Philly Trip

As I was sitting here thinking about my trip to Philadelphia, I thought I'd post about it on my blog.  I had made the decision to fly rather than drive to Philadelphia, and it wasn't long before I realized that was most definitely the right decision.  I flew Southwest Airlines out to Philly and took a cab from the airport to my hotel.  After sitting in the traffic I was really happy that someone else was doing the driving.  

I flew in on Friday afternoon and got settled in my hotel.  I then made a quick trip to the starting area for Sunday's race, just to make sure that I knew where it was, how to get there, and had everything set.

The City of Philadelphia as well as the Competitor's Group were already getting things set up for the race.  In addition to familiarizing myself with the start area, I took in a few sites.  The start and finish for the Philadelphia Rock 'n' Roll Half marathon was at the base of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

These were the steps that Sylvester Stallone ran up in the Rocky movies.  Yes, I did see tourists running up the stairs and taking pictures at the top in the "Rocky Pose".  No, I was not one of those tourists.

On Saturday I attended the runner expo.  For the non-runners or newbie runners that may be reading this, the runners expo is where participants go to pick up things like their race bib, timing chip, etc.  But it is also like attending a sale/vendor show at a convention.  Several vendors set up booths and sell their wares.  They also have some speaker and educational sessions at some expos.

I had an opportunity to listen to a Q&A with former men's marathon world record holder Khalid Khannouchi. I also attended a session with author and runner John Bingham and had an opportunity to chat with him for a little bit both during and after his session.  I also got some advice from him on how to run my race the next day.  Valuable advice that helped me in exceeding my goals.

The start area for the race was very well organized.  Pretty impressive for a race involving over 15,000 runners.  It wasn't too crowded, but you wouldn't have thought so looking from the outside.  I've been in races with the same number of people, or even fewer, in which the start area was not nearly as organized and was much more crowded.

I finished the race in a personal best 1:57:37.  I was very happy to run a personal best time, but even happier to have finished in under two hours.

After the race I went back to the hotel and relaxed a bit.  The next day I went out and did some siteseeing.  Although the day started a little rainy, I was able to take in some sites.

I went to Independence Hall, originally known at the Pennsylvania State House.

In this room the Declaration of Independence, as well as the Constitution of the United States were debated and signed.  President George Washington presided over the Constitutional debate from that seat.  Interesting information was that the founding fathers were conservatives by today's standards.  They were very strong believers in states' rights and in a limited federal government.

I then went over the check out the Liberty Bell.  I found out something I didn't realize.  The original crack in the Liberty Bell was a very small crack.  The large gap in the bell that we know now was a result of attempts to "fix" the crack and caused more damage.

I then went over to the cemetery to check out the graves of some of our founding fathers, including that of Benjamin Franklin.

Overall, the trip went very well.  I also have to say that Southwest Airlines won my loyalty during this trip.  They treated me like the reason for their jobs instead of like I was there interrupting their jobs.  Something that, unfortunately, can't be said of a couple of other airlines I've flown over this past year.

I came back home, got back to work and continued my training to prepare for the Columbus Marathon.  This past weekend I ran a 20 mile long run and was happy with the results.  Back into another taper now and looking forward to my first full marathon in four years.

Some Changes - Some Challenges

This past week has put me on a different schedule than normal at work.  It forced me to make some adjustments to my running schedule, but nothing I wasn't able to adapt to.  I also am dealing with the taper once again, something I haven't done for a few months.  As I prepare for this week's Philadelphia Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon I will be cutting back on my running, giving my legs a chance to fully recover from two separate 18 mile runs last month.  After my race on Sunday, I have to work to get right back in to my training schedule so that I'm fully prepared to run a full marathon one month later right here in Columbus.

But I've been making some changes and plans for this year and next.  Since changing my registration for my Columbus race in October from the half marathon to the full marathon, I've adjusted my training schedule.  I've also started planning for 2014.  I've already registered for the Phoenix Marathon on March 1 and made my flight and hotel reservations.  Hopefully I don't end up having too big of a wrench thrown in the works there.  I made those reservations on somewhat of a leap of faith as I don't know what my schedule will be like next year, what my days off will be and if I will get approved for the time off.  Those are all things that I won't find out for a couple of months, but I have faith.

In addition to Phoenix, I'm hoping to do at least seven more races in 2014.  Ideally I would like to run the Raleigh Rock 'n' Roll Half and Nashville Rock 'n' Roll Half in April, the Laugh & a Half Marathon in Nebraska in June, the Virginia Beach Rock 'n' Roll Half in August, the St. Louis Rock 'n' Roll Half in October, the Big Sur Half Marathon and, of course, the Space Coast Half Marathon in November.  That would be my ideal 2014 race schedule.

With 11 states currently under my belt in my Quest for 48 States, and one more scheduled the end of this month in Iowa, an ideal 2014 race schedule would put me 18 states down and 30 more to go.  Raleigh and the Space Coast would not give me any additional states in my "Quest", but would both provide me with additional medals to add to my collection.

For 2014, I'll have to see how things play out and hope for the best.

Another change was a late change to my travel plans for my trip to Philadelphia.  After looking at the cost of gas and parking in Philadelphia and comparing that to the cost of a flight and cab fare, it turned out that I would be paying nearly exactly the same thing to fly as I would to drive, so plane reservations have been made.  I also added an extra day to my stay in Philadelphia.  Having never visited Philadelphia, and being somewhat of a history buff, I wanted to make sure I had some time to see the city without wearing my legs out the day before the race, and without having to rely on walking around the city the same day that I run a half marathon.  As I posted on Facebook, what good is a destination run if I don't take some time to visit the destination?

I really think everyone should run....

Busy Busy Busy

Well the next few months, as I've said before, are shaping up to be pretty busy, both personally and professionally.

Professionally, our communications center officially begins dispatching for a second fire department on October 1st.  In addition we will start taking the landline 9-1-1 calls for that area so I'm expecting that phones will be staying pretty busy after this month.  We currently have one new dispatcher in training and two others have received conditional offers of employment with hopes that they will be on board and starting their training by early October.  So...in the first week of October the following will be happening:

1 - Three new dispatchers being trained
2 - Dispatching for a second fire dept.
3 - The Presidents Cup Golf Tournament comes to Dublin
4 - Answering 9-1-1 calls for two cities in addition to being a regional wireless 9-1-1 call center.

I also received a summons in the mail to report for jury duty for that week, one of our supervisors will be off work on maternity leave...let's see...is there anything else happening in October????

Personally, I am currently in my taper period leading up to the Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon in a little over a week.  Just to throw a wrench in the works, I decided to change my entry for the Columbus Half Marathon in October to the full marathon, so I'm in a period of trying to taper but also build mileage.  That pretty much means that the week after I run Philadelphia, my long run for the week will be a 20 miler.  Nervous you ask....ABSOLUTELY!!

I also realized today that I signed up and got assigned overtime the morning that I should be doing that 20 mile run.  Not a huge problem, as I can do the run the following morning instead, but it made me realize that as I sign up for the overtime that will be coming as a result of all the changes happening at work, I've got to remember to take my training schedule in to account.  This week is a great example of that.  For four out of my five work days this week I'm scheduled in at 2:45am instead of my normal 6:45am.  Since I typically do my training runs before work, I had to make some adjustments on the fly.  Fortunately, making "on the fly" adjustments is a pretty common occurrence, both in my work and in my running, so I'm able to deal with it without too much stress.

One would think that after getting through the Columbus Marathon in October that I'd be able to rest up a bit, but one would be wrong.  I then start preparing for the Space Coast Half Marathon, which will be held in Cocoa Beach, FL on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend.  I have to do some careful planning that weekend in order to make the trip, get my packet for the race, and still be in position to watch the Ohio State - Michigan game.

But then I can relax right?  Nope, I've registered to run the Phoenix Marathon on March 1st.  So, it'll be right back to training when I get back from Florida.

Along with all of this, I've got a trip planned to head out to Nebraska to visit my brother for a weekend.  My sister-in-law has promised me a gourmet meal.  (I remember hearing something about bologna).  That weekend we'll be checking out an auto auction with some vintage/antique cars that have never been driven.  I'm not really a "car guy", but this sounded really interesting.  I've also registered to run a 5K in Iowa while I'm in the area that weekend, knocking another state off my list in my Quest For 48.  (Hey, that's what I'll call it now).

Interestingly enough, with all that's going on these next few months, both professionally and personally, I feel pretty good about all of it.  While it could be stressful, the fact that running plays a big part in all of this is actually the saving grace.  Any stress created by the busy schedule, the changes at work, the extra overtime, or anything else, is alleviated by running.  Running helps to relieve the physical stresses.  The runner's high is a real thing.  The relaxation I get from it is nothing short of amazing.  I'm able to keep things at work in perspective.  Are we going to busy?  Yes, but we've been busy before.  Are we going to be short staffed for a period?  Yes, but we've been shorter staffed than this and made it through just fine.

The more challenges you're faced with, the more opportunities you have to prove to yourself that you can face them, deal with them, and if necessary, beat them.