Greece with Keeley

For a while, all Keeley could talk about was going to Greece.  We never did get a straight answer as to why, seemingly all of a sudden she MUST find herself wandering the Greek islands and street, but she has always been our little travel seeker, so for Christmas we decided to give her ONE gift.... a trip to Greece.  A couple of you are wondering what this has to do with the 50 in 50 goal, and trying to figure if you accidentally clicked the wrong link, so if this describes you and/or you are more interested to read about running things, please click here to read the latest blog about the latest half marathon in Virginia Beach.

In thinking about how I might type this blog, I thought it might be best for all of us if I write a brief overview and then show some pictures... you know, 1 picture = 1000 words and all.

Several great things happened on this trip and several things that did not turn out the way we had planned, however I believe the time spent with with my daughter is and will remain a priceless and irreplaceable bit of quality time that will forever be a significantly more valuable and longer lasting gift than another other gift (large or small) that we could have gotten for her.

Great food, wonderful people, missed flights, LOOOOOOONG flights, boring and annoying unannounced stays in the airport, extra hotel rooms, significant $ wasted, beautiful scenery, good weather, not so great weather, jet lag, time zone issues, more great food, fun tours, delays, delays, delays, rich culture and history, more great food, tremendous hospitality, more long flight, more waiting in the airport, cancelled flights and sleep deprivation all made for an incredible and memorable trip.  I hope you enjoy the photos.  Uploading all of these photos had its challenges, so the order is not exactly chronological, but I still think the picture is painted fairly well.  My opinion:  the experience is better than the book, and the book is better than the movie.  Just an obscure and random metaphor for my enjoyment.

Virginia Beach, VA

Piggy-backed on the end of a trip to Greece with Keeley was the Yuengling Shamrock Half Marathon.  A fair number of you will have no interest in the race, but would rather read about our trip to Greece, so if you are only interested in the Greece trip, but wandered into this race recap, you can access the Greece blog entry by clicking here.

As I mentioned, this race was tacked on the back of a trip to Greece.  I was a bit mal-nourished and a bit jet-lagged and a bit sleep-deprived.  Otherwise, I was feeling good and hoping for a good race.  It took us a good 32 hours to get from Greece to Virginia, but we had time enough to get a decent pre-race meal and a good night's sleep.  My body had no clue what time it was nor even what day it was, but I was feeling relatively rested and I was properly hydrated.

We had a no-frills trip to the expo.  Actually, I swung by the expo on my way from the airport.  I had the Uber driver drop me off at the expo and drop Keeley off at the hotel.  I walked in, got my race packet and shirt, walked out and ran 2 miles to the hotel.  Keeley waited there for me.  We checked in to our room and went to lunch.  Keeley had eyed a waffle and pancake joint and wanted to eat there, but it was closing, so we took the recommendation of the now off duty employee who said the pizza place next door was tasty.  Truth be told, it WAS good.  I had the lasagna and Keeley had a calzone.  Both were quite good.  We went back to the room and watched a movie.  There was a tiny little section of the nearby souvenir shop that was dedicated to "groceries", that is beer and snacks.  I bought some pop tarts for breakfast the next morning and a small bag of cookies for dessert.  Our bodies were all mixed-up so we did not even eat dinner.  I went to bed early ~ 9:00pm to get a good night's sleep.

It was chilly when I got up.  I ate my pop tarts and made sure my pre-race potty routine was complete.  I completed my Bible study and got myself ready for the start of the race.

I was super excited to have my support team there with me to encourage me and assist me in preparing for my race.

It was a beautiful day in Virginia, although a bit windy and a bit chilly.  I waited in the hotel lobby until 15 min prior to the race start.. not wanting to brave the cold until I absolutely had to.  I just stood there and watched the hoards of people walking to the start.  The hotel was only three streets away from the start, so it was a quick and easy walk.  These pictures were taken from our hotel room.  The lighted path is actually the race path at the end of the race, right about mile 13.... but well before the race start. 

I was situated in corral 1, so I was right up front and did not have to fight with anyone.  The fastest pace group was 1:35 and was being paced by Meb Keflezighi.  I figured that I would not be able to keep pace with him because of the jet-lag and the other excuses I mentioned earlier, so I resigned myself to being behind his group.   It was a larger than normal group because so many people wanted to run with him.  The race started right on time and I was ready to get started so that I could get warm.  The race itself was nice and flat.  There were some very minor inclines throughout, but nothing that even resembled a hill.  I was happy for that.   As I was running along, I was feeling pretty good.  I was running about 7:10, give or take.  Right about mile 2 some girl calling herself Sonia ran up from behind me and hung on my side for about a half mile, then announced that her name was Sonia and her plan was to run this pace for 6 miles and then "see what happens".  I told her that this was the pace I was planning on maintaining, so if she wanted this pace, then I would be right there with her.  I generally like to run alone, but did not mind a partner who might encourage me to keep pace.  She started to speed up a bit and showed no remorse for breaking her stated goal, nor any concern whether or not I would keep up with her.  I pointed out that we had caught the 1:35 pace group and she muttered something and sped up to run with them  For a period of about 2-3 miles, I passed the 1:35 group and stayed ahead of them.  They eventually caught me, but I hung out behind them for 9 miles.  At that point I started to struggle.  My pace went from 7:15-7:20 to 8:11... as you can see.


I watched them get farther and farther away from me until I could no longer see them.  Recognizing the finish was getting closer, I picked back up a bit and finished 1:38:36.   Not too bad... I was not too disappointed.

The fan support was quite good.  There were lots of cheering people with all sorts of signs, there was a large military presence.  I am not certain if they were working the event or if they were guarding something that we were running around, but there were soldiers posted all over the course.The last stretch of the race was along the beach on a paved path that was lined with people cheering.


I had picked up the pace a little, so I was no longer getting passed by everybody, but was running along pretty much by myself, until I picked-off two people that had previously passed me.  The finishing announcer pronounced my name right and I was happy to be finished.  I looked for Keeley at the finish, but I could not seem to find her.  I imagined that she was still in the bed, but we just missed each other with all of the people around, so I went back to the room and got myself cleaned up.  In all it was a good race and I enjoyed it.  I got pretty tired and tanked a bit around mile 9-11, but rallied back to finish.  I forgot to mention the post race meal was at Repeal Bourbon and Burgers.  It was super good... then Keely and I went tourist shopping for the family.  If we came back empty handed from Greece and Virginia, they may not have let us back in the house.

Virginia, state number 35 complete.  Next weekend is the next race in Kansas.  The Wicked Half Marathon in Wamego, Kansas.  Wish me luck.