Home:NewYork:Vegas

Whew, I made it back! I had a great time at home this past weekend. I spent a lot of time with my family and got to see a couple of friends too. I flew back EARLY on Tuesday morning on a 6:25am flight and got back to New York at 8am. After a mere $47 spent on a cab (obviously joking...) I arrived at work at 9:30am, where I stayed until 9:15pm trying to get ahead because....

Tomorrow I am going to VEGAS!!! That's right, myself and 7 friends are going to Vegas until Sunday for a little reunion/bachelorette party (not mine, Kim's)/just genuine good fun in Sin City!!! I am so excited, but also a bit frantic here packing and trying to make sure I don't forget anything!

Coconut rum, check. Camera charged, check. Hotel reservation confirmed (the Tropicana), check. I sure hope I don't forget anything!!!

Well, the entire time that I've been typing this, I have been waiting for my photo bucket page to load so that I can post some pictures from my trip home. Sadly, I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon, and I must get to bed. I won't be able to write again until Monday or Tuesday, so until then!!

This post is up-to-date (for a change)

As in for once I'm not recapping something that happened 2 weeks ago!!

So yes, the post below is about last weekend, when Taylor and I went up to SoNo, CT and enjoyed some time by the water. This weekend, I am at home in Perrysburg visiting my family. I've had a good time so far, but unfortunately, I can't upload my pictures to prove it (I'll do that in New York, when I get back).

I got here late Friday evening and just hung out at home with my family. On Saturday morning, Taryn and I went out ot breakfast at IHOP. Now, I've been away for about 6 years, but I was still surprised by the drastic increase in the number of rednecks in my town!!! I'm not sure if perhaps I just didn't notice them when I was younger, or maybe it's the big city influencing my perceptions, or perhaps the rednecks have finally evolved to the point of purchasing cars (as opposed to tractors) and are now making the trek to the big-city IHOP on a regular basis...regardless, it was shocking.

Anyway, Saturday afternoon I went running with Garett and got my hair done. Then, at night my friend Chris and his girlfriend Kelly came over and played euchre with us. We went bowling at like 10, but when the lanes closed at 11pm (a little early, in my opinion), we came back to my house for some more cards! My dad and Chris taught us girls how to play blackjack, a good thing because I'm going to Vegas in 3 days and need the practice!

Yesterday (Sunday), we went to church and then we drove out to my dad's cousin Nancy and her husband Herc's cottage on Lake Erie. It was supposed to rain all day, but it actually ended up being a nice afternoon and evening by the lake. We went out on their boat and drove across the lake to a little fair taking place in the town nearby. I got a FUNNEL CAKE!! It was awesome. Then we came back and ate dinner and hung out until about 10pm when we headed back to Perrysburg. I got to bed a little early because...

This morning Garett and I ran the Kip Boulis 5K race in Perrysburg. It's an annual Memorial Day race in honor of a local police officer who died in 1980 rescuing two people who were drowning in the Maumee River. They both survived, I believe, but he was killed. Anyway, I've never done the race, but since Garett and I are thinking of doing a half marathon together in October, I thought it would be fun to do a run here. He beat my by like 2 minutes with a time of 22:50 (7:22 miles!) and I was able to make my goal of 8-minutes flat per mile. Sounds slow when you put it next to his time...man! Anyway, I'm just back from breakfast after the race with Garett and my parents. It's a BEAUTIFUL 75 and sunny day (the first so far) so I think I'll cut this short. I think we're going to go to the zoo today and then I may head over to Chris's friends house to play some volleyball and corn hole. Photos to come!

"Say Yes to SoNo"

I'm smack in the middle of three consecutive weekends of travelling. Last weekend, Taylor and I took a little weekend trip up to Norwalk, Connecticut to explore the downtown area, popularly referred to as SoNo (for South Norwalk). I read an article in Coastal Living (I know, how very preppy of me) and decided it would be a fun place to take a day trip, especially since I was going to be away the next two weekends.

We had a great time in SoNo. We did a little shopping, went to the acquarium (including an IMAX movie and the Spongebob Squarepants 4-D ride!!), ate seafood, and had drinks in the quaint little downtown area. Here are some fun pictures:

Petting the manta rays:

Taylor has a problem keeping his eyes open with a flash....but he figured it out!

And each of us with Norris, the sea turtle (I just named him this very second)

At our hotel, they gave us free, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies (I was very happy)!!

I treated Taylor to some lobster for dinner!

And here we are getting drinks, this would be so cute if it wasn't so bright...

What a great time!!

Always a bridesmaid...

Ok, actually it's my first time, but I did have a great time today doing some bridesmaidly duties for my friend Kim's wedding!

I made the poor fitting room attendants take my picture so that I could send them to Kim. I thought you might enjoy these photos. Here are the four dresses, in order of Kim's preference right now. Just so you know, they will be black for the wedding, they just didn't have black in the store!

Hm...I swear I didn't look this big in person...must be the light. Regardless, these are all good options, I'm excited!!

Alright, talk to you again on Saturday :-)

So sorry!!

Ok, so I have been very bad about posting ever since the Marathon. Realizing I might lose what little readership I have, I hereby promise to update at LEAST every other day from here on out. Unfortunately, this will have to count for today because I need to get ready for the LOST series finale right now. Talk to you tomorrow!!!

Old ladies came to NYC!

You may have noticed that that I haven't been blogging lately. Or....maybe my readership isn't quite what I thought it was. Regardless, I have been keeping very busy in the interim!

My mom and my grandmas came to visit me this past weekend!! It was a GREAT weekend. I got to do so many things that I never do in the city, so many, in fact, that my mom and grandmas asked me to help scribe their activities. I figure what better place to do so than on the blog!

Thursday, May 10

• Mom and the Grandmas arrived in New York at about 2pm on Thursday
• They took a cab to their hotel on the Upper East Side
• The hotel was VERY nice with a great view of the East River and a really nice pool/fitness center/hot tub setup
• They took the city bus to meet me at the Subway after work
• Then, we took the subway down to Times Square
• We ate dinner at O'Flatery's Irish Pub
• Went to see my new apartment on 81st Street at Central Park West

Friday, May 11
While I was at work on Friday, Mom and my Grandmas did the following:

• Took the subway to Grand Central Station
• Went inside St. Patrick's Cathedral
• Went to Rockefeller Center
• Saw the location of the Today Show
• Went to Macy's in Herald Square - had lunch and saw where the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade ends
• Met me at my current apartment where my mom cooked dinner for us
• Taylor joined us for dinner and then took us all for a drive through New York to see the city lights at night (including Times Square, Grand Central, Herald Square)

Saturday, May 12

• Met at Pier 78 for a skyline sightseeing boat tour where we saw Saw the downtown skyline, the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, the site of the World Trade Center (from the water), Ellis Island and many other interesting things
• Went to Central Park and took a carriage ride
• Had dinner at Tavern on the Green in Central Park

Sunday, May 13 - Mothers' Day

• Went to Central Park to watch me run in a 10 mile race to prevent domestic violence
• Dressed up to go to Mothers' Day brunch at Arte Cafe
• Went to the Lunt-Fontaine Theatre to see Beauty & the Beast on Broadway
• Returned to the hotel and ordered pizza for dinner

Monday, May 14

• Took a New York double decker bus tour all around Manhattan. Saw the World Trace Center site, Chinatown, SOHO, Little Italy, South Street Seaport, Harlem, and much more!
• Met me for lunch at South Street Seaport
• Went to see my work.

Tuesday, May 15

• Went to the 86th floor observation deck of the Empire State Building
• Departed for the airport at 1:30pm

Whew! That's quite a trip for anyone, and I am so proud of my grandmas for being so motivated to see New York, literally, from every angle - the water, ground level, underground (subway) and way up high (Empire State Building).

I will be sure to post pictures soon!

Carissa

View the official photos

Here are the official photos of me from the race:

http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=13995&BIB=9241

Enjoy!!!

ATTENTION:

If you are just starting to read about my race, may I suggest that instead of reading straight down, you click on the following links in order to read from start to finish (or you can click "continue" at the bottom of each post):

• Before the race in Nashville
• Miles 1-10
• Miles 10-19
• Miles 19-26.2 and the FINISH LINE!!

Enjoy and please check back. I will still be updating this blog with stories from my continued running and training and with other random tidbits from my life in New York!!!

We're going to finish this f****** race together!

The above were Kiernan's words to me at mile 19 of the Country Music Marathon.

And that was that. No matter what happened, we had each learned the meaning of the word TEAM because at mile 19 of the hottest marathon ever (well, for me, I HOPE), Kiernan, Kara and I knew that we could not finish the race without sticking together. And that's what we did, through walking, running, crawling, drinking, peeing (I did, once), you name it.

I prefer not to recall the exact details of the race (for obvious reason), but the three of us did stick together. We had to walk for some portions of the last 6 miles. Kiernan's hip was hurting, but I was just legitimately tuckered out from the heat. Slow and seady we made it out the third out and back, through Shelby park, and back to the Coliseum, where the Finish line was located. I will NEVER forget the feeling of the last few minutes of the race. Each and every person who was cheering kept saying, "Less than half a mile!!" "You'll see the crowd just around the bend!" and "You're almost there!!!" Sure enough, as we made one last turn off the last out and back, there were huge crowds lining both sides of the road. Many half marathon finishers were already wearing their medals and hundreds upon hundreds of family and friends cheered us in. I past the 26 mile mark and made one final left turn to see the finish line (and my mom and Taylor!) just up ahead.

Now promise you won't laugh, but here are a couple of photos that they took as I passed:

Here she comes:
And there she goes!

Our coach, Ramon, runs each and every runner in toward the finish line. It's really a GREAT tradition if you ask me. My mom didn't get a picture of him with me, but here's an adorable picture of him helping another Team In Training member - who wasn't even from our chapter - down the home stretch:
And, moments later, at 4:26:41, I crossed the FINISH LINE!!!!


Before I was able to meet up with mom and Taylor (something I was desperate to do!), we had to go through this "finishers only" area. We stopped to take this photo (it's blurry because it's illegal, you're supposed to buy it, which I will eventually):


Then, I was finally able to find mom and Taylor. Here are a few shots (some better than others):

Me and Mom (aren't the flowers pretty!? Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Hooper!):

PRECIOUS!!!
Delirious:
Me and Kiernan
Well, there you have it, proof that I finished the race!!! And if you come to my apartment, you'll see that medal hanging on my wall. I can safely say this is one of the biggest accomplishments of my life!!!! Although I didn't make my time goal, I did do something I never thought I'd do, and I met some amazing people doing it. A big thank-you message is in order, but for now, please enjoy hearing about my journey by reading and looking at all the pictures!!

Click here to go back to the main Blog

Miles 10-19

Erica and I arrived at mile 10 to the smiling face of her parents, my mother and Taylor, and many other excited fans. At this point, I was still feeling pretty good. Exhibit A (me looking like a mental patient):



In fact, the first 10 miles of the race literally flew by and before we knew it, we were into our second out and back, headed north for what I had imagined - knowing Nashville and having studied the race route - to be the more boring part of the race.

Sure enough, miles 11-19 would prove to be the turning point for me. For starters, this was where the chipper little half marathoners veered off and made a bee-line for the finish line while we had 15 more miles to go!!! In addition, mile 11 was one long hill, during which we left the crowds of spectators and the lush, tree covered streets of Vanderbilt behind. It was around mile 11 through 13 when I became acutely aware that not only was the temperature steadily climbing, but the sun was coming out and there was no longer any shade to provide relief. Mile 12 saw us entering the office-building capital of Nashville, known as MetroCenter. On a Saturday, as you might imagine, Metro Center was about as dead as dead could be. Except for the lovely water stop volunteers, we really had very little company out there.

I take that back, as I turned the corner and began to approach mile 12, there WAS a group of nuns....yes, nuns....cheering for us. It was quite a sight!!!

Miles 13-15 are a blur of hot pavement, narrow paths, and quiet struggle. At one point a nice man from Birmingham came up next to me and could probably see my resolve weakening and he began to talk to me about New York City (I was wearing a New York City Chapter TNT jersey). However, he quickly realized that I was virtually unable to return his chipper conversation and - thanks to absolutely no training in the heat - would probably be walking soon.

Sure enough, at around mile 15.5, I had to take a moment to walk and catch my breath. I began to run again at the water stop and felt a little better, that is until I noticed that there was a HUGE HILL in mile 16!!! This was probably the low point of the race for me. Erica had long since left me in the dust and I was beginning to realize that I had 10 miles left in the sweltering heat before I could even think about relaxing. I walked a little up this big hill and was passed by one of my teammates, Kara, whom I had shared a cab with earlier in the season. Kara asked how I was doing and I flat out-lied that I was fine!! In fact, the two of us actually took turns passing one another, walking periodically through the next two miles.

At mile 19, I found myself slightly ahead of Kara and suddenly accompanied by one of our coaches, Steve!! Steve came up beside me and asked how I was. To which I replied again "Great!" I think he could see that I was struggling (who wasn't) and he reminded me to focus on my arms (to take my mind off my feet), drink lots of water, dump water on my head (to keep cool), and, most of all, keep a positive attitude. It was the last thing he told me, though, that really caused me to perk up. He said "You'll see Kiernan walking up ahead in just a minute."

Now, keep in mind that at this point, I thought Kiernan was way up ahead of me. Well, it turns out that her hip (which had been bothering her periodically all season) was acting up and I was about to catch up with my running partner!!! Just as I saw Kiernan come into view, I was joined by Kara who had just caught up with me.

Kara said, "I'm just going to stick with you." and as we approached Kiernan together, we made eye contact and the relief that flooded my friend's face was evident. The three of us looked at each other and in a moment that will forever be etched in my mind, Kier gathered her resolve and said, "We're going to finish this fucking race together."

I'll leave you with this image before I finish with my final race post. That's me, our mentor Deb, Kiernan and Kara from left to right. I love the determination in Kiernan in this photo!

Click here to continue to the rest of the race and the FINISH LINE!!

Ohhhhhhhh! you want to hear about the

Well, here goes!

MARATHON MORNING!!

We woke up Marathon morning at 4am to get ready and get down to the shuttle to the start by 4:30am. I put on my trusty spandex, my new singlet:

and my good attitude and headed downstairs. Here's a picture of Kiernan and I trying not to look too nervous on our way out the door:

We met the rest of the team in the lobby and ate our breakfast. In my case, I downed a Snicker's Marathon Energy Bar and the Frusion that my mom and I worked so hard to find the night before. We headed out to the bus just before 5am to head over to Centennial park.

Our arrival at Centennial park, with a full-scale model of the Parthenon as the backdrop, felt more than a little monumental. For those who don't know, Nashville is nicknamed "The Athens of the South," and its cornerstone is the Parthenon. Also for those who don't know, the marathon itself comes from a Greek legend. According to Wikipedia:

The name, "marathon", comes from the legend of Pheidippides, a Greek soldier, who was sent from the town of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians had been miraculously defeated in the Battle of Marathon. It is said that he ran the entire distance without stopping, but moments after proclaiming his message to the city he collapsed dead from exhaustion.

Like Pheidippides himself, we were about to embark on quite a monumental journey (well, and hopefully not die in the process!).

We spend about 60 nervous minutes drinking water, visiting the porta potties, and making our way to the start line. And without further ado...

THE RACE - MILES 1-10!!!

The race started at 7:00am with a wave start. This means that the participants were broken up into corrals, which were released approximately every 90 seconds following the start of the race. We were in corral five, so after about 7 minutes, it was our turn to go!!

Kiernan, Matt, Erica and I were all in the same corral, but Erica and I planned to stick together while Matt and Kiernan started off slightly faster than us. Our goal pace for the first 8-14 miles was 9 minutes 20 seconds. Our first mile ended up being a far too fast, at 8 minutes 45 seconds, so we slowed down to make sure we saved our energy for later in the race. The temperature at the start line was about 54 degrees with full cloud cover. The first few miles were really comfortable for running.

We saw Erica's parents at mile one and my mom and Taylor at the water stop at mile 1.7. We continued up music row and down past Belmost University, attempting to keep a moderate pace through much of the early part of the course. I say "attempting" because it's always tempting in a race to begin much faster than you should and then you simply lose all energy later in the race. We did a pretty good job and managed to keep our miles between 9 and 9:20 for the first hour and a half.

Around mile 6, I became aware that the sun was out and it was beginning to warm up, but as it was only 8am, it didn't seem to bad at the time. We enjoyed about two miles of downhill after that and then began to look forward to seeing Erica's parents any my mom and Taylor again at mile 10. Here we are:

And now I must start a new post...because I seem to be running out of space!!!

Click here to continue to miles 10-19

Thursday and Friday...

Waiting in Nashville…

We arrived in the Music City on Thursday morning to allow plenty of time to get acclimated to the city prior to the big day. We spent the day exploring downtown (something that I did surprisingly little of while I lived in Nashville!).

We started out by picking up our race numbers at the Marathon Expo. I also bought a tube of body glide (don’t ask!) and a fanny pack (a stylish one, if that’s possible) for my gels. After the expo, we went out for an all-you-can-eat Sushi lunch at Ru Sans. After lunch, we spend the afternoon walking around downtown. I took Erica and Karen down 2nd Avenue, up Broadway, and across the Shelby Street Bridge to get a good look at the Finish line at LP field. We had a little fun in some of the country stores too:



After that, I sent Karen and Erica off to the Country Music Hall of Fame and I went with Kim to get a drink at the Yazoo! Brewery. Thursday evening, we went to Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge and then I went to meet some friends from Nashville at the Tin Roof and then Sunset Grill for NACHOS!!! What, you don’t think those are the perfect pre-race food?

T-Minus One Day!!

Friday morning, the whole Team got up at 8am to go for a short run and a stretching session. It was warm for the first portion of the run, and I immediately started to get nervous about the race. As we trained almost entirely in the winter, I didn’t feel at all prepared for a warm race! Luckily, by the time we started stretching and walking back to the hotel, the weather started to cool down and the clouds began to cover the sun.

After the run, we headed out for breakfast at a nearby diner, and then to the Race Expo to change our corrals at the start line. I was originally in corral number 9, but our coach suggested that we move up to at least corral 5, so Erica and I went to take care of that before my mom arrived at 11:30am. Once mom arrived, we walked down to American Apparel, a new store on Broadway, so I could buy myself some nice comfy clothes to put on after the race.

After this, we headed back for the Pasta Party. The Pasta Party is an inspirational event for all Team In Training participants in a given race and their guests. In addition to eating plenty of pasta, we got to hear from some amazing inspirational speakers who helped take our minds off of the race and put them back on the real reason we are there: to help raise funds to find a CURE for Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin’s Disease and Myeloma. All New York team members wear “I heart NY” T-shirts to the Pasta Party and each participant is greeted by cheering from TNT staff and coaches. Here’s a really great picture of Kiernan and I at the entrance (and out cheering coaches in the background! The blurry one is Ramon):




The Pasta Party was amazing, and I left feeling more than ready for the race (in addition to very full!). After the Pasta Party, we discovered that our hotel was somehow without water!! Can you believe that?! The day before a marathon, and a water line breaks outside the hotel. So, not only do we have no water, but we also have no toilets (and when you’ve been drinking lots of water, this can prove relatively problematic!). We went straight into a team meeting after the Pasta Party, where we heard many last-minute details about the race and decorated out singlets (that’s the purple tank top that all Team In Training participants wear). Here’s a picture of mine:


Friday night, my mom and I went to Panera and then planned to go buy my usual post-run snack: a Frusion yogurt shake. Unfortunately, the first two places that we checked didn’t have the shake, and we ended up having to get a cab and make him take us all over Nashville to find one!! After a $17 cab ride, we were finally able to secure the Frusion (at the sketchy Kroger, for those who are familiar!) and had back to the room. I got to bed at about 9:45pm in time to get 6 hours of sleep before the VERY early 4am wake-up call on Saturday.

Click here to continue to the RACE