Are You Kitten Me?

Lately I have started, and then never finished, multiple blog posts. I start, and then get busy or side-tracked and then never return.

So this Sunday is the Broad Street 10 Mile Run! One of my favorites. My first real long distance race (4 years ago!). I am really excited but also just feel weird going into this weekend.

I feel weird because of Boston. I’m not necessarily scared that something will happen during the run, but when you read that they have set up evacuation shelters along the course it’s hard not to worry.

And then I feel weird because for the first time ever I really have no goals for this race. I’ve been running, but not really training. I have no time goals, I know I won’t PR, and I really have no idea what pace I should run. And while maybe my goal should just be to finish, I know I can run 10 miles and it probably won’t be a problem (#sweetbrag).

And all of that just feels weird.

Fun running during the Philadelphia Runner Urban Scramble

On another note, I have really enjoyed this not training cycle. I went from a back injury in January, to slowly building my mileage and just having fun while exercising I starting running more trails and have been riding my bike at least once a week.

I also have another running race at the end of the month, the Dirty German 25k! I ran this last year as my first trail race and it was SO MUCH FUN. I have a ton of friends running it this year. So between now and the end of May I will be spending a lot of time here and there, which isn’t too bad.

Oh, I also joined a new mountain bike/cyclocross team, but that’s another post for another day. But here’s a shot of new, fresh kits!

We had a to make a quick last minute trip to Pittsburgh this past weekend to celebrate the life of a close friend. The service wasn’t until Sunday afternoon, so we took our time getting to Pittsburgh and did some exploring along the way.

In the middle of Pennsylvania there are a few abandoned turnpike tunnels. The turnpike used to be 2 lanes, and when they were expanding it they decided to close the old tunnels and bypass around them.

We stopped at Ray’s Hill which is open to the public. Supposedly one day this will be turned in a nice bike path, but for now it’s just a path with a lot of broken asphalt. Eric has actually ridden through the tunnels when making his trek from Philly to Pittsburgh.

You are able to park at the entrance to the road, and then have to walk about a mile until you reach the actual tunnel.

We didn’t walk the entire length of the tunnel, but got about halfway. It’s pretty creepy and eerie. It doesn’t get pitch black inside, but the further you go in the darker it gets.

Post walking through the tunnel the guys decided to climb up on top of the tunnel. They ended up going through the old building that housed the turbines.

I’d definitely like to check out the other tunnels soon. And definitely remember to bring a flashlight.

Random weekend = random photos. And busy week at work means this post is about 5 days late.

After spending most of February with a nasty cough I finally got back on track with running once March started. It’s been a slow and not fun process. I’ve been putting in low mileage, but at least running semi-consistently. I’m running Broad Street in a little over a month so I really need to step up my game.

I was exchanging emails with some (running) friends and they mentioned they were heading out of the city to run the last Pickle Run. I’ve never done one of their runs but have always heard they are a blast. No timing devices are allowed and you have to guesstimate your finish time. There are also decorated pickles cucumbers along the course that you are supposed to find and you can win prizes at the end!

My friends and I all signed up for the ~4 mile trail run. It was a really small race and once we turned off the paved road everyone got really strung out. I spent most of the race alone, only seeing people here and there. Luckily they had awesome volunteers at every turn so it was almost impossible to get lost.

The race was awesome. It felt great being alone, running on the trail, while snow (!) was falling all around. Some of the inclines were steep and made me doubt my fitness levels.

Towards the end of the race I was making a turn and saw a pickle cucumber! I picked it up and it was just the boost I needed, hahah.

We hung out post race and received our bizarre prizes, aka garage sale items. I came away with a grease presser, or something like that.

Sunday morning Eric and I set out on an adventure to North Jersey so he could buy some bike wheels. Yes…we are back to the random travels for bike parts. But usually when he does something like this we try to make an adventure out of it and do some other fun things.

Randomly The Cinnamon Snail food truck sets up in Red Bank, NJ on Sundays and we had to make our wheel transaction nearby. I ate at the snail last weekend for the first time and was excited for Eric to try it.

There was a bit of a line, which gave us ample time to figure out what all we wanted. We started off with donuts that were delicious. And then I got the maple waffles and Eric got their special sandwich. It was really cold outside we we had to eat in the car. I can’t wait to go back when it’s warmer, it’s about an hour and a half from Philly.

Post stuffing ourselves we headed to the nearby beach, Sandy Hook. It was really cold and windy on the beach, but nice to walk up and down. Sandy Hook was hit by the hurricane and there was still a lot of damage along the waterfront.

You would see the Manhattan skyline from the beach though, which was really cool.

We hung out for a while on the beach then drove back to Philly.