Newport, RI

State #28

Newport, Rhode Island

My family simply loves to travel.  Keeley, in particular, like her mom, just wants to go everywhere she has never been.  So, a race in every state is particularly appealing to each of my travel loving family members.  I have whined on my blogs in the past about the expense associated with this venture.  Well, when you add other people to the expense list, the fee increases geometrically.  For instance, had I been by myself I would have likely had a very inexpensive lunch at a local restaurant or gas station.  I am fairly simple and do not need a lot of "fancy".  Once Keeley gets involved in the trip, the lunch goes from the $3 gas station sandwich to the 20 minute trip to the fancy yacht club, Castle Hill, Lunch on the Lawn.  A 20 minute, one way trip, a valet parking fee (tip), and $24 fish tacos.    A $4.00 glass of tea, ONE!!!.  No refills.  And an $8.00 small bowl of french fries.  .... A wonderful afternoon lunch with my daughter..... priceless!!

We actually had a nice afternoon.  It was really all kinds of snooty.  Our waiter was named Harrison.  He looked like the snooty, rich kid who had gotten into enough trouble for sitting at home playing video games well into his twenties, still living at home, that his grand parents threatened to cut him out of the will -- while still maintaining his trust fund -- unless he got out of the house and got himself a job... and since we have connections at the yacht club, you can go to work there and we can come and see you for Sunday brunch and twice during the week when we entertain our friends at our special table in the corner near the water where we can best see the ships passing by and wave to our snooty friends.  

People actually were wearing sweaters tied around their necks with shorts and boat shoes.  It was fairly comical.  As we were waiting for our $4 iced tea, a couple was seated at the table next to us.  Well, the gentleman sat down, but the lady immediately stated... and I am quoting, "Oh, this will never do."  Even before she was seated, she was concerned that she would not be able to push her seat back far enough for her comfort level because of the mobile sun umbrella.  Her husband immediately jumped into action and began to move the table for her -- closer to us.  Harrison was also swift to action -- well, swift for Harrison anyway.  He lowered the umbrella and moved it out of the way.  This allowed Mrs. Snooty-Pants (I am certain there was a hyphen in her name) to be bathed adequately in the appropriate amount of sunlight, so that she could remove her sweater from her neck while she enjoyed her luncheon.  Her husband then asked, and I am quoting again, "Is this OK for you now sweetheart?" The view was spectacular and the fish tacos were tasty.  My single glass of tea was.... tea, and the fries were deep fried potatoes.  We sat and talked about college and Med school and SAT's and a couple other Father-Daughter type topics, all-the-while day-dreaming about living in the beautiful castle-esque home across the water on what they call horse head island.  Keeley has decided that she wants a mansion and a yacht and a helicopter.  Speaking of mansions, we also visited the Vanderbilt mansion, The Breakers.  We laughed and laughed at the tourists and also the snooty people.   I noticed on this trip that Keeley is very much like me in many ways.  She is also very much like her mother in many ways.  It was fun to see these aspects of her personality.  Ya just can't replace the time spent on trips like this where I get undivided attention.  She even put her phone down from time to time and did not check her Snap-Snap account for 10 minutes.  I felt super privileged.  Here are a few pics of The Breakers for your enjoyment. -- and there are plenty more where these came from.

Oh, and speaking of helicopters, what quick half marathon trip with your daughter would be complete without a sunset helicopter ride (although the clouds rolled in a bit and we did not really see a sunset)... but we were able to cruise around, basically the entire state of Rhode Island and see lots of beautiful castles and mansions and light houses and bridges and World War II bunkers, etc... It was also a good time -- Can you see the geometric increase in the cost of this trip?

For those of you who are wondering, YES... there was a race associated with this posh vacation.  We arrived late on Friday evening into Boston.  I had tried for three days to get a rental car and ALL of the sites and the phone calls to the rental car agencies informed us that there were no cars available.  They were SOLD OUT.  I honestly did not know that was possible.  But, I kept trying, and trying and trying.  I finally found a website called ebookings.com  and they allowed me to book a rental car with National.  I was a bit hesitant because I was on the airport wifi in Tampa on my phone booking a rental car when all of the cars are clearly sold out, from a company that is based in the UK and PREPAYING for the rental with my credit card in British Pounds.  What the heck am I thinking?  Anyway, we walked up to the counter and she found my reservation with no problem, tapped feverishly on her computer keyboard for an inordinate amount of time and handed me the paperwork and said, your car is waiting for you upstairs, hand this to the attendant and have a nice evening.  We walked upstairs -- We took the escalator -- handed the attendant the paperwork. He said, and I was flabbergasted at this point, "pick any car you want from the cars on your left, and have a nice evening."  There must have been 50 cars to choose from.  We even had trouble deciding what we wanted to drive.  Why then did all of the info suggest they were all sold out????????

So, we got a car and made it to our hotel room.  We were staying about 200 yards from the race start/finish. Not quite The Breakers, but adequate for our needs. 

The next morning we started with a nice breakfast at a local joint.  FLAPJACKS!!  It was so good.  I did not finish my flapjacks, but I saved them for breakfast for race morning.

 Then from breakfast, we went out to the tourist things I've already mentioned, with the exception of our walk on the beach.... shown here.

  

And we went to the packet pickup after our beach walk.  

The flapjacks were still weighing very heavy on me, and then the fish tacos put us over the top.  For dinner... I'm not gonna tell you what Keeley had for dinner, but I had a protein bar and a banana.  She went crazy, but we are not telling her mom... so... shhhhhhhhh!!!!

Race morning started at 4:00 am.  I got up to eat the remainder of my pancakes, do my Bible study and get myself moving, so that I could get all the bathroom routine out of the way prior to the race.  I am happy to report that it was all successful and I made my way out to the race start at 6:45am.  The race was scheduled to start at 7:30am, but there was a 7:00am 50 states group photo scheduled.   I had to rush back to the room because I realized that I had forgotten my nip guards.  If you don't know what they are, I am gonna spare you the details.  If you do know what those are, then you will understand that it was a cloudy and humid/muggy day, so they were necessary.  I am sooo glad I went back for them.  (Truth is, I believed I have blogged about this topic previously, so if you REALLY wanna know, you can look back at some earlier blogs --- toward the beginning.)

I had a pretty decent race.  I did PR.  1:38:47

Each of the mile splits were sub 8:00 and mile two was 6:50.  I did slow-up a bit around miles 10-12 or so, but not as much as last week.  So, I am happy with my performance, I enjoyed the race and the vacation and my time with my daughter.  Maybe these trips are worth-while after all.

  Next race is in two weeks in Des Moines, Iowa.  I will be alone on this one, because who can afford all of that?  It will be a quicky in and out as I go to Seattle a week later.... then stop off and run in St. Louis on the way home.  Wish me luck.