Friday, December 11, 2015

13th race of 2015: Denver Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon

13th Race of 2015: Denver Rock'n' Roll Half Marathon
Teaming UP with CMTA & The National Stroke Association

Friday, October 16th:

I arrived in Denver last night because I had a 7:00am breakfast meeting scheduled with a woman named Molly Hummel to discuss an exciting opportunity for 2016. Molly is the Manager of Strategic Partnerships with the National Stroke Association, whom I met through a mutual friend, Billy Lister. By reading Billy's inspiring story http://getbackuptoday.com/inspiring-person/billy-lister/ you will understand his connection to the NSA (& here's the link to an older post showing how/when I met Billy, http://getbackuptoday.blogspot.com/2015_06_01_archive.html)

This morning was the first time Molly and I met in person, though we had several previous phone conversations before deciding we may really be able to help each other in our respective outreach campaigns. She generously offered to drive up from Centennial to Stapleton to meet me near my hotel at this early hour and although I neglected to get photos we had a great breakfast at http://www.etaiscafe.com/#!stapleton/c1bn4. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Molly and we discovered that we have a lot in common, not the least of which is our passion for helping people become their "best selves" despite obstacles in the way of this goal. As of this posting, we are still in talks about how best to partner but the NSA has launched their Come Back Strong campaign which dovetails so nicely with our Get Back UP Today message. As you know, the GBUT message focuses primarily on people living with foot drop and other mobility issues but what you may not know is that Stroke is one of the leading causes of foot drop. Until we know how our paths might converge in 2016, please read more about their inspiring campaign and impactful association: http://www.stroke.org



In particular, Molly shared this with me about the campaign and its logo: 

The movement is centered on the blue return symbol—a visual symbol of strength that marks the recovery journey. Intentionally left open, the return symbol reflects the reality that while not everyone makes a full return to their former self, each survivor has the opportunity to journey forward toward a new normal.

I love the message about journeying "forward toward a new normal" since the Get Back UP Today movement is all about this exact journey. I look forward to our next discussions, Molly!!



After saying goodbye to Molly (at least until Sunday, as she and her husband are running the Rock 'n' Roll 10K) I walked to a nearby grocery store to grab a few healthy bites for my stay in Denver....


My room at the Holiday Inn Stapleton has a refrigerator so I can stock up on healthy snacks and quick meals.

I worked for a few hours on my computer back at the hotel before having lunch and then hitting the race Expo.

"Deloria...Party of one....your table is ready."

The Expo was packed when I got there but alas, for the first time in a long list of RnR events I didn't see anyone I knew. I knew that many of my friends should be here this weekend but also that many of the RnR regulars would be at the Rock 'n' Roll St. Louis Half Marathon instead. 

Without having anyone to pal around with I decided to zip in and out quickly amid the crowd but made sure to stop by the info booth to get a few race updates. I actually signed up to run the Full Marathon on Sunday but received an email from the RnR organizers that there was a course and time change for the Full Marathon. Apparently, due to the concerns of local residents in downtown Denver, the RnR team had to settle on a compromise with the city and changed the marathon course while leaving the Half Marathon course as is. The residents' and local businesses' concerns regarded the extended road closures and ugly traffic tie-ups that sometimes happen when a marathon meets a metropolis. From what I learned (though not directly from any RnR or Denver official), the compromise would be that the city would continue to support the RnR Half Marathon but in future years would not permit the running of the Full Marathon. In addition, they would allow the marathon this year as long as they could work out an alternate course that did not involve lengthy road closures...which they did (see below). The marathon start time was also moved from 7:00am to 8:00am, and my guess was that this would allow enough time for the runners to be shuttled about 20 miles away from the finish line to run a more "point-to-point" course instead of the original circuitous path around the downtown areas. 

As you can see, the new course starts 20 miles away from the Start/Finish
of the Half Marathon and 10K races on Sunday. The course is almost entirely
run on a concrete bike path that parallels the South Platte river and runs through
Commerce City. Marathoners will be shuttled to the new start line from
the original Start/Finish line festival area downtown.

In comparison, this is the Half Marathon course which shares the finish line with the marathon but not much else.

So, I have a decision to make. I really want to run the full 26.2 miles but...

1) Logistically this could be unwise as I have a 3:00pm flight out of town on Sunday. Traffic in and out of the Denver airport is experiencing more delays than usual due to heavy construction along the route (and it's NEVER an easy trek to make). So, I'll need to allow at least 2 hours to get there, return my car, check my luggage and get through security. My hotel is located 15 minutes north of the finish line, the airport is further north and east of that...and there's no telling what the traffic situation will be.  I will be cutting it close if I don't run a speedy marathon.
Which brings me to...
2) This is a "mile-high" city which makes it a more challenging run for anyone not acclimated to the altitude and thinner air (Me!) so running a speedy marathon will not be easy.
3) They moved the starting time from 7:00am to 8:00am giving me one less hour to work with
4) If the marathon begins on time as currently scheduled, it could be doable to run a 4- to 4-1/2 hour marathon and make my flight, but with shuttle buses being a new addition this year there could be logistical delays. To that point...
5) If there's any delay in start times, any congestion on the new course, any issues with race support (not to mention issues with my own health/fitness/brace) I will have no shortcut back to town if I need to bail on the race. 

Hmmm...I guess I'll need to think about this very carefully. In the meantime I'll get all my race gear together so I'm ready for whichever event I elect to run.


I'll be running Sunday to honor my friends at the CMTA (many of whom I get to see tomorrow) so I've got
my official CMTA singlet to go along with my TeamUP jacket.

TeamUP & CMTA: Two of my favorite organizations.

Dinner tonight at the hotel was a meal they made special for me: Grilled Ahi Tuna
over salad with edamames and avocado.



Saturday, October 17th:




My breakfast this morning (minus the coffee, which is still brewing).

The view from my hotel room on the top floor of the Holiday Inn in Stapleton. 



Another view from my balcony as the sun rises over Denver.
Today I'm heading to Golden, CO to meet some of my favorite people at the local CMTA branch meeting. You may recall the names of Dick Kutz and Ron Plageman from previous blog posts, I met them 2 or 3 years ago when they invited the TeamUP campaign to their monthly meeting. Since then we've been great friends (and besides perhaps my dad, I think Dick is my most avid blog reader--thank you, Dick!) yet it's been awhile since we've teamed up again...until now. Thanks to both Ron and Dick, and the entire Denver-area branch, for moving the meeting to this weekend to accommodate my schedule--I'm so looking forward to seeing everyone again!




Dick is far left, Ron is far right, and in the middle are a few of us who stuck around after the meeting to talk more
about mobility issues and how the Allard bracing can help. Thanks once again to the Denver CMTA Branch for
inviting me, I truly cherish my time with all of you.
I can't tell you enough how much I love my friends and family at the CMTA. I wish I could've spent more time with everyone today but after the meeting and some visiting time afterwards I needed to head back to Denver for a media opportunity. Let me just add that there've been many exciting things happening in the research for CMT, thanks to the STAR program and some key partnerships. You can read more about the new programs and progress on the official website, see link below:


As it turns out, my interview back in Denver was a live on-air conversation with KOA Radio 850. I'm not sure if this link will work, but try clicking the link below to download my mp3 file:


https://sites.google.com/site/bethblogmedia/mp3

After the interview I headed back to the hotel and learned that I had no other media spots for the day. I decided to head to the hotel's pool area to see if they had a whirlpool--my muscles have been so tight recently and running tomorrow will be rough no matter which race I opt for. As luck would have it I actually discovered that there's an onsite a massage therapist with her own studio adjacent to the pool area. She had an opening for me right before dinner so I was in luck!!

Thanks, Suzan, for a fantastic massage today! And good luck in your own marathon training,
I hope to see you in Las Vegas next month!

I highly recommend Suzan if you're in the Denver area and in need of a great massage. She operates
independently out of the Holiday Inn Stapleton and has tons of experience working with athletes and
also with amputees and people with paralysis. Thanks again, Suzan--I feel like a million bucks!

After the incredible pre-race massage I finished off the last of my salad from yesterday and added a protein bar and a few hard boiled eggs.

Ahh, the glamorous life. :-)
Sunday, October 18th: RACE DAY!!


I arrived downtown in time to catch the shuttles out to the Full Marathon start...as you can see, it's still quite early.
Upon arrival at the start line VIP area I found Competitor Group staffer Katie who was in charge of the VIP shuttle for the marathoners. She told me the driver was lost so she was frantically setting up a plan B to make sure the runners weren't delayed. As I sat there waiting, still debating whether or not I should run the Full or the Half, I finally decided that it didn't make a lot of sense for me to run the Full and risk missing my flight. Had the marathon started with the half marathon as previously scheduled I would have done it, but with the 1-hour delayed start (and perhaps a longer delay with shuttle issues) I decided it wasn't worth it. The new marathon course was also unappealing to me and since I knew that I liked the Half course from previous years I decided to drop down and stay here at VIP to get an earlier start on the day, and finish a few hours earlier as well.

My decision to run the Half took a lot of pressure off of me time-wise so now I was able to fully enjoy the race experience and catch up with my friends, almost all of whom were running the half as well. Here are the photo highlights:


Of course the first person I see (besides Katie) is "VIP Joe" Harris.

I'm ready to run in honor of all of my friends with the CMTA.


I bought a robe at an area Goodwill store to keep me warm in the start line corrals. (I will
discard the robe where it will be picked up by race volunteers and get donated right back
to Goodwill--circle of life!) Before I discard it I decide to have fun with Joe...

Just a little Gypsy fun...don't worry, mom, I've got my race gear on underneath.
:-)

It's cold here before sunup in Denver!!!! BRRRRRRRRRRRR.



As the sun comes up the Half Marathoners head to the start line. (Meanwhile, the full
marathoners are still be shuttled 21 miles out of town and will start in just over an hour)

Once I get running it's gonna be a beautiful day for a race...can't wait to move though to get warm.

I saw a lot of runners with Full Marathon bibs here in the Half corrals...I guess I wasn't
the only one to change events.

No Gypsies in sight (and Jim is at home for a family wedding) so I'm running this one solo.
I hope to catch up with some of the other gypsies at the finish line before heading to the airport.
The Half Marathon course was as lovely as I remembered. I took my time to enjoy it and met several new friends along the way. As my backup battery for my camera has been malfunctioning I had to save power in case I got a call for media so I skipped the on-course photos. Here are a few from after the run:

Ainsley earned her Hall of Fame Medal today for reaching 15 RnR events this year.
Congrats, Ainsley!

I earned my Rock Idol medal for completing 10 Rock 'n' Roll events so far in 2015....
talk about a heavy medal, this one hurt to wear around my neck!


Finally, some gypsies in sight! As I'm about to head to the airport I find Al, Caryn, Kamika and Joe. The rest of our
gypsy family is running the RnR event in St. Louis today. We miss you guys!


I'm so glad I've made it to 10 RnR's so far this year...still feeling so grateful that my
surgery earlier in the year didn't stop me from Getting Back UP.

Well, I didn't earn the Full Marathon medal--or the finisher's jacket--but I had a great
weekend and there'll be more running next week.

Just to show you in perspective how large the Gold Record heavy medal really is.

Afterword: I read several online articles about the full marathon course and realized I actually made a great decision by switching to the half. In fairness, I do believe the race organizers did everything they could to compromise and still put on the full marathon event but I think the runners were disappointed that the city of Denver and the RnR team couldn't come up with something better. Here's one excerpt from the local Denver Post...


“I wasn’t very pleased,” said Matt Adams, a Longmont, Colorado, resident who ran the marathon on Sunday and the half marathon two years ago. “I saw that the new course went through a crummy part of town. Part of the original appeal was that in previous years, you would run through the Mile High Stadium, and there was stuff to keep you entertained. This year, they picked a concrete bike path.” 
Culpepper, one of the race organizers, acknowledged that the race “failed to keep people in the loop” regarding the course changes, but he said, “As a runner myself, I understand what goes into the preparation, so we felt an obligation to come up with something that would give folks an opportunity to complete their goal.”   
The 2015 course route also led participants through Commerce City, a town home to an oil refinery, a water treatment facility, and a landfill. 
“For about five miles of the race, it smelled awful, to the point where it was making me nauseous,” Adams said. Other runners echoed Adams’ report on social media and through local news outlets.
The odor wasn’t something race officials could have predicted, Culpepper said. 
“It’s one of those things that’s seasonal and dependent on the day and which direction the wind is blowing,” Culpepper said. “It wasn’t factored into the design process, and unfortunately, there was no way to negate that.” 
Various aid stations ran out of fluids and in some cases, cups, Adams said. The issue forced him to drop out of the race at mile 21 because he became dehydrated. 
Culpepper said the level of support was definitely lower than the event would have liked. Because the marathon course was completely separate from the half marathon course on Sunday—in previous years, more than a third of the marathon shared roads with the half marathon—resources were stretched thin.  
“There are only so many volunteers, and with two different courses, it made for a tall order to staff all of them,” Culpepper said. 


Tuesday, November 24, 2015

12th race of 2015: Brooklyn Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon

12th race of 2015: Rock 'n' Roll Brooklyn 1/2 Marathon

A Preface to all September through November entries:
 For those of you who've been regular followers of Get Back UP Today you will know that I've always tried to finish a Race/Event blog before the next race or event. Unfortunately this year has been a challenging one for me due mainly to the major surgery I had in the Spring. While in many ways I "got back up" quickly over the initial 2-month recovery time, I slowly began to realize that total healing can take a lot longer. I've had to reconcile myself with the fact that healing doesn't necessarily proceed on a linear trajectory but instead can be a roller-coaster of progress and setbacks. I can reassure you that I'm doing very well on my path to a complete recovery but with having to squeeze so much into the second half of the year--and with my main focus on taking care of myself at every stage of my healing journey--something had to get placed on the back burner. This blog was that "something". So, in an effort to catch you up on all of my adventures in 2015, but in a manner that still leaves me with time and energy for all of my continuing events,  I will shorten my entries to  "photo-diary"-style featuring each weekend's highlights until I have brought you up to speed. Some of these will be out of chronological order, please forgive! Thank you for your understanding and for being a loyal reader!    --Beth


Friday, October 9th:

A beautiful day to fly into New York, where I chose JFK airport for its proximity to Brooklyn. Jim has been in the NYC area for a few days working with his customers here so luckily I get picked up at the airport for a change--thanks, Jim!


I actually travel to NYC at least once a year, though I haven't been to Brooklyn since the inaugural Rock 'n' Roll event here in 2013. That year there was only a 10k and this year we'll be running the inaugural 1/2 marathon...2 inaugural RnR races in Brooklyn!

For the 10K in 2013 we actually stayed in Manhattan and took the subway over for the race events but this time we're staying on Brooklyn's west side hoping to see more of the borough.

There are so many beautiful sights in Brooklyn, the view out of the back
of our hotel not being one of them. :-)
We chose the hotel for its proximity to Prospect Park and to the subway (also, price was a factor!) and were quite happy with our decision. Though not fancy, the Kings Hotel is located in Sunset Park on the west side and was quite clean, with free parking, free wi-fi, free breakfast and just 3 blocks from the subway. The price was more along the lines of a Greensboro hotel, not your typical NY-priced property!

First stop of the day was the Expo where we picked up our race packets. We opted to drive because traffic wasn't an issue mid-day and the Expo Center was in the northernmost neighborhood of Brooklyn called Greenpoint. We happily learned that most of the 'hoods in Brooklyn offer plenty of free parking--another plus when compared to Manhattan. I accidentally left my phone in my backpack, in the trunk of our rental car, so I didn't get any photos from the Expo...sorry.

Our next plan was to explore, eat and enjoy this beautiful afternoon in Brooklyn...though I had to remain on-call for any potential media opportunities.

This is a neighborhood (or collection of neighborhoods) affectionately referred to as BoCoCa, short
for Boerum Hill/Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens. It's just north of Gowanus and we spent our afternoon and evening
walking throughout these four areas. From our hotel this was about 4 miles, or 15-minutes by car due to neighborhood traffic.

Each time I travel to a city I like to explore different neighborhoods to get a better feel for the entire place. It's really tough to try to see everything in just a few days so we always concentrate our time in 1 or 2 select areas. Last time we spent more time in the DUMBO and Prospect Heights neighborhoods, we chose this trip's focus utilizing internet recommendations. Here are 2 sites I used this time:



Due to the fact that I was up at 3am this morning, with most
of my time spent in airports and on planes, I was ready for a real
meal in a real restaurant. We found this place and read some good
reviews, so Zaytoons was gonna be lunch!

We got here just as they were setting up. By the time we finished the
whole place was full of customers.

Jim and I decided to try several things and share them for a totally
vegetarian meal. I'm a big lentil soup
fan--I make it often at home--so I thought I'd try their version. Indeed, it
was tasty and quite different from my own, tasting more like split pea soup
to me but we both really enjoyed it.


We opted for the Zaytoon Combo meal where we could select 5 things...these were our selections:
Hummus, Stuffed Grape Leaves, Babaganoush, Turkish Salad and Labneh (descriptions are shown in a
photo below). 


The soup came with an order of freshly-made Pita bread: TO. DIE. FOR.
(it was so good we ordered another basket!)

This isn't even half the menu but we never got past this page. We LOVED everything, especially the prices,
which like our hotel were so reasonable for what you got--no matter what city you order in.

We had a tiny bit of room left after sharing the soup and combo platter
so we decided to share an order of the house made falafel. Again, this too
was delicious.

These lasted maybe 5 minutes. Maybe.

For the rest of the day and early evening we walked around the neighborhoods exploring houses, shops and sights. My phone's Mophie charger died on me (unfortunately not revivable this time) so I took limited photos in order to save the battery life for my on-call duties if needed. Here are a few of the shots I did take before pocketing the phone:

Lots of cool independent shops in this area of Brooklyn.


Unintentional message, but I like it!

We're walking northwest along Court Street here, still in the BoCoCa area.


I wish we had as many fresh seafood vendors in Greensboro as I've seen here in NY.


A strong storm popped up, so we popped into the closest pub for refuge. 
When the rain let up, about 15 minutes later, we went in search of a dinner spot. By now we'd been walking around for about 4 hours. We stumbled upon this place, http://www.dassara.com/#home-2,
and when the owner invited us in as we were reading the posted reviews we decided to give it a try.

I ordered a wonderful beet salad with avocado and a ginger-soy-white truffle dressing. As my pre-race
protein I got a side of perfectly soft-poached eggs....

...the eggs were so silky and so fresh they almost didn't seem like eggs.

I neglected to get the photo, but Jim had the Tuna Sashimi Rice Bowl. Both of us enjoyed our dinner here.
Saturday, October 10th: RACE DAY!!!

We thought that a 5:00am wake-up call would be fine in order to get to the start line in plenty of time for the 7:00am race.

Here are things you should always do if you're running in an event that's new to you!

1) Expect bigger crowds and traffic tie-ups than on a typical, non-event day in whatever city you're in.
2) Plan accordingly.
3) Always scout out your public transit stops/terminals/exits/entrances at least a day before the race.
4) Have a backup plan for your ideal public transit stops/terminals/exits/entrances at least a day before the race.
5) If you need help, ask some sort of PROFESSIONAL for directions/advice (police officer, subway attendant, race official, etc.).
6) If you ask a NON-PROFESSIONAL, be prepared to receive INCORRECT information.
7) If you're in a major city, or "hot spot" for national security interests, pay strict attention to race day rules/procedures and expect security to be enhanced and enforced.

We did 4 of these 6 and I'll leave it at that.

Hmmm...no trains northbound from this station this morning.

Thankfully, because we did 4 out of 6 things right, we got through security and to the VIP area in just enough
time to use the potty, drop our official gear check bags AND get a quick selfie before heading out to the start line.
From left, our gypsy pals Kevin, Joe & Mindy.


As soon as we left the library for the start line corrals we found 2 more of our Gypsy pals,
Ron and Susan Carino. I'm always amazed that without any formal plans to meet, our running friends (a totally
informal group of Rock 'n' Roll regulars we affectionately call "gypsies") seem to find each other with ease.
I'm guessing we must emit a certain pheromone of "Crazy" that attracts us to one another...
Here's a link to Ron and Susan's blog, always more interesting and better written than mine!


They just announced that our friend, Jim Diego, will be singing the National Anthem now.
Go, Jim, go!
I'm gonna say that the girl behind me in the dark green shirt is SUPER excited to
hear Jim Diego, rather than sleepy.
:-)

And we're off! We're shuffling along in Corral 5 towards the starting line,
you can barely see the banner in the background.

And, we're NOT off! Hmm..we came to a complete stop and stayed here for 30 more
minutes. Apparently there was an issue in securing one of the streets along the course
 so, for runners' safety, they held us here.
(For the keen observer, you've noticed that I'm now wearing a pink, long-sleeved sweatshirt
that I was not wearing in the other photos. It was so chilly here and I was shivering so bad that I grabbed
someone's discarded sweatshirt along the fence. I guess everyone ahead of us
thought we were starting (as did we) and they dropped their layers early. Well, I'm not too proud to
take advantage of the situation. I was totally snug in my new find--and it smelled of
sweet, clean laundry detergent--so thank you to the woman who left it behind for me!)

This is the view through the chain-link fence to my immediate left as we faced the
starting line. This is the same fence that offered me the sweatshirt. Behind the fence they're
setting up for today's Brooklyn Farmers Market. 
At 7:30am the race was officially underway. I would've taken photos of the course but due to my aforementioned Mophie-failure I needed to conserve battery life for an expected post-race interview. I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed this course, all very flat except for a few hills near the finish in Prospect Park. (For the record, Jim thought it was a relatively easy run but had hoped for some more scenic views of Brooklyn.) Here's a link to the course if you're interested in the details:

http://www.runrocknroll.com/brooklyn/the-races/course/

I ran the first 4 miles or so with Mindy but she's been dealing with a knee issue so she opted to take some walk breaks to avoid aggravating it further. After that I ran into Joe Harris and Kevin Gonzalez on course, then caught up with everyone else at the Finish Line Festival in Prospect Park:

Meet legendary Harriette Thompson who, at 92 years old, is the oldest woman to
complete a full marathon. She did this at the Rock 'n' Roll San Diego race
this past June. She told me that she's got a foot injury currently but came
to the Brooklyn event to cheer and support the Team In Training runners.
A real honor to meet you, Harriette!!!


I'm missing out on my Training For Warriors class back home right now, but I'm
sporting the tee shirt proudly and collecting my Heavy Medals. Today I got the bonus
medals, Beast of the East (for doing 3 or more East Coast RnR's this year) AND the
Headliner Medal (for doing 9 RnR's so far this year).


Kevin "no Bacon" Gonzalez, celebrating a good race. Congrats!

Great to run with you, Mindy--congrats on toughing it out on that bum knee!

"VIP Joe" Harris is all smiles after a great run today too. Kudos! (He is also sporting the Beast of the East, but
he's actually on number 13 RnR Half's so he's got all the Heavy Medals except one, the Hall of Fame, which
he will get in 2 more races.)


A perfect day in Prospect Park, made better by the fact that Nate Ruess is the headliner for today's free post-race concert.

Ladies and gentleman, meet your winners of today's event. Yes, they all get medals but apparently
don't wear them. :-)  They also get flowers and plaques...REAL race bling! Congrats to all the elite runners!
(See below that the men's winner was only 1 second faster than the runner up.)

Top Men

GenderPlNameTime
1Birhanu Dare Kemal01:05:02
2Mengistu Nebsi01:05:03
3Mekuria Abebe Sihine01:05:38
4Ben Bruce01:06:51
5Jonny Wilson01:07:53
6Joseph Carpenter01:09:19
7James Brisbois01:09:27
8Jason Lakritz01:10:18
9Jesse Schneider01:12:15
10Jason Holder01:12:55

Top Women

GenderPlNameTime
1Salome Kosgei01:15:51
2Valentine Kibet01:16:26
3Lesley Higgins01:20:07
4Bridie McCarey01:21:06
5Leigh Sharek01:22:25
6Lisa Raske01:23:36
7Michelle Rafferty01:25:33
8Theresa McCabe01:26:04
9Kendall Lyons01:26:05
10Emily Santeler01:27:50
Jim Diego, singer of today's anthem. He's also scheduled to
sing before next month's New York Marathon. Great job, Jim!
As the concert was wrapping up and all the runners were leaving the park, I still had not connected with a local reporter for a scheduled interview. Jim and I had a 3:00 flight out of JFK--and we had to be out of the hotel by 11:00am--so we had to improvise a new plan. Jim took off back to the hotel (he walked the 2.5 miles after just running 13) and packed up for both of us, checked out, then tried to make it back to the park with the car. Meanwhile, I helped guide the reporter through the maze of the park via phone. Eventually she made it--by about noon--and she caught her breath and then got our Get Back UP Today message out to her viewers.
Thank you, Katie, for helping us spread awareness in the NYC area!

Jim was able to make it back just as Katie was starting the interview. When we were done we had to race back to the car and then right to the airport. Luckily Jim was able to park about a mile away so it was a quick jog back to the rental car.

Next to where Jim parked I spotted a bumper sticker with a poignant message...

It's faded, but it does say "I (Heart) Sweden"...and since my awesome braces are made in
Sweden, I heart Sweden too!



We were pulling out of Prospect Park towards the airport at 1pm.
I changed in the car on the way to the airport and we managed to return the
car, check our bags and get through security just as our flight
was boarding. This was a close one! (And no, I didn't shower after the race.)



The Brooklyn Medal (and bottle opener)...

Beast of the East Heavy Medal...of which I did
all four events: Philly, VaBeach, DC and Brooklyn.

...and the Headliner Heavy Medal.