Clam Chowdah Challenge and hurricane Sandy.

Hi, blog friends! I have a list of beautiful things to blog about, including a ton of photos and the passing of our big lab girl, Misty, but that will have to wait until later… Or after vacation.
By vacation, I mean heading to the East coast to run the Clam Chowdah Challenge, a road race that consists of a half marathon on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday, then spending the rest of the week in Boston with our college friends, Curtis and Mo.
Brian and I started our vacation by heading down to Chicago to catch our flight. The weather in Wisconsin was crazy…

We stopped at a new kennel to drop off Abbie for the first four days of our trip. It’s the first time she’ll be at a kennel without Misty, so I’ve been calling to check in. It sounds like she made a lot of new friends and ran around a lot. 🙂
Brian and I made it to O’Hare with just enough time to catch our flight to Boston.

Curtis and Mo picked us up at the airport after a short plane delay, and we headed straight to pick up dinner… Chowdah, of course!

After a delicious clam chowder dinner, we fell sound asleep from a day of traveling. We woke up on Friday and hung out with Curtis before heading out for Cape Cod, where the race was held. The traffic through Boston was really crazy, and I was a little unnerved by all the digital highway signs…

They were starting to warn people about the impending hurricane. After a 2.5 hour drive, we made it to our hotel (The Doubletree in Hyannis) and headed to “carb-load” for dinner.

The pizza was perfect, and after a quick stop for groceries (pre-race breakfasts!), I slept soundly Friday night. On Saturday morning, we found a Starbucks for my morning fix. (D.O., represent!)

It was a beautiful day for a run.

I had Greek yogurt with honey, chia seeds, and a banana for breakfast, and I felt ready to run the first race, a quick little 13.1 miles through hilly Falmouth, MA.

About mile 4, I met two adorable runners from New Jersey. They reminded me of my own sole sisters, Kim and Nancy.

Val and Colleen and I chatted throughout the whole race 🙂 Brian kept himself busy with the beautiful scenery, including a couple swans!!!

We brought it in with a reasonable 2:15 something.

We headed back to our hotel so I could shower, then the Weisses and the Oberstadts all headed to lunch- lobster rolls!

Please take note of the menu pairing- a kids hot dog goes best with beer or soda. 🙂

We walked around downtown a little bit so I could get the blood flowing through my legs, and we found this awesome giant chair.

We went to dinner at our hotel restaurant, and I had a wedge salad with some delicious dinner rolls, and some of Brian’s seafood pasta. It had incredible scallops! Yummmm. I was feeling a little tight, so I used my foam roller and stretched, praying that I’d awake on Sunday feeling rested and refreshed.
Unfortunately, I woke up Sunday morning feeling nauseous, with a sore throat and even more sore hamstrings. I could hardly eat my breakfast, though I was trying.

Luckily, I found Val and Colleen, and they eased my nervous mind.

I kept thinking, one race down, one to go. In fact, I was practically a third of the way done already- 13.1 finished, 26.2 to go.

No starting gun for this race- they have a start cannon.

You can see me in the starting crowd with my teal top and pink skirt.

This guy had an awesome shirt…

Brian came and met me several times on the course- miles 7.5, 13, 16.3, 19, and 23.3. He helped me fuel through the race with Skittles, Lifesavers, and flat Coke. There was cytomax on the course, as well.

It was a beautiful course, although it was pretty hilly.

Special thanks to the guy around mile 20 who offered me this incredible popsicle.

Everything about this photo says, “I’m a hurting machine.”

I finished the marathon in 5:30 something. As the race approached mile 18, both my hamstrings and my quads tightened up so much that I couldn’t run anymore. I walked through a water station, and when I tried to run again, I couldn’t. I ended up powerwalking/jogging the remainder of the race. As I kept chugging along, I was trying to figure out why I was having such a rough marathon… And then I remembered- I ran a half marathon the day before. Oh, yeah… that. One sweet grandma-like lady came up to me in the finishers chute, told me I had such a sweet smile, even when I was hurting, and she was so proud of me. Then she gave me a big hug, even though I was sweaty and very salty.
After the race, we headed back to the race headquarters to pick up the big prize- the coveted clam Chowdah mug.

I also took advantage of the post-race massage, and a shower. No shower feels as good as a post-marathon shower.

We headed to a sports bar for a late lunch and the end of the Packer game (GO, PACK, GO!), then drove back to Curtis and Mo’s apartment. They made delicious chicken tacos for dinner, and we enjoyed a low-key evening in. My hurting body enjoyed all the laying around, and a warm bath, and more stretching. I slept for a long and wonderful 10 hours, and Curtis made my morning by cooking eggs and creating the leaning tower of eggshells.

We spent the morning accumulating emergency storm supplies…

…and are now cozily enjoying a grown-up sleepover with our friends.

See y’all after the storm, kids!

Miles this year: 607.8