Mfiorito87's blog

Trip to ED in Brazil

(Long post) Had my first experience going to the ED at hospital in the middle of nowhere - in Bahia, Brazil. Have a known kidney stone (ok it's been there for a while I just ignored it - hematuria since August that I blamed on rhabdo while training for marathon, groin pain attributed to psoas so was going for massage and was doing stretches. Finally a couple weeks before my trip to Brazil I had horrible urgency and finally went to urology and found I had a 3mm stone in distal ureter. Duh! So massage does NOT work for kidney stones! Pain wasn't really an issue just always felt like I had to urinate. Still ran the marathon and managed to PR (3:35). Usually book a surf trip after running the marathon as my reward and is a good way to recuperate. Decided might as well still go on my surf trip since the stone has been there for months, what could go wrong? Brought some various meds including pain meds, zofran, flomax just in case. Say what you will about flomax but when you are desperate you will take whatever you think might help even if a slim chance of helping.

Woke up yesterday at 3am with horrible flank pain, took every med I had and things only got worse. Probably vomited up half of the meds. By 6:30am I was desperate and started calling/texting people I knew to help get to the hospital. In the end, the husband of the manager of the hotel came and took me to the hospital. Walk in to the "ED" and hear in Portuguese that there is no doctor. I assume in my pacing and writhing that I'm hearing this wrong. Hospital is very tiny, only a few beds, mold on the ceiling, not looking very promising. They make some phone calls and get a dermatologist on the phone who spoke with me briefly on phone and ordered some toradol and scopolamine. The "nurse" tries to get a vein despite me having good veins and has trouble and then says the nurse just arrived so she will have her try. So have no idea who was sticking me but would have let her try all day if I had to. Got the meds and felt better but pain came right back. Marcia from the surf camp shows up to stay with me and helps translate. So grateful for her coming to stay with me! Not sure what I would have done without her! She gets a local doctor on phone who calls in some orders. They put an IV in this time and give me fluids and more meds and it takes a while but feel better again. They ask for a urine sample for Ua/micro and cash upfront (about $2). Am given a website with code to review the results when ready - why isn't this a thing in the US??? But I still have not seen a doctor while in the hospital. Was explained to me the local doctors used to all work there but the government decided to hire its own doctors. And on cue an older gentleman with wild grey hair, wearing jeans and a white coat walks by and says "do you like tomatoes and rice?" I'm so confused. I understood the question in Portuguese but not sure how to answer. I'm not hungry if he's offering and otherwise the question is too bizarre. He assumes I don't understand and talks to Marcia and she translates with a strange look on her face. She translates that if I eat a lot of tomatoes and rice I will keep getting this pain. I assume he thinks my left sided colicky pain is diverticulitis?? Luckily he is not my doctor. She then proceeds to explain this is one of the government doctors that works there but he is trained in psychiatry. Thankfully I arrived before he came in for his shift!! It is explained to me that I have an appointment to have an ultrasound and then to see a local doctor (who had ordered everything by phone). After the fluids are done the IV is removed. I'm petrified the pain will return but go with the flow. I get to the private clinic (cash upfront for visit and Ultrasound: $80) and go fairly quickly to ultrasound suite which is surprisingly nice. There is a patient screen in front of me so I can watch the ultrasound. There is a radiologist doing the ultrasound which blows my mind. He knows I'm a doctor so explains things as we go along, no hydro (which surprises me), he gets close to the bladder and I think I see a stone but I think how he could he possibly find the stone. He traces the ureter again and it goes to the stone at the UVJ. Measures at 6mm which makes me wince a bit. He prints out the images and passes them off and then back to the waiting room to see the doctor. See the doctor in the clinic and she writes me for pain meds in case pain gets bad again. Recommends flomax but says is difficult to find in Brazil but is happy to hear I brought my own. And also writes a script for IV setup with fluids which I can collect at pharmacy. If pain gets bad again, they can send a nurse to me to the put the IV in and give fluids and meds so I don't have to go back to the hospital. What a great approach! Overall a positive experience but if I had an emergent issue - no doctor in the hospital is quite frightening! Was told by locals they would drive an hour away to bigger hospital when possible. Spent another $40 at the pharmacy for a ton of meds I hopefully won't need but since I'm here for another few weeks gives me a little piece of mind. $120 is quite a bargain for everything compared to the thousands that would all be in the US. My outpatient stuff from home (CT, UA and 2 urology appts -the total bills, preinsurance was almost 10k). Insurance companies should pay us a bonus to get care outside of US.

Took a couple doses of pain meds last night but this morning am feeling good. No pain today. Didn't eat much yesterday so I woke up starving and ate a huge breakfast. Skipped surfing today  so I could continue hydrating. Hopefully back to surfing on Monday!

DC marathon (#4)

So I just finished marathon #4 and have some mixed feelings about it. I trained a lot harder for this one. Ran 8 weeks straight over 40 miles, with 3 weeks 50+, peaking at 55. That was a huge improvement mileage wise for me over the last few. 

Went down to DC Friday night with some friends, Paul, his wife Natacha, Olivia, and my sister Jaime. Jaime/Natacha ran the half. Driving was clear most of the way until we got closer to DC and then we were stuck in traffic for a while. Drove right to the expo, picked up our stuff and back to the hotel. Unpack, eat dinner and early bed time. 

Woke up at 5am, had my usual PBJ and gatorade and off to the Metro at 6am. The Metro was so packed it was really unsafe. They kept stopping at stations to let more people on even though we were crammed in past capacity. Approached my coral getting a last minute pep talk from Paul. Jaime and Natacha went off to their corals. I find my pace group (3:30), they are wearing tutu's and bright yellow shirts so it shouldnt be too hard to follow them. 

Race starts and the road is a bit crowded  and narrow so it hard to run an 8 min pace, so the pace group manages an 8:24. The next few miles we normalize a bit to (7:57-8:03), not bad but then we slow down for really no reason again for the next 3 miles. So then miles 8-14 were 'catch up",  we were running   7:42  7:32  7:47  7:58  7:55  7:45  7:48. That hurt a little especially since the BIG hill was in there. 

I kept up with the pace group for a few more miles and then they started pulling away. The heat started hitting us, and there were very few water stops..  I think they knew there was very few water stops because it looked like they had added some small last minute ones with water bottles to get people through the next few miles. Or maybe it was technically a first aid station I got that water bottle from, but so glad I grabbed it!  Luckily I kept my water bottle and had at least some sips of water for the whole race. But I think I was probably at least a little dehydrated,  I  was feeling a bit nauseous and had some stomach cramps on/off throughout the race, which is not the norm for me. I can run through leg pain, running through cramps/nausea is a bit tougher! The hills were NON stop, around every turn there was another hill. Each hill I felt my goal time slipping away. I kept thinking well, I still have a 3:35, I would be very happy with that, as I passed more hills I thought 3:39 would be great too, its still in the 3:30s. 

Mile 23, the elevation started climbing again and I was hitting 9:30, 9:50's, and I just thought, well hopefully I beat my last time of 3:43:45.  Mile 25, a bad spasm in my left thigh, tried to run through it but that was not happening, stopped for 30 seconds and stretched it out. Start running again and right calf starts spasming and I just ignore it and push through it. I start counting random objects to distract my mind (street drains, cones, street lines). Count 10 street drains and then you get to look at your watch again. Apparently Im not the only one who plays these types of mind games to get through. Ive heard others do the same thing. 

Mile 26, I summon just enought energy to get below a 9min pace again (8:51), and managed to pull through the finish line just ahead of my last marathon time. So technically it still was a PR by a whopping 21 seconds, but when you add the hills (I HATE hills), and the heat (used to running these with a steady 50 degrees), not sunny 70s, and the poor pacing I cant be too disappointed in the time.

BUT it still bugs me a bit. When you put more time, more miles into training, you expect a better result. And yes there is a list of "excuses" of why I didnt run my best race, its still bugs me to see that same number on the clock at the end despite all that extra work. Now I know my time would have been much worse if I hadnt worked harder in training, since it really was a TOUGH course. And running 8 miles (including the BIG hill) at sub 8 min miles surprised even me. While I complain about the poor pacing, I actually felt calm and in control during that time. I was not struggling but it probably did play a part with me falling apart a little towards the end. So some lessons were learned.

I have my massage this evening and then back to work tonight for a couple days. Then of to Brazil to begin the recovery phase where surfing distracts me from not running. I know that sounds weird but if you run almost every day, when you dont run it just doesnt feel right. Even 2 days off from running can make me cranky.  No running week 1, then some light slow runs week 2, and gradually build back up from there. 

Next on the schedule:

Broad Street May 6th.

Down and Dirty Mud Run July 15th

and maybe Pocono Marathon May 20th....still thinking on that one!

And Jaime beat her time from Septembers Half by 15min 29secs.....thats impressive given the heat/hills! And thanks again to Paul/Olivia for the support/cheers along the way!

The GPS data for those that are interested. Click select metric to add elevation/mileage, etc. http://on.fb.me/FWv3z1

Philly Marathon in 3:43!!

So I woke up this morning at 4:45am still not feeling nervous. Then I started wondering why that was. I guess part of it was knowing that I was definitely going to beat last years time 4:26 and was going to beat my last marathon (in NJ) which was 4:05. Why did I know that? Felt better prepared, have been running faster, more miles, less injuries this year. So I came up with a crazy goal of 3:30 to challenge myself. It was unrealistic yet I was prepared and fine with crashing and burning but at least trying to hit it! I always set A, B, C goals for myself;

A goal: the crazy goal 3:30

B goal: the realistic but would make me very happy goal: 3:45

C goal: beat 4 hours 

So my mind figured out that if I stick out 8 min/mile for as long as I could and crashed and burned I could still muster up the 3:45 in the end. So heres how it played out:

Pre-race

Got up at 4:45am and started getting my stuff together, had my PBJ (my standard pre-race meal). Not sure what I was doing but I actually got out the door a little late, it was after 6am and the race starts at 7am. My normal parking area was already full so I had to drive around and started getting a little stressed. Finally found parking and rushed to check my bag, use the porta potties and stretch a little. And ran to the corral.

Starting line:

Yet again I could not find my official pace group this year. I saw the 3:40 pace group way in the back of my corral and I was up front. The 3:30 group was supposed to be right in front of me. So I decided I would run on my own and not allow the 3:40 pace group to pass me at all costs! There was some late comers to the corral that were trying to push their way into the corral in front of us. I kept thinking it would probably benefit them to stay in the front of my corral instead of the back of the next one. One particular obnoxious person in a blue top bumped me trying to get to the next corral – remember Mr. Blue shirt – he helped me inadvertently during the race.

 

So we take off at 7:05am and race down the parkway. Legs felt a little stiff, wish I had had more time to stretch before. Went a little too fast 7:50, so slowed down on the next mile to 8:20, trying to hit an even 8 min/mile. We ran down race street and saw Bobby standing there waiting, ran right past him and he didn’t see me until I waved. Ran down Columbus blvd still trying to get the right pace but was more like 8:15. Its so hard to hit a right pace, the smallest adjustments drastically affect the pace.

 

Crossed the city (Miles 5-7) on south and chestnut and found my goal pace of 8 and held it for those 3 miles. My GPS had something like an 8:05 average pace which was apparently a little inaccurate compared with the official times they have. My watch added 0.2 miles (which is standard for city runs, its always the same distance during these runs and effects the average pace on my watch).

 

1^st big hill (which is ridiculous tiny compared to Ragnar), but always hit me hard last year, felt like nothing. Did that mile in 8:17, not bad, didn’t slow me down too much. Raced down the back end of that hill in 7:50. And then the next hill up past the zoo, 8:11 still not bad when hills are a huge weakness for me (just ask Paul who paced me on my night leg with my pathetic 500 foot hill which I whined about the whole way).

 

West river drive came up and I ranged 8:04-8:10 for he next few miles. Still felt really good, felt like I could run forever at that pace. Kelly drive towards Manyunk I picked up the pace to more of a consistent 8:05. My GPS at this time still said I was averaging 8:05.

 

Came through Manyunk and saw Tim (sorry Joy didn’t see you), and saw my sister and her friend Jess further down. My pace suffered a little bit but not too bad, up to 8:20s. I took great pleasure at this point passing Mr Blue shirt who had pushed his way into the “faster corral” and started a couple minutes ahead of me!

 

Miles 22/23 is when things started turning in a bad direction. I was back on Kelly Drive and the finish felt soooo far. The first thing I noticed was my legs started feeling heavy, my breathing was still fine. I kept telling myself that it was going to get real hard the last 6 miles and I had to push thru. I was within 4 miles when it really felt hard. Its funny tho, I didn’t really feel like I hit a wall exactly. I would feel like there were little walls, more like hurdles that I had to fight to jump over and then I could get my pace back up. But I kept speeding up and slowing down for those 2 miles, average time 9 min/mile.

 

Mile 24; All of sudden there is a guy with those damn balloons standing next to me and it the 3:40 pacer. NO you cant pass me. He kept yelling at his group “I know it feels hard but stay with me” I tried and tried so hard to keep up and made just shy of mile 25 and had to stop. Now real pain/spasms in legs and way out of breath. Stretched real quick, walked for 0.05 mile and then started running again. Pace was suffering fast, 9:30, 9:45….

Halfway thru mile 25, another quick stretch stop, really my IT band hurts, really? Ok everything hurt, my neck, back, legs. 

 

Mile 26: Crowds are thick, people are yelling my name and “nice beard” for some reason. But this really helps me keep going. I start counting traffic cones. Yes its weird but whatever gets you thru right? Its actually more counting down. I guess how many more cones I think there will be and count down. It helps me focus on a smaller level of accomplishment, I passed 5 cones only 25 more to go! Weird yes I know. The crowd has me amped up again and my pace naturally improves back down to 8:50. I kept running and was getting a little frustrated how FAR down the parkway the finish line was, so close but SO FAR!

 

The FINISH LINE: I pass under the banner knowing I hit 3:43, Beat B goal with time to spare. It funny how emotional you get when you accomplish something like this. I saw Mahnia right after the finish line and was sitting on the ground, refusing to get up. She was probably wondering why I took so long to get up and say hi. But I was trying not to vomit ;) Once the feeling passed I went over to say hi, and I really still couldn’t talk. Combination of emotion and exhaustion. That sensation lasted right thru the food line.

 

Final thoughts: While I thought I was going pretty close to 8min pace (8:05-8:07), I was actually running more 8:10-8:15 but I kept that going at that pace pretty long. So many people warned me if I went out too fast I was going to crash and burn and wouldn’t do as well but Im glad I tried. It would have been nice to have a time in the 3:30s but NOW the next marathon 3:30 moves up to goal B. I don’t even want to think what the next A goal will be, but it will be insane I promise you!

 

Thanks to all that came out to cheer me on, at least it was warm this year!

Thanks again to team Philly www.meetup.com/teamphilly and Bobby (personal trainer) for pushing me along the way.

Thanks to Ben and Nick for the awesome running music. Definitely kept me going!

Thanks to those that supported my fundraising efforts. There is still time to donate if you didn’t get around to it:  http://www.crowdrise.com/MikeFiorito.  Almost to $1000, not bad considering I didn’t do a Happy hour fundraiser this year. 

Now to get ready for Surfing in Costa Rica! And a nap and some left over cannoli! And maybe a massage tomorrow.

Ragnar Relay PA 2011

We finished!! It seems like all such a blur. Not sure what made it so blurry: the running, lack of sleep or all the muffin bites and GU. Heres the run down:

So for those not familiar with the Ragnar Relay....Its a 202.1 mile relay from Lancaster to Mt Pocono, PA. Most teams are made of 12 people who share the 200+ miles broken up into 3 legs. Each runner does one leg each, and then the next runner goes, and then everyone does round 2 and then round 3. So 3 legs for each runner. Our team found that not quite to be enough of a challenge so WE did an ultra team ;) Same distance but only 6 people! The proceeds go to Back on my feet which helps the homeless.

Team Shoofly Pie:

The lancasters- Runners 1-3 (Sonya, Terry, Lynn)

The Phillies -Runners 4-6  (Logan, Nick, Mike) 

Plus Kimiko the Koolest driver in town....and Paul the peppy pacer and photographer!

 

Friday 9am:

Nissan Juke pulls up at 13ths and Sansom picking up the team: "thats your trunk?" "I told you all to pack lightly!" "its not all gonna fit" "we'll figure out something"

Friday 9:15am:

Arrival at Mikes: Some reshuffling of bags, some rethinking of "necessary" and a hard slam of the trunk and 5 people and *most* of the necessities are off to lancaster!

Friday 11am

We met up with the other half of our team (the lancasters). For those that didnt know we lost 1/2 of our team but luckily the race organizer hooked us up with another team who also lost exactly half of their team. So Team 3rd leg....became Shoofly Pie. The lancaster group was nice, very friendly- definitely more experienced in relays.  Sonya is getting ready since she is Runner #1. Terry is giving us the low-down of the race.

Friday 11:30am: Sonya is off and Team Shoofly Pie has officially started! 

Friday Noon: Head to Exchange 6 and wait for the lancaster team to get to the exchange point. Some chilling out, decorating the juke, eating noodles and PBJs, some frisbee and lots of waiting. 

Friday 3:30: "Hmmm, they said 3:30pm, should we text them?" 10mins later Van #1 shows up and we wait together for Lynn to pass off to Logan. Someone yells out team #2 and Logan gets into position to get the "baton" (a slap bracelet). So after waking up 6am in the morning... finally at 4pm we are actually running! Well at least one of us is! And then we dig into our free Shoofly pie before heading to the next exchange.

Friday 5:00pm: Logan arrives and Nick  is off running 

Friday 5:40pm: Paul joins Nick to help pace him on the halfway point of Nicks run. They both run off in their safety vests, head lamps and blinking asslamps. All night runs requires some Tron like running gear.

Friday 6:20PM- I am up next, trying to get ready at exchange 10. I know I have a lot of nervous energy prior to a race but this is the first time there really were multiple other people to witnessing. Usually my frantic thoughts stay in my head but there are other people around so I am verbalizing everything.  "Wheres my this, do I have that?" "My ankle is stiff, I need to stretch".  Getting ready for a race is stressful enough but you dont know exactly when its going to start so its hard to get prepared (Timing fluids- both in and out!), etc.

Friday 6:41PM Finally I get my sh!t together and they yell Team #2. I get into position and Nick slaps the bracelet on me and Im off! Paul keeps running to be my pacer as well. The sun is already starting to set. We start on a fairly busy road but then immediately turn onto a side road and head into the Amish countryside. A horse and buggy comes up behind us and I try to stay ahead but the horse caught up and passed us! The sun starts to set and turns the sky 10 different shades of red and purple, with an amazing vista of farms, trees and corn fields. The road climbs up a little and I take it easy, then goes right back down and I fly down the hill.  Then we realize we can now see our headlamps on the road and its getting dark. Happened so fast! We see a covered bridge coming up and realize we are actually going to run across it. Very cool but also a little creepy at the same time...seems like a horror movie scene might play out at that kind of location in the dark! Now its a dark grey sky lit by only the moon and our headlamps, with shadows of farms and silos. Mostly quiet with an occasional strange grunting noise that I’m pretty sure came from an annoyed cow. Was awesome to have Paul running with me for this  leg in the dark. It helped pass the time and was great being able to share this amazingly beautiful run with a friend. 

Friday 8:33PM- Finish my first ragnar leg, and pass off to Sonya from the lancaster crew. I stretch out and we head out to exchange 18 to wait for the lancaster crew to finish and try to catch some rest at a campground.

Sat 12:15am Time to wake up! No I didnt get any sleep so that wasnt much of a problem. Logans turn to go is coming up. Grab some hot chocolate and some food at the campground before getting Logan to her exchange point. She heads out with Paul into the night.

Sat 2:30am- Nick is up for his 2nd leg. Plan is to meet him at the halfway point to give him water and cheer him on.

Sat 3:45am - Stand out in the cold waiting for Nick to come by. The guy there tells us that most people are taking longer then expected on this leg and that theres no way our friend was coming in that fast, probably another 15min he says. We take turns checking for him and finally at 3:55am someone tells us that Nick passed at 3:42am. Crap! He only had 4 miles left and I still had to get ready. Fast drive to the next check point. 

Sat 4:05am Getting all my gear together, trying to stretch, get some water and all of sudden...

Sat 4:14am "Team 2!" "MIKE?!" Crap! Gotta run! I run and grab the bracelet. I head out on a well lit road, head past a shopping plaza and then in complete darkness. There are cones in the beginning but no street lamps, no house lights. Eventually on a road that I can literally only see whats in the 4 foot circle that my head lamp lights up.  I see blinking lights on the race direction signs but I have to run right up to it to see where it wants me to go. Lots of points where I wonder if I am going the right way.  I hear water running and wonder if its a stream or river but only know its somewhere to the left. What an odd feeling running in complete darkness (and without music). Yes there is some degree of what the hell am I doing but there is something very calming about it. Your stimuli is limited to where your feet are going to hit the ground next, that’s it. Having that sort of tunnel vision really puts you in the zone. This ended up being my fastest leg for the race, and its really only now putting into words that I get why. After a couple miles in the darkness I finally hit a town and am running on well lit sidewalks and pass a couple other runners. 

Sat 5:30am- Done with leg #2 9.1 miles and pass off to Sonya on the lancaster crew. Still dark but Im done and we get to rest for a few hours. Head over to a high school which is the next rest stop while the lancaster crew is running their legs. 

Sat 8:30am - I realize I cant sleep and might as well get up and get some pancakes that they are serving at the HS as a fundraiser. My team is still sleeping so I hang out with one of the other teams. I know one of the people from our Team Philly running group.  Finish eating and head down to the car and the team is waiting for me (except Kimiko who can apparently sleep anywhere without a problem!). Logan is getting ready for her last run which is going to be a doozy! Her last leg is long and really hard, going up some nasty hills. 16 miles for this leg with a 2300 foot cumulative elevation gain! Insane! The hardest leg of the whole race! End up waiting a little longer then expected for Lynn to come thru. Logan is trying to stay pumped up without knowing exactly when she needs to take off. The Lancaster team pulls up and waits with us for Lynn to come thru.  We see Lynn coming down the hill and everyone starts cheering and Logan heads off into the hills of Jim Thorpe.

Sat 11am -We input the next exchange point into the GPS and try to follow the race course so we can meet logan at mile 4.  But the run course and drive route isn’t matching up. Paul suggests putting the intersection for mile 4 into the GPS and Kimiko yells “DON’T YOU TOUCH MY GPS, USE YOUR DAMN PHONE” ….ok she didn’t say that but she had just driven the majority of the way and really had ownership of that GPS.  This would be a good point to talk about Kimiko the koolest driver on Ragnar. She is the “QUEEN” of logistics. We would get in the car to head to the next exchange and be like “lets figure out where we are going next” and Kimiko was 4 steps ahead, “we are going *here* and its already in the GPS, let’s go”.  There really were no breaks driving between exchanges so the runners really could have driven themselves BUT it would not have  been anywhere near a *smooth* transition as it was with Kimiko. She kept us on schedule, organized “Write it down!”,  handed us what we needed before we knew what we wanted and CHEERED the whole way with her flashing flapping hands (ok this is a plastic toy not her actual hands) and always somehow smiling!

SAT 1pm- ROCKSTAR Logan of Shoofly pie returns to hand off to Nick. I really don’t know if I could have handled the run she just finished but she did it and finished in good spirits! Nick heads out on another really HARD leg. 16.5 miles with a 1540 foot cumulative gain in hills. We stop once during his first leg to cheer him on and give him some water. Some more cheering and water at his halfway point (ok we were standing around in the parking lot again and he had to yell for us but we weren’t too far away at least because Paul had parked this time). Yes that was a small *DIG* at Kimiko, she always chose the furthest parking spot possible –still havent figured out why ;)  And then we head to the exchange point.

Sat 2:45pm We are waiting for Nick to return and realize just how hot it is out there and regret not stopping and giving him more water again despite what Nick said he wanted. Paul runs backwards on the course for a mile to bring him some much needed water.

Sat 3:11PM Nick comes flying down the hill and passes off to me. I know he was hurting but he wasn’t showing it, he just ran 16.5 miles in the heat but he flew down that hill with a smile on his face. My last leg is only 11 miles and I plan to try my best to pace myself so I don’t collapse just shy of the finish line. I start up the first hill and now truly feel just how hot it is. I wore a water belt so at least that wouldn’t be a problem.  The first 4 miles was fine, I hit the 35 exchange and got a refill of Gatorade from my team and kept going. Had some nice downhills and picked up some speed but then had some uphills that pushed me back a bit.  The hills were horribly sad compared to what logan and Nick did but hills are NOT my friend. I hate them. I hate them even more when I don’t know exactly when they end, around that next corner? Or another 2 miles? Did pass some beautiful views on long pond road,. Going over a couple of the small bridges, it  finally felt like it was fall in the Poconos. The trees with  orange and yellow leaves reflected in the water with the sun starting to set. Absolultely beautiful, almost stopped for a picture but oh yeah this is a race ;)  I was exhausted but kept going on but staying on autopilot. I finally start heading into Pocono Manor Resort, and I cant really tell how much further but I do see a sign:  $10 pony rides. And I think if I only had $10 on me I would definite ride in to the finish on a pony!  

Sat 4:51PM (29  hours and 21 min / 202.1 miles later) - I finally see the finish and see my team who comes up and runs with me thru the finish line. Had a little trouble talking for the first couple mins, yes out of breath but a little just overwhelmed that we had done it. Seriously it was only Feb 2010 when I started with team philly and 4-5 mile  long runs were hard. And we had all just run 30-40 miles a piece over the course of a day/night.  Some pictures, a burger I regret eating 10min after running, a really cool ragnar medal/bottle opener and then a trip to my dads house. Only 3 of us ended up going to my dads and he had bought a ton of food, and 2 cases of beer. We attacked the chips and dip, cheese and crackers and cake and never even thought about dinner. A sad 3 beers total between us, we passed out at 8pm.

SUN 6pm- Pauls place- “the debriefing” – tons of junk food, beer and wine and lots of laughs and reminiscing. Its funny we are all very different personalities, each with some very interesting quirks. Mine was my frantic pre-race getting ready freak outs. Luckily I was too tired for my backstreet driver obnoxiousness to show itself (ok maybe the first 30min or so, it showed a little). Some of us are hoarders (hiding the pretzels where they would be *safe*), some are pigs eating all the muffin bites, some are a little messy managing to get peanut butter on the craziest locations of the car,  and one of us was French ;) But despite all of that, and all being exhausted, smelly and cramped in the tiny little Juke that could, we made it through still smiling and had a BLAST!

And poor Kimiko learned that sweat isn’t the smell to worry about in a car full of runners…..

 

 

Day 13-14 Venice

Day 13 Train ride to Venice. Our train pops up on the board that it's boarding and my dad wants to go smoke and buy gum. I asked why in the last 45 minutes we were waiting he couldnt  have done that. "we got time" he says. Ok so we get to the train, we are coach number 1 at the far end of the platform and are the very last ones on the train. I try to tell him this is not my first time and he should listen but if you know him you know that's not going to happen. The train ride is uneventful, it's actually nice to relax and read a bit. we get to Venice and I tell him we have to take a boat to the hotel and he seems surprised. I told him this before but I swear it's like he's turned off his brain for this trip. We get on the vapparetto and i turn around and hes dragged his suitcase fully to the back and is sitting 3 people in a row in the window seat. Im standing at the door leaning against my suitcase knowing the difficulties of getting off a very crowded boat. Im not sure what he did with his suitcase back there but fortunately he saw my concerned look from afar as our stop approached and came forward just in time. We check into the hotel and I have a slight panic attack when they tell me the rate of the hotel (Westin regina). Oh yes I apparently turned my brain off too and forgot this was the splurge at the end of the trip. I actually have to check my email and sheepishly agree, oh yeah I guess that is the nightly rate. I ask does it include breakfast, oh no that's 45 euros per person extra....yeah that's NOT going to happen. At least Internet is included and they have a gym and a nice area to sit by the canal. So we kept today light. Took my dad to San Marco square and alot of it's covered for renovations with billboards over top! So disappointing but my dad having never seen it, still let out I think his 4th "wow" of the trip. We stopped at an overpriced cafe for coffee and then I went for a run in the gym while my dad rested. So I find a place with a good review but my dad doesn't like it because there is a singer that will annoy him and it looks expensive. So he suggests a place that's crowded and cheaper and I warn him the reviews are bad for that place. I gently try to push 10 alternatives on him, but he wants to return to his choice. It's packed which my dad thinks is a good sign. First the bread comes out in the form of dinner rolls that appear to be the pre made frozen variety. The food comes out and I try to give it a chance. I COVER my pesto spaghetti in cheese and still can't eat it. I tell my dad this place is crowded because it's cheap not good! So we agree not to let my dad pick any more restaurants. I insist on going for gelato after since im still very hungry, and then off to bed.

Day # 14

So this is my 4th visit to Venice now and I have finally learned how to navigate. Here is the secret- don't navigate, put the map away. Know how to get to your hotel from either the Rialto or San Marco and then just wander and use the signs to get back to San Marco. We wandered around all morning like this and actually explored multiple new areas that I hadn't seen yet. Stopped in a bakery and I pick something at random, turned out to be amazing and only 1 euro. My dad is asking me all these questions about this coffee drink he wants to get and I'm like I have no idea...."nah I don't want it, if I don't know what it is". I try to explain that if he stuck with the same things that he knew over and over he would never try anything new. So what if he ordered it and didn't like it, it was a new experience. He didn't want it unless he knew what it was...so we move on. We wander to the point that we are back at piazz. roma. So we take the vaporetto all the way back to San Marco and take in the grand canal via boat. Quick stop to rest and then went to the island Burano for the afternoon. I've been there also 4 times and never get over how all the different colored houses make the most beautiful streets out of some of the oldest and sometimes very simple buildings. They also have a tower on their church that leans more then the tower of Pisa. Had a late lunch in Burano. We order a pepperoni pizza. Apparently pepperoni=pickled peppers.....was still decent but was a bit of a surprise. Took lots of pictures and then the hour boat ride back to Venice. Rested again for a little bit and then off to dinner. So in Rome I would mark 6-7 restaurants on a map and just go off each night looking for 1 and if it was closed move on to the next. Well this approach in Venice is Impossible! Using a map to get somewhere specific is a nightmare. So there were 2 restaurants near San Marco I aimed for, and missed both, started seeing signs for the Rialto so we head there to find the ones I've marked off with directions from the Rialto. Straight, 3rd right then 2nd left. None of that helped and we ended up in a random back alley, so incredibly lost but we kept looking at restaurant menu's and we come upon Da Mamos which is the place I was aiming for, except we were at the back entrance in some narrow backalley. My dad complains about the price immediately but I'm paying and it's only 5 euros more for a pasta dish from yesterdays nightmare. So we look at the menu and we both are drawn to the same pasta dish and the same meat dish so we decided to split both. The pasta was a ravioli with this butter/olive oil sauce with fresh herbs and the filling in the ravioli had some ingredient that eluded us that made it the Best ravioli that we ever had. The beef dish was the most tender steak in a grape sauce. We literally cleaned every plate. Used the bread to get every drop of sauce up off the plate. After those 2 amazing dishes, the best bruschetta and house wine, when they asked about dessert that was a no brainer (tiramisu). They ended the meal with a complimentary liquor in a little chocolate shot glass. My dad said it was the best meal of his life. Pretty bold statement but I would say best meal of the trip for me (i have a lot more meals in Italy to compare too, it's my 4th visit). The only downside was trying to get back to the hotel while trying to remember how to get back to the restaurant for tomorrow night. We failed miserably! The wine didn't help either!

Day 11-12 Rome

Day 11 Woke up early to grab a little something to eat before my jogging tour at 8am. There were 4 people in the group and 2 of them were with the hotel, and one was just along for the run. I was the only one actually getting the tour. Ran past circo massimo into the park and back around. We got back to the hotel and the 40 min tour had taken half the time, so we continued through the Jewish ghetto up the stairs to piazza campidoglio and then back. I have to admit it was a pretty light run, I wasn't even out of breath but had a long day of walking after so it was perfect. Went back to the hotel for an amazing free breakfast and then the very long day of walking started. We knew this was going to be a long day. It was the palintino/roman forum/colosseum day. My dad was very excited to see the colosseum, that was one of the big things he wanted to see. He even bought an overlay book of ancient Rome that shows you what they think things looked like in ancient times. Took an extended rest for lunch because I knew my dad was tired (because I sure was). Went to dinner at Alle tratte de trastevere. I seem to pick these restaurants (by reviews) that end up being down these alleyways away from the tourist areas and they haven't failed yet. Appetizer was bruschetta but it came with 2 pieces of what looked like falafel but was actually made of eggplant with bread crumbs and then deep fried. Really good. My dad got the carbonara and I had a sausage/red pepper pizza. Then we split the obligatory tiramisu. My dad mentioned that he thought rome should have some fireworks for the americans that are here. I said what an american thing to say. So every country should have something for july 4th? Too funny! Now to crash for the night, my feet are killing me! 

Day 12  Last full day in Rome. Actually rained this morning, first bad weather since we started the trip. Cooled the temp off a little bit. Today was catch up day, trying to see things that we've missed. Took the metro to piazza di popolo and from there took the steps up above the piazza (part of the gardens of villa borghese). Walked down to the Spanish steps. It actually wasn't as crazy and crowded as I remembered. You could actually see the steps this time. On to piazza barberini and  repubblica. Tried to hit the capuccin crypts (per jess's suggestion) but they were closed when we walked by, even after stalling a bit for lunch at a pizzeria. My dad has been tired the last few days so we called it quits for today and took the metro back. He will not drink enough water. I drank one huge bottle and half of his in 24 hr and he still has some left! I've started just handing him water throughout the day to get him to drink. Ate dinner at Antica Trattoria Da Carlone. Had pasta with pancetta, pepper and cheese and veal saltimbocca. Another great restaurant in a hidden alley. Now off to Venice tomorrow morning by train. 

Day 9-10 (At sea-back in Rome)

Day #9 At sea - I broke up my day with a long run after breakfast. Did 14 miles. Had been reading ChiRunning which has some cool pointers in it. Some of the stuff I do already as I found naturally that was the way to run to minimize pain. But adding the pointers from the book I must admit it feels like you are running downhill all the time even when you aren't because you use gravity to your advantage. Not bad! Luckily the view was constantly changing so I didn't mind being on the treadmill that long. Ran 42 miles this week, pretty good for vacation. Have also been reading Game of Thrones and am hooked. Already saw the HBO series 1st season, and now am reading the books which match the series pretty well so far. My dad on the other hand didn't know what to do with a free day, he seemed restless all day.  Day#10 Back in Rome. Staying at a nice hotel right by the roman forum and close to the river. So Trastevere is right across the river where are there are tons of great restaurants. Staying at hotel 47 which is beautiful. They had a special that was for a jogging package which was so much cheaper then their regular room price so I jumped at it. Don't worry I'm not making my dad run. My run is tomorrow morning, should be fun. We walked around a little bit today, went to piazza di campidoglio and the vittorio Emanuel monument. Stopped for coffee and then rested before dinner. Went to Le Mani in Pasta for dinner. Was a little tiny place away from the tourist areas. We arrived right when they opened and with all empty tables and almost turned us away as they were just about full with reservations coming in. Then if we promised to be gone by 9pm we could have a table. We agreed and then waited 10 min for menu, the 90 min deadline for eating was looking a bit tight. We order the special appetizer of the house which was a salami, prosciutto, mozzarella and mordatella plate. Dinner was a fettucini with ricotta and pancetta. No red sauce. Couldn't resist 2 of my favorite ingredients in Italian food put together in an unusual way. It definitely worked,my dad ordered the same thing and he finished his plate. I came a couple bites shy of finishing but I wanted dessert (tiramisu). Ended up being a great birthday dinner (yeah I kinda forgot until about noon). Thanks to all for the birthday wishes. 

Day 8

Day #8 Crete - Our last stop on the cruise. We arrive at port pretty early and our tour started at 7am. Getting off the ship you can already see the mountains. They are similar to turkey, kind of dry mountains with sporadic trees and shrubs. They call them the white mountains because the tops are made of limestone. Our first stop is lake Kournas. Absolutely beautiful with the mountains surrounding this lake. My dads initial response was "that's more of a pond" but he took a ton of pictures so it couldn't have been that bad to look at. We then stopped at a little restaurant and had a local bread filed with cheese and covered with honey. Then a shot of their local alcohol. They said they use it as medicine and that it's really strong 37% alcohol. I took a sip to taste it and reflexively coughed/gagged. I told my dad it's not for sipping and took the shot. Much better that way, even taste wise. The couple next to us saw and wouldn't believe I did the shot. Apparently the guy came up to my dad after and told him his girlfriend threw up after trying to drink hers. Well it was only 8am, what a nice way to start her day in Greece. Next stop was a monastery which was beautiful but kind of boring. Then we had some free time in one of the seaside towns. My dad got his cappuccino (a good one too) and I got to try authentic baklava, which was amazing. Not that there isn't enough honey in it, but they cover the entire plate in honey. Walked around town a little bit, took some pictures and then back to the ship. Will  be on the ship for the next whole day. This is where my dad tends to get bored. He didnt bring anything to read or do. At night after dinner, went to the casino for a little bit. Not sure what he's going to do with himself tomorrow.

Day 6-7

Day #6 At sea. Nothing real exciting here. Mostly laying and reading at the pool and eating. Did get a 9 mile run in. Much easier to get enough calories in here.  Day #7 Turkey. My father had complained initially "why do we have to go to turkey?" I had told him he could stay on the ship but he decided to come along. First stop was Ephesus and ruins that are being actively excavated. Was really beautiful with the mountains behind the ruins. Then went to a little village called Sirence and walked around the town a bit. Stopped for a wine tasting, was actually different fruit wines including peach, melon,blackberry. The peach was really good. Then stopped at a restaurant on the mountainside for lunch. Had salad, a flat bread filled with feta and spinach, bread with yogurt sauce, and then kefta meatballs in a tomato sauce. Not as good as the ones I've had in morocco but pretty good. Then finally back towards the ship. We saw a sign for Starbucks and for the first time in our lives were actually excited for Starbucks coffee. The coffee on the boat just sucks, and after Malta and what I told my dad of Turkish coffee he decided to stick with Starbucks. 

Day 4-5

Day # 4 Arrived in Messina Sicily. I woke up and  my dad had already been up for a couple hours, he said he saw a volcano in the middle of the ocean. As we were at breakfast Sicily started coming into view. My dad immediately wanted his camera. He's been taking tons of photos. Spent an hour just walking around the boat taking pictures as the island came into view. Went for excursion which was a visit to the town of Taormina, a quick stop at an old lava flow from mt etna and then off to wine tasting. Taormina was a bit touristy but was still very beautiful. Some very old churches there and also an olde Greek theatre. At the top of the theater there were amazing views of mt etna and the coastline. We made sure to taste everything sicily was known for. Had a chocolate cannoli, a rice ball, and real sicilian pizza (its not thick and doughy at all like it is in the US). The lava flow was a quick stop, with a brief pistachio and almond honey tasting. Then on to the wine tasting at a winery. The view here was beautiful, overlooking the orchards and mt etna on the other side. So as it started I thought it was going to be a stingy affair. They said we would taste 3 wines; a red, white and a sweet wine. They started with a glass of white then red but then kept refilling the glasses the second we finished. The "snack" I also had low expectations for but was a nice spread with bruchetta, Italian cheeses, olives, sundried red peppers and onion/olive rolls. Drank and ate so much we didn't think we could eat dinner....but we managed. So my dads thoughts on Sicily "beautiful, breath taking, wish we had more time here...I liked the pizza back in Rome better (alice's). My dad also mentioned that he would love to spend a summer in Rome and that he would never have considered that before this visit. And he mentioned he wants to go to Egypt.....what the heck took so long to get the travel bug??? When were kids we went to the poconos every year until one day we just moved there! That was vacation! I know, I know traveling with 3 kids would have been expensive, but I would have traded 10 of those pocono trips to go to Italy! So it's 9pm and we are both exhausted and will be in Malta nice and early tomorrow! Day #5 Malta never really had a chance. It was a substitute for Athens, and it was never going to make up for it. Strikes in Athens prevented us from stopping there. Malta is actually beautiful, it's European with an Arabic twist. We started with a trip to a little fishing town and got a whopping 45 min which sadly was more then enough. Walked along the shore line taking some photos. Was done with that in like 15, so stopped for a cappuccino which was awful. It tasted like watery milk that accidentally got some coffee spilled in it. But it was early Malta could still redeem itself as we would be making a quick stop at a limestone quarry! Quick stop there and on to the the blue grotto. Ok that was actually beautiful, Malta scored some points there. Got a boat ride into the blue grotto. This is basically a large cavern carved by the ocean with the most blue water you've ever seen, with pink sponges along the floor. They took us to several smaller caves as well and then back to town. Stopped for another try at a cappuccino which also sucked but we put it above the first cup, way below any in rome but slightly above the ship coffee. On the way back to the ship they took us through the town which was actually very cool, even drove us by a movie set (so they say brad/Angelina are there somewhere).  Now back on the boat. Went for an 8 mile run with a beautiful view of Malta. And then went for what was supposed to be a quick snack and turned into a large meal. My dad and I are getting along except for silly little stuff. A lot of is just travel inexperience and I have to remember that. His answer to him not knowing something, is well there should be a sign....no dad it's a cultural thing, they don't need a sign they know already.