Damn. Things did not go how I had hoped.

We (Matt, the kids and I) arrived in Honolulu late Friday night. Luckily travel went well and we had no issues getting here. The time change was tough though, it’s a 4 hour difference.

On Saturday morning we woke up and went to the expo at 9am. It was a large event. This race has no limit to the registrants and ended up with around 42,000 runners, making it the largest ever.

The expo was a decent size. I got some cool merch, including a towel with all the pre-registered runners names on it, as well as the very last hoody. I love hoody’s- definitely my favorite clothing item.

They had a name wall and a cheer wall, both were nice touches.

I was really excited to get my bib. They gave me the number 5050 because it was my 50th state out of my 50 state journey. I thought this was awesome and such a special touch!

After the expo we decided to get some beach/pool time in and just relax before the big day. We went out for dinner and planned logistics. I was staying at a hotel 1.5 miles from the start line so pre booked a Lyft for the morning to save my legs. Andrea was close to the finish line and they had a bus to get her to the start.

Morning came bright and early. I set my alarm for 3:30am as I had to meet my Lyft at 4:15am. Well unfortunately the driver cancelled. I tried to get an Uber but couldn’t find one. I decided to walk (because the race started at 5am) and I didn’t want to miss the start. Unfortunately for me, it started pouring.

I grabbed a trash bag from the helpful person at the front desk, made a stylish poncho, and started trudging.

I arrived with about 15 mins to spare, but it was insane. I couldn’t find my sister, nor get to my assigned starting corral, as there were too many people.

I wasn’t able to start running until around 5:25am and it was so congested. They have the marathon and the 10k start at the same time and a lot of runners didn’t really follow running etiquette (like if you’re going slower or walking, move to the right) so it made it really hard for me to get my pace going.

Other than that, the first five miles went well and Matt and Bond were waiting for me at mile 5 with dry socks which was amazing! Wet feet during a long race is brutal, it tears them up.

One I changed socks I kept going until mile 8 when I started to not feel great. I took in some nutrition and water hoping that would help.

By mile 11 I knew I was in trouble and had to pull over and got ill. I vomited three times and just stood off to the side for a bit considering my options.

I wanted to quit so, SO bad. I felt awful and it was hot and so humid – 75 degrees and 81% humidity. I don’t know about anyone else but when I’m nauseous, feeling warm makes it so much worse.

It felt daunting to continue but I told myself I hadn’t come this far (literally and figuratively) to only get to mile 11. So I started walking, trying to take it one mile at a time.

I had to stop again and got sick at miles 15 and 18 and in total vomited 8 times. By then there was nothing left in my system and I was very dehydrated. I stopped by several medical tents to try and get anti-nausea medicine but they had no medication whatsoever (WTF!). So I got bags of ice at every med tent and as it melted, drank the ice cold water, trying to rehydrate and keep myself going. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other, with a couple sit down breaks on the side of the road, and asking God to keep it overcast.

For the most part my prayers were answered. I was climbing the hill at mile 24 and it stayed torrentially down pouring. We got 2 inches of rain quickly and the roads flooded. I was completely soaked at that point. I have now learned to be more specific with my prayers 🤣. Still, better than the heat.

I finally finished. I don’t know that I can properly express how much it sucked, and the emotional swings I went through. I wanted this race to be a crowning achievement, a highlight to the end of my journey, and instead I felt ashamed by how long it took me (7.5 hours, my slowest marathon by a long shot), and so frustrated with how the day went, plus I still felt physically awful. I had properly trained, felt mentally strong, and was proud of my hard work. Things just didn’t go as planned. Andrea was the first person I saw after I crossed the line and she hugged me and I immediately started crying.

I struggle sharing all of this because it’s pretty vulnerable, but I named this blog honestrunning, so I’ve got to keep with the original intentions and it is what it is.

I gave myself the rest of the day to feel all the feelings. Now I’ve got to move on.

Today I’m feeling better physically and emotionally. It wasn’t the day I had hoped for, but I don’t want that to minimize what I’ve achieved. I’ve been working on this goal since March 2017, so 9 years. And I did it! I’ve got a lot to reflect on, and I hope that with a little more time, I can lose the bad feelings and just focus on the good. I hope that I’ve taught my children that mental strength is a skill that you should constantly be honing, as life WILL get hard and WILL throw obstacles in your way that you’ll have to overcome. I hope that I’ve made my family and friends proud. I hope that I’ve inspired people to try new things, do hard things, and push themselves when life gets challenging.

I’ll likely do a recap of this whole journey at some point, but for now…I just want to say thank you to all who have supported me. So, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I couldn’t have done this alone.

Today I ran my 48th state, at the 48th running of the Detroit Free Press Marathon, and it was also my 75th lifetime half marathon. Whoop whoop!

I actually tried to run this race in 2020. I was signed up – but it cancelled due to covid. I chose it because it sounded cool – you start in Detroit, run to Canada, and then run back. Pretty awesome.

I flew here yesterday morning, meeting my sister in Chicago before continuing on to Detroit. Once we arrived, we headed straight to the expo to get our bibs. Due to it being an international race, it was a bit more strict than most other races -you had to show your passport to get your bib, and were told to run with it as well. I honestly didn’t realize how close to Canada that Detroit is – but you could literally see Canada from the expo hall.

After that we headed to have lunch – I figured I should have Detroit style pizza since I was in Detroit and all. We went to a place called Union Assembly – which also happened to be between Mom’s Spaghetti (Eminem’s restaurant) and Little Caesars World Headquarters (I thought that was cool since I was a delivery driver for them all through high school.)

The pizza was pretty good, but I prefer New York style. It was a memorable visit though because while there Andrea said to me “You’re a really smart dumb person, dude.” after I accidentally sanitized the air and my water with sanitizing spray instead of my hands. Facepalm. In my defense, I had been awake since 4am. And I made her laugh so hard her nostrils fluttered, so always happy to entertain.

After that we just wandered around the city. I was impressed with how clean and walkable it is.

This morning dawned with some really crappy weather. There were wind gusts up to 40 mph and it was raining. I’m being dramatic but all I could think in my head was the quote from Armageddon where Oscar said “Okay, so the scariest environment imaginable. Thanks. That’s all you gotta say, scariest environment imaginable.” The thing about races though is you get what you get with the weather… and you just have to deal with it.

The first 5k was pretty brutal. The rain felt almost like needles because the wind was pushing it directly into my skin. In addition, my ponytail became a weapon of mass destruction – it kept whipping me in the face with every step I took. I had a time goal initially, but I quickly abandoned that plan and decided to just enjoy the journey. We crossed the Ambassador Bridge into Canada and all of sudden things were a lot more peaceful (just referring to the weather).

There was great crowd support, and the rain stopped and the wind died down. This was from miles 3-7, so a good reprieve.

Then we headed into a tunnel to run an underwater mile and head back to the US.

I spent a long time in that tunnel – it was only a mile, but it was really fun to be underwater and of course I had to get a photo of myself standing in the United States and Canada at the same time.

I made it through the tunnel and was greeted by a welcome back sign as well as border patrol with some sniper rifles.

The last 5 miles were not great again – it’s odd how different the weather was in Detroit and Canada even though they are so close. The winds picked back up again, and it rained off and on. The worst thing about running in the rain is wet feet – mostly due to the risk of blisters. It’s a common concern of runners. In fact in the hotel elevator this morning there were about 10 of us riding down to the lobby and some random lady said “I hope everyone is lubed up.” I responded with “This is probably the only situation where it’s not abnormal to hear that from a random stranger.” And if you don’t know – Vaseline is your friend when running to prevent chafing and blisters.

I finally made it to the finish line. I couldn’t see it – and then realized it was because they had to take down the signs due to the high winds so we just had a timing mat to run over.

I also realized that I had a situation – a bad one. My hair had turned into a tangled mess. I typically wear it in a bubble braid when I run to prevent this sort of thing, and I did again today, but the apocalyptic weather combination of wind, rain, and humidity won.

After I won the battle against my hair – which included a supremely large amount of conditioner, Andrea and I headed to lunch. We found a place that was giving away free mimosas for race participants AND they had homemade pop tarts and huevos rancheros. Win win.

We’ve spent the rest of today walking around, plus a short nap, and finally dinner at a local pub. It turned out to be a great place, we actually met the race directing team, they were unwinding from their crazy day of putting on such a giant event.

It’s been a really lovely trip and we head back early tomorrow morning.

Up next – West Virginia in a couple of weeks.

I’m SO close to being done! Which is good, because my motivation is completely gone. There’s a life lesson in there somewhere though because accomplishing goals is often more about discipline than anything else, so when my unmotivated ass stood on the start line this morning, I knew I had a job to do regardless of how I felt.

I arrived in New Hampshire yesterday, I was there less than 24 hours, but all good.

At the airport I met a fellow member of the 50 States Half Marathon Club and we shared an uber to packet pickup. Some may think it odd to get into a car with a complete stranger, since most of us were taught from birth to never do that, but with the rise of Uber and Lyft we now literally pay for that privilege so what’s one more person? 🤷🏼‍♀️ She was lovely and it’s always fun to hang out with another person who enjoys extreme endurance sports as a hobby.

The packet pickup was just a small tent set up in a parking lot. I grabbed my bib, race jacket, and bought a sticker for the suitcase, because one can never have too many stickers proclaiming your love for running and tasty beverages.

After picking that up I went to my hotel and then searched for somewhere to grab dinner. I found a brewery called Smuttynose a mile away, and as it shares its namesake with the race I figured it had to be a winner. I tried to walk there, but failed. New Hampshire is not very pedestrian friendly and doesn’t have many sidewalks, so I ended up having to uber a mile which was stupid.

I did finally make it- they had one sour on tap, so I gave it a try. Not bad, but it didn’t compare to what we have at Nothing’s Left in Tulsa.

Race day came early this morning- only because some previous person had set the physical alarm clock in the hotel room. I didn’t know people even did that anymore, I thought everyone used their phones?

The race wasn’t until 8am, which is a tad late for a race, but no big deal. I was able to get an uber to the start line and watch the sunrise on the beach.

The theme of this race is Rockfest and so they had an electric guitar player do the national anthem which was pretty cool. Afterwards, the race finally got started.

I’ll be really real. It was pretty to run alongside the beach for a bit, and there was some beautiful foliage (I realize how old using that word makes me sound), but it was kind of a boring race. I expected tons of music and rock bands and there were only two. It was also hot, or as the locals shared with me, unseasonably warm.

The reason I had picked this specific NH race though was because of the lobster roll at the end. I mean, a girls gotta eat and that beats a banana.

So I got the race done and enjoyed my lobster roll. My goal had been to go sub 2:30 as I had a flight to catch and I was able to run 2:21. Headed back in the right direction with my running fitness.

I got back to my hotel with time to grab a shower! I know I’ve mentioned this before, but one of my biggest fears is not being able to do so before getting on a plane after a race. Then I headed to the airport.

I’m home now, after a small snafu at the MHT airport. They told us to board the plane but something important was missing…

Next up, Michigan in two weeks!

Saturday I checked off my 46th state. Not conquered, simply completed, as the last frontier provided quite the challenge for me.

I left on Thursday as it’s a long way to go to get to Alaska. The flight plan was Tulsa to DFW, to Seattle, to Anchorage. I made it to DFW and was wandering around the terminal when I saw a flight leaving for Anchorage in 42 minutes. On a whim, I went to customer service to see if I could get on standby, and lucked out with an actual seat assignment. It was a very long flight but saved me almost 4 hours in travel time. So that’s a win!

When I arrived in Anchorage it was still daylight. In fact it was daylight until 11:42pm. I got to my hotel and crashed – sleep was more important than dinner. Travel always wears me out and the time change was tough as well.

I awoke the next morning around 3am AKC time…and the sun wasn’t long behind me. Sunrise was at 4:20am. I decided to go search for breakfast, but had to wait for everything to open, so I decided to walk around and explore Anchorage. I walked/hiked through some trails, trying to see wildlife. My big goal for the trip, other than finishing the race, was to see a moose.

Once breakfast time arrived I went to a place called Snow City Cafe in the downtown area. It was well reviewed on yelp so I decided to give it a try. Unfortunately I had to wait almost 2 hours, but finally got a meal around 11:30am. If you ever end up in Anchorage, highly recommend being smarter than me and checking in online before arrival. The food was good though, I had a crab omelet.

From there I set off to the race expo which was in the Alaska Airlines center. It was fairly small, but nice. They had printed all of our names on a wall.

They also had a chip check and the group right after me had a team name that made me laugh…

After the expo I continued to wander around Anchorage. Went to a few parks (so many beautiful ones!), the University of Alaska – Anchorage, and the mall. Dinner was at a place called Moose’s Tooth for pizza and some beer.

I then headed back to the hotel, with 15.5 miles of exploring under my belt. I will say – I had to be cautious walking around by myself. If you ever travel there, just be mindful of your surroundings. There were a couple of times I crossed the street to get away from situations that made me uncomfortable.

I set my alarm for the next morning- but didn’t need it. Was up super early still fighting the time difference. Got an uber to the start line and saw my first moose dart out in front of the uber! He was too quick for me to get a photo, but super cool.

It started raining before we began – which was a bummer since the forecast had a 0% chance of rain, so I wasn’t prepared, and it was a bit chilly.

The start was super congested, the race was mostly on a trail path and we could only fit about 3 people across. My first mile is usually my fastest but this time I just couldn’t get past the group. That didn’t bother me much though as my goal for this race was just to see a moose.

The first half went alright and then I finally saw it- a moose! It was hard to get a good picture of her, for some reason she didn’t come when I called, and it looked like she had two babies with her. I was so pumped!

After that, I sort of fell apart physically. My legs were cramping and then I started to feel nauseous. I’m not sure really what went wrong, but I felt awful. I tried to just focus on the scenery and did find this pretty cool creation:

It ended up taking me almost an hour to finish the last 5k and my time was 3 hours 3 minutes- when just a few weeks prior I ran 2 hours 9 minutes. It’s hard on the ego when you don’t perform up to your standards and it definitely made me question why I think extreme endurance running is such a fun hobby.

Once I crossed the finish line I got the teeny tiny biodegradable cup of water they gave us, sat down on the ground, felt sorry for myself for a few minutes, then got my ass up and called an uber. I went back to the hotel, got a shower and a nap, and when I woke up, was feeling better.

The day ended up on a high note though. I went to dinner with some friends that had just moved from Houston to Anchorage (hi Tran’s!).

Sunday morning, I once again woke up at the butt crack of dawn, and headed to the airport.

I’m still trying to get home as I type this. Should arrive home at about 2am on Monday morning.

I’m tired but always enjoy the people watching when traveling. At work we often joke that reading is hard, and it’s evidenced in here as well, even when pictures are provided.

So while I didn’t have the best race, Alaska was beautiful and another state is done. Four more to go before this 9 year journey comes to an end.

Next up: New Hampshire.

My sister Andrea and I tend to have ideas that sound fun to us at the time of planning (get up at the butt crack of dawn for a quick runcation), but when your alarm blares at 3:10am on a Saturday morning you rethink your life choices.

(Pro tip: make sure you have a real id before traveling via airport…that’s a story for another time).

Well we did that this past weekend, caught a super early morning flight to Rochester, Minnesota so that we could check off another state.

I’ve never been to Rochester before, just picked it because it was a Sunday race (saves PTO), had a local airport (no car rental), and was on a weekend that had no sports scheduled for the kids (queue last minute baseball tournament). But with those being the only requirements, didn’t look into it much further.

We arrived mid morning since we left so early, and headed to packet pickup but it wasn’t open yet so we grabbed some lunch. Afterwards we got our race bibs and unfortunately no shirts due to some kind of shipping delay (they did promise they would get them to runners later). Fingers crossed that actually happens.

We spent the rest of the afternoon napping and relaxing. I know, wild.

Sunday we woke up early (again) and stepped out into the very brisk morning air for the Med City Half Marathon. I stupidly wasn’t as prepared clothing wise as I should have been with how many races I’ve done but I just didn’t think it would be that cold in May. Real feel was in the 30s and it was quite windy. I found a hotel close to the start line that we could huddle inside for warmth (we had been bussed to the start line) but I got us kicked out for loitering. So, we went outside and shivered. It was finally time to go, and Shape of You by Ed Sheeran kicked off the race, which is a favorite song of mine, and we got going.

I had been given the race bib number 1010 so I decided to go for a sub 2:10 half. A few weeks before at the OKC Memorial half marathon I ran 2:28, so it was a bit ambitious, but I know you can’t succeed if you don’t try. Plus my son had recently told me I was past my prime so I was particularly motivated to push myself. I went out with the 2:00 pacer as I tend to have more speed at the beginning of the race so wanted to get more out of my legs while they were fresh.

It was so cold that I didn’t check my watch until mile 9 when I finally took off my coverup. I realized I was doing well and actually had a serious shot of completing my goal.

For me at least, not matter how well trained I am, I always hit the pain cave towards the end. The last few miles hurt, but the 2:10 pacer was right behind me and I made it my mission to beat her. She didn’t realize we were racing, but we totally were.

I did beat her 🙂 official time was 2:09:01. Pretty solid effort.

After we were done and showered we headed out for some much needed food to a place called Hollandberry Pannekoeken. We heard from a local runner that it was THE place to go. I ordered not one, but two entrees (we read and we don’t judge) and it was amazing!

If you ever visit Rochester, I highly recommend this restaurant. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to pack, and then to explore before our flight. We walked a mile to a local brewery called Forager Brewery where I had the best fruited Berliner Weiss I’ve ever tasted. Gotta love a good side quest!

The menu was pretty impressive too, and if we hadn’t just eaten I would have ordered a slew of appetizers. They have a good chef there.

We had also wanted to tour The Mayo Clinic but it was closed to tours for the weekend. Looks impressive even under construction.

So with time running out, we headed to the airport.

Even though it was a super quick trip, I had the best time! Andrea is a great travel buddy, and we had so much fun. We didn’t make it home until early today (Monday morning), so I’m exhausted, but that seems to be my normal anyways.

Next up, Alaska in June! Five more states to go.

Yesterday I flew up to New Jersey in an attempt to finally finish what I started in November. Spoiler alert – mission accomplished.

I had my concerns though. I was flying American and I kept getting weather alerts warning me of what was to come. I decided to just proceed as planned and hope the universe had a different outcome this time.

I got to DFW after a 1 hour lightning delay. And then…

…celebrity sighting! Turns out…celebrities are just like us and fly commercial (except not like me because he was in first class, and I was not). Most of you probably recognize him from football, but I’m a big fan of his work in the movie Failure to Launch (huge Sarah Jessica Parker fan). No idea why he was headed to New Jersey, but thought it was kind of cool.

Once I landed I grabbed my rental car and headed to Asbury Park. I checked into my hotel and then grabbed dinner at a place called The Iron Whale. Since it was a Friday during Lent (plus being on the coast) seafood was a perfect choice.

I then walked around the boardwalk a bit before deciding I should head in for the night. The people watching on the boardwalk was great, but the crowd got a little spicy so figured I should be safe and excuse myself from the drunken festivities.

I didn’t sleep well before the race (the hotel was also hosting some type of party) but the race didn’t start until 8:30am, which is fairly late, so wasn’t too bad.

The weather wasn’t amazing. Temp in the 40s, but strong winds and rain made the real feel in the 30s. I asked one of the volunteers if they ever canceled the race (ptsd from attempt one) and they said no, other than lightning.

The gun went off and I got myself going. Now, my training hasn’t been good. Prior to today my longest run in 2025 has been 4 miles. But, if nothing else, I’m mentally strong, if a bit physically stupid.

The goal was the get across the finish line without any injuries AND to finish in enough time to get a shower before my hotel forced me out.

I did really well with my pacing for 9 miles, then I started to suffer. And at mile 10 the rain really started coming down. I freaked out for a bit hoping the storm wouldn’t intensify (worried about lightning canceling the race) but luckily all it did was make the boardwalk nice and slick. And the wind coming off the ocean wasn’t fun.

Finally I reached the end. My time wasn’t my best (2:28/11:20 mi pace) but I really don’t care because I’m just so happy to have another state completed!

After the race I grabbed my swag and then hustled to the hotel to get a really hot shower. My fingers were so numb that it hurt.

After checking out, I headed to a Wawa to get gas and a diet Dr Pepper. As I pulled up to the gas pump, a gentleman walked up and started pumping my gas. I asked him what he was doing and he said that’s just what they do in NJ. Mind. Blown. Now, I’m super loyal to QuikTrip (shout out to Dietrich – GM of my local store!) but it was pretty awesome to have someone pump my gas. AND they had ONE bag of Reese’s mini clusters, which is one of my favorite candies ever, so overall, a very successful gas station stop.

From there I went on the search for lunch, but there wasn’t anything exciting on the way to the airport so I decided just to grab something after security.

I went to a place called The Office. No Dwight sightings, but got a good dish and a beer, which really hit the spot. From there I just paced the airport, trying to keep the lactic acid from building up in my legs. My flight kept getting delayed so my step count is pretty high for the day.

Just boarded the flight to DFW….and guess who is on it? My good buddy Terry Bradshaw again.

And this time I’m in first class with him! (Thanks to a free upgrade). The best thing about being in first class (besides the extra room) is the food! And being post race, I’m going to enjoy the tasty meal.

While enjoying my food I’ve been looking at races and have decided that the best way to be prepared for the marathon I’ve signed up for in Hawaii in December (which if all goes according to plan will be my 50th state) is to run a pre marathon, marathon. So my sister Andrea and I are going to sign up for the Route 66 marathon in November (she doesn’t know this yet, will likely find out when/if she reads my blog), and that way we will be super fit going into Hawaii.

Overall I’m pleased that #44 is done. I’ve got a 14 minute connection time at DFW tonight, in another terminal, so may not make it home today, but if not, at least I can rest easy knowing I don’t ever have to go back to New Jersey unless I want to.

Next up is Minnesota in May!

Did you know that Delaware was the 1st state? I didn’t until this weekend. I mean, someone probably taught me that at some point in elementary school but that fun fact must have slipped my mind.

I flew into Philadelphia yesterday and then drove to Delaware. It’s right next to PA, but it took two hours to get to Rehoboth Beach. Another fun fact about Delaware- the speed limits are slow. Like really slow.

On the way I drove past by Dover Air Force Base which was cool. I saw quite a few military planes taking off and landing.

Another really cool thing about Delaware- no sales tax! Big big fan of this. Like a $2 Diet Dr. Pepper is $2! Mind blown.

When I arrived in Rehoboth Beach I went straight to packet pickup. It was a tent outside and it was super cold so I just grabbed my stuff, and then went straight to my hotel. I door dashed some food and relaxed, which was nice.

This morning I woke up and checked the temp. Real Feel – 19 degrees. 🥶 Stupid cold.

So, I bundled up as much as I possibly could. Hat, neck gaiter, long sleeve shirt, vest, hoody, fleece lined leggings, tall socks (to be warm, not to steal the style of Generation Alpha). Oh, and hot hands.

I went into this race just planning to get to the finish line as best I could. I had my MRI this past week and am meeting with my doctor on Thursday to discuss the results. I got the lab report back but it was a bunch of medical jargon and when I asked google it suggested everything from physical therapy to surgery- so waiting for someone with an actual professional doctorate to give me a recommendation. Until then, I’m just minding the pain.

The race started at the end of a boardwalk with a Christmas tree. Not much fuss, all of a sudden people just started running.

Part of the route was along the beach, that was my favorite part.

After the beach the course went into some woods.

It was more like trail running, although flat, but it did have lots of rocks. I know that because I tripped on them and ate it.

My time wasn’t anything special, but I got the job done. Luckily I had parked right by the finish line, so I grabbed my medal and some food, and then quickly got into the car and cranked the heat up to hotter than summer in the Sahara desert. I then trucked it to my hotel where I tried to scald feeling back into my fingers and toes with the hottest shower I’ve ever taken.

After I got feeling back in my extremities, I did some shopping and then grabbed an early dinner (Mexican food and a margarita, my favorite).

Overall I’ve enjoyed my time here, other than the extreme cold. Definitely won’t be retiring to Delaware, but would come back to take advantage of some tax free shopping. I head back in the morning.

I’m waiting on my doctor’s recommendation before planning out my races for next year, but really hoping to be finished with all 50 states by the end of 2025. Fingers crossed!

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.