The Novo Nordisk New Jersey Marathon Recap, Part I

I did it!

Results: 5:07:32

Place: 1649/1918

Division Place: 126/140

Pace: 11:24

I did it! Marathon number two is complete!

Once again I am going to break this trip up into two posts. One for the days leading up to the marathon and one for the race itself. I have much to say (and many, MANY pictures) about the trip down, it was hilarious and awesome. If you don't care about the pre-race festivities you stink feel free to move onto Part II.

No dogs were strangled while capturing this picture!

I left work early on Thursday and drove down to CT to break up the trip a little. My WONDERFUL parents agreed to watch the dogs while my sister and I were in New Jersey. This not only took a load off my mind, but probably saved me $300+ in boarding fees! The dogs had a GREAT time and were spoiled nonstop. They got a 4 mile walk on Friday and were outside all day Saturday and Sunday. My parents loved them and my dad actually bonded a bit with my little Isis. She followed him everywhere and when he sat down she was instantly in his lap. :) She is the sweetest little pit pup I've ever met!

On Friday my amazing sister, Aubrey, offered to drive us down to NJ. We left around at noon, thinking that we'd be able to stop for lunch and get to the inn in about 4.5 hours and be able to hit up the expo that night. Well, the GPS had other plans. We should have noticed right away that she was taking us down 95S the whole way. I wasn't super familiar with that area so I figured we'd cut across and take the Tappan Zee at some point. After a few failed attempts we stopped for lunch in Bridgeport (much to my sisters dismay) at a little diner. Despite the fairly sketchy neighborhood that diner was pretty nice. It was the cleanest diner I have ever set foot in. I had a grilled cheese and Aubrey had a BLT.

Get your free Municipal WASTE sample!

Once we got back on the road we started getting more worried about the route. We ended up taking the the Cross Bronx Express to the George Washington Bridge. What a TERRIBLE idea. We were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for probably an hour and a half. Most of the time we were completely boxed in by semis, we did have a fun time trying to figure out what those free samples were... I just googled it... it's municipal waste. Ew!! Moving on... we finally got through the city and over the bridge, but unfortunately it was almost 7PM and the expo was closing. We decided to postpone going to the expo until the next morning and headed to the Molly Pitcher Inn.

Delicious pot stickers

We dropped all of our stuff in our TINY hotel room and grabbed a cab to have dinner at The Bistro at Red Bank. It was a very cute restaurant. We didn't realize it prior to being seated but they only sold wine by the bottle from a specific NJ vineyard (Alba) or allowed you to BYOB. We split a bottle of piiiiinooooooooot nooooiiiiiirrrrr, which was delicious! I had Kobe Beef Pot Stickers and a pear gorgonzola salad. Not gonna lie, I spent the whole night looking at New Jerseyans like they were an alien species. They really are not. They are normal people. I didn't see a single orange spray tan! Before heading back to the inn we decided to go next door and grab a beer at Robinson's Ale House. I had the house ale which was Flying Fish Ale - brewed in Somerdale, NJ. (Lot's of ale's in that last sentence.)

Saturday morning we slept in a little bit and had breakfast at the inn. It was a buffet and I had an omelet (with everything they had!), bacon, a tiny waffle, a muffin, and fruit. It was a good way to start the morning. We got ready and headed to the expo to get my bib.

The expo was at the start of the race at the Monmouth Park Race Track. On the way in to park they made you drive by the long line of port-a-potties. They went on forever! I was taking a picture as one guy walked around the car to go into a port-a-potty. I just said "oh! hello" and then laughed like a lunatic. Then I took that video.

Gettin' taped

After we got my bib and shirt (there is a picture of the shirt at the very top of this post) we walked around and looked at the merchandise. I didn't end up buying anything for myself but Aubrey got a hat to wear at the race the next day and we bought my mom some pain relief cream made with all natural ingredients. The last thing I wanted to do was to see if there was someone who could apply KT Tape for me. I've never used it before but I figured it couldn't hurt and my foot could use all the help I could give it. I'll write more about the KT Tape in the actual race report but overall I don't think it did anything except make me look funny at dinner that night.

So happy!

Love the crest!

After the expo we went back to the inn and waited for Melissa to arrive. Once she got to our room we headed back out and walked to downtown Red Bank for lunch at Robinson's Ale House. I had grilled cheese (again) and tomato bisque. I also tried another Flying Fish beer - the IPA. It was really good! I behaved and only had one beer with lunch and followed it with a ton of water. I drank a LOT of water this weekend. We walked around Red Bank a little and shopped. Stopped in at a puppy store and fell in love with a tiny little French Bulldog. I would have brought him home if I could have (Evan would have killed me).

Everything's ready to go!

When we got back to the Inn the first thing I wanted to do was lay out all of my gear so I wouldn't have to scramble around the next morning. This was a lot of fun. I had all of my gear, my watch was charging, and I had breakfast (english muffin and almond butter) on the nightstand next to the bed. It made getting ready the next morning pretty easy.

It matches my dress!

Next up on the itinerary was to get dressed up to drive to Montclair, NJ to meet my Uncle Jonathan and his wife Leslie for dinner. Thank goodness my KT Tape matched my dress! On the way we stopped at Target for some athletic tape, english muffins, and a sleeping bag. The room at the inn was so tiny that it was against fire code to bring in a cot so poor Melissa had to sleep on the floor!

We drove to UJ and Leslie's house for prosecco and hors d'oeuvres and had a nice tour of the house. It's a beautiful house in a pretty private neighborhood. We also got to see their dog Hunter (I can't believe I didn't get a picture of him!). He is the sweetest lab I've ever met.

We went out to my uncles country club for dinner. It was a beautiful night and the food was excellent. I had fish tacos as an appetizer and beer-braised chicken with pierogies and onions for a entree. (I ate a LOT of food.)  Aubrey, Melissa, and I followed that up with cookies and milk for dessert. I was a good girl and only had one glass of cab with dinner. :P We had a really nice time out with my uncle and Leslie. They were very sweet to meet up with us while I was down there.

On our way back to the inn we took a little detour to visit the 9/11 memorial that looks out at New York City. The picture doesn't do it justice. You could see the new World Trade Center. That is quite an impressive building.

We arrived back at the inn around 11 and the only thing left to note is that there was a wedding going on that night and people were up VERY late smoking and talking loudly right outside our window. It woke us all up and my sister had to call down to the front to get them to quiet down. Then the party continued to talk loudly in the halls and slam doors all night. Not cool!

Next up: RACE DAY!

* Credit for almost all of these pictures goes to my sister, Aubrey! I am glad she was taking pictures otherwise this would be a pretty boring post!