around 8:30am.  Then we took a cab to the hotel.  Our room wasn’t ready so we left our luggage and went out to explore.  

First we went to Stanley Park.  

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Then we took a ferry to Granville Island.  We did more sightseeing and got something to eat.  So many choices to eat at The Public Market but we ended up at a brewery.  🙂

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We walked on the Granville Island Bridge to get back to our hotel.  We got tired.  Once in our room we took a nap.

Have you heard of the Happy Pace Program?  If I would have stayed longer in Vancouver, for sure I would have shown up at 7:30 am.

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After our nap we went to Gastown.  It is Vancouver’s most historic neighborhood with cobblestone walkways.

The following morning I flew back to Chicago.  But first another bear picture.  I posted this in our private Facebook page and everyone got a kick out of it.  Anybody home?

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Remember my snafu on my flight from Seattle to Anchorage regarding the app to watch TV shows?  Same thing happened.  I had access to free movies and TV shows but I needed the United app in order to watch them.  And I needed wifi to download the app.  

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The Great Alaskan Running Cruise: Last Day at Sea

You can read about my day in Ketchikan HERE.

The next day was a Rise and Shine Run/Walk with Coach Jenny (we skipped it) followed by a Flexibility Session and Ask Coach Jenny Q&A.

The rest of the day we just relaxed on the boat.  More gorgeous views!  We also packed. Somewhere around 2:30 pm we made it into Canada.  

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That evening after dinner was a GARC Award Ceremony & Farewell Reception.  There were various drinks on hand but we chose champagne.

It a celebration of everyone’s accomplishments!

Then more walking around the boat.  Sad that our cruise was almost over and saying goodbye to our home for the week.

Cute painting but I didn’t want to find out the cost.

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Love these daily reminders on the elevator.  It was easy to forget what day it was.

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Very important card.  We needed this not only to open our room door but to get off the ship and to get back in.  It was like a credit card that anytime you wanted to buy something, you used that card for your purchase.

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The Great Alaskan Running Cruise: Ketchikan

You can read about my day in Icy Strait Point HERE.

Our last race of the running cruise!  We had the option of either the 5K or 10K.  Meghann and I chose the 5K.

Thank goodness it only rained on our last race day.

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Another hot breakfast and pep talk from Jenny.

Amazing views before the race!  Happy it had stopped raining.

Final instructions before heading out.

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Time to run!  The 10k runners went first followed by the 5k runners.

Done!  Isn’t that a beautiful medal?  

At the finish line there was beer and a “salmon bake” with salmon wraps.  I had the beer but no wrap.  This race wasn’t timed so there was no “official” winner.  However, the two winners were those that drew an ace card from a deck of cards.  I did not win.

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We didn’t stay too long because we wanted to be on the first bus heading back to the ship to shower and get ready, eat, and be reading for our excursion (Historic Ketchikan Trolley).

Meghann and I could never understood this.  I mean I understand the whole custom regulations part, but why coffee?
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Anyway, time to explore Ketchikan.  It started to rain toward the end of our tour.

We saw Nathan Jackson working on a totem pole.

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And we saw a few more totem poles at the Saxman Native Village Totem Pole Park.

That evening after dinner I enjoyed a glass of champagne.

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