I went to New Jersey this weekend to run my 43rd state. And I left New Jersey, still needing to complete it. Here’s what went down:

So, the race was Sunday morning at 8:30am. At 6:59am I got an email from the race director saying that due to the fires in the area, they were changing it to a 10 mile race.

I was sitting in the rental car with my sister and started laughing, then crying, then I was crying while laughing somehow. I mean, WTF? I understand and appreciate the need to keep everyone safe but if we’re already running 10, can’t we just do part of the course twice to get to 13.1?

For the group I’m a member of, there are several rules. To complete the endurance challenge for all 50 states you have to get an official finishing time for it to count. By them changing it to 10, regardless of if I ran the 13.1 or not, it doesn’t count. 🤬

While I was marinating on the fact that this wouldn’t count, Andrea asked me if I needed any biofreeze for my bum hip…I told her no, nothing could hurt more than my soul at the moment 😬🤣.

I was wrong about my hip by the way. It did still hurt (have a MRI scheduled next month). Luckily I was doing this with my sister, and we made the best of it. We finished it doing “party pace” which basically means you go however fast or slow you want and have a hell of a good time.

The course wasn’t the most beautiful but the vineyard where we started and finished was pretty.

After the race we went for drinks and brunch. The day started getting better from there!

After brunch we drove to Philadelphia and spent the rest of the day shopping and taste testing Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. I mean, if you can’t complete the mission you may as well do some side quests, amiright?

So, for the second time since I’ve begun this journey, I went to a state only for it not to work out. I am disappointed as I’m working really hard to get this all finished by the end of next year and now have to try and add this back in. It’s a lot of time, money, and effort. But alas, such is life and forward is a pace, even when it seems like you’re standing still.