Lex Vegas!

Hello, New World!

This weekend, I visited a new city, ran a half marathon, and generally basked in glorious merriment with one of my BEST friends, Marisa.

AND... to top off my weekend... today is the first official day of Spring Break 2015.

I say official because I started off spring break a little early with the stomach flu. I started feeling pretty icky on Wednesday evening, and couldn't make it through our training run, despite the gorgeous weather. So, I barely ate dinner, I went to bed early, and woke up Thursday morning at around 6 almost unable to stand up. Full blown stomach flu. Double Dragon. 'Nuff said. I had to call for a sub that very minute, and I HATE doing that. Nothing worse than feeling physically awful and THEN having to worry about a substitute. Thank GOD I have an amazing team that I teach with, and they were gracious enough to pick up the pieces of my scrambled lesson plans. I spent the rest of the day fading in and out of consciousness. Literally. Didn't leave bed until about 6pm, when I scratched out some more crappy lesson plans, showered, forced myself to stay awake until Heffe got home from class (okay, until Heffe WALKED IN THE DOOR from class at 9:30), and passed out again until Friday morning at 7am. I already had Friday scheduled as a personal day to travel for said weekend merriment, which was a blessing, given the horrific timing of sickness. Ugh. Talk about a physically and emotionally exhausting 24 hours. Every time I woke up from the sickness coma, I had anxiety about not being able to travel for said merriment with Marisa.

Meesie and I have had this trip planned for MONTHS. She is a crazier runner than me, and found this random but amazing race (Run the Bluegrass), and then convinced me and her running club buddies to do it with her. In fact, I can remember the exact day she convinced me- I signed up for Run the Bluegrass AND the Flying Pig Marathon on the same night. She cray.

Run the Bluegrass is a relatively new race, this only being its 5th year of existence. It is in Lexington, and begins and ends at the legendary Keeneland Race Track. The race takes you through the (not so) rolling hills of private horse farms. The online pictures were beautiful, and even though I knew the hills would be tough, I had months to train for it, and I'd be up for the challenge! 

Enter God laughing at my plans.

So when I woke up on Friday morning, I was determined to at least get to Lexington to support Marisa and her running group. I took my time, and pulled my life together, and kept telling myself that I need to at least make it to downtown, I need to at least make it to the "Hell is Real" billboards, I need to at least make it to the outlet malls... etc... until I got to Marisa's house in Independence, KY. I made it! Woohoo! It was like slow motion running... except I was woozy and I was hobbling.. but I finally made it! Meesie and I don't get to see each other too often, and that first moment was all kinds of Disney music and fireworks. :) We did a quick tour of her house (since we figured out it had been 4 FREAKING YEARS since I'd been there... some friend I am...), loaded up her car, and made our way to Lexington! (By the by, on our way, we passed the Big Bone Lick State Park... and immediately had to google Sugartit, KY... but that's a blog for another day!)

So we made our way to the race expo, and I swear, my heart pulled me through the entire building. As soon as we stepped inside and saw the medals we would EARN the next day, something went off inside me and I forgot for a few minutes that I was feeling sick. Walking through the expo, collecting my bib, seeing all my fellow runners... I haven't been in a "race" since .... I can't even remember and I missed that feeling of "yeah I'm kind of a bad ass and you all freaking know it!!!!" :) 

After the expo, we checked into our hotel, and took naps. Me, because just as quick as I forgot I was sick, I remembered I was. Meese, because girlfriend loves her some naps! Some things don't change, and I love that!!! :) But in our defense, when the hotel is this cute and cozy, how could we NOT take naps?

 The hotel bar! Super cute.

 See the horseshoes? Do the horses wear horse socks? Is anybody listening to me? 

Not entirely sure we were allowed to go upstairs, but we did anyway!! #cantstopwontstop

Once we were recharged, we reviewed the race details, and grabbed a bite to eat at a downtown Lexington restaurant called, Saul Good. :) Can't make this up. Not only was this my first full meal since Wednesday at lunch, our server talked us into EACH getting a pizza, and thus, the Double Decker Pizza was born.

 Neese and Meese. :) 

 Victory Golden Monkey Banana Whatever 9.5% Beer for Meesie!

This is the stuff dreams are made of. 

 Double Decker Pizza. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Obviously, we did not finish either, and then promptly went back to the hotel. After a quick nightcap, we hit the sack early. We had places to be in the morning!!

Reason number a million why I loved this race... it started at 9!!!! Most races begin during the 6 or 7 am hours... not this one! Amazing.

So amazing, in fact, that it was STILL 20 degrees when we started. Hello, Kentucky... it's the end of March. Stop snowing, and start pumping that southern heat already! Besides the entire feet freezing and not being able to feel our feet until mile 3... it was a pleasant experience! ;) 

Here we are with Meesie's running pals, the Tristate Running Club!

The start line!!! Can't you just hear the pounding beat and AC/DC's "Thunderstruck"????? Always a good adrenaline kick!!!!!

About mile 3.... holding strong! This was also one of the ugliest spots on the course... and it's still not even that bad!!!! So pretty. Glad we had such amazing scenery to take our minds of how badly our legs were burning!....

(disregard the screen shot) 

I'm glad we saw this elevation chart AFTER the race... we clearly had no idea what we were in for!!! Think of those back country hills that make your tummy woozy and a little car sick... yup. That's what we ran!! For 13.1 miles!!!! It was hands down, the TOUGHEST race I've ever done.

I've said it once, and I'll say it a MILLION times, running is like 2% physical ability, and 98% mind games. This race was a legit half marathon... but it was really just another run during marathon training. How freaking crazy are we. Why, yes, I'd LOVE to self-induce more panic and anxiety than humanly necessary and register for an actual RACE with other people and logistics to work out, when I could easily run this weekend at my own pace and on a trail I know and love. So throughout the entire 13.1 miles, I kept thinking... "well, shit, Sciato, you ran 20 miles last week, this should be a CAKEWALK. You have 13 miles again next weekend when you are traveling again, followed by 20. Do NOT let these hills get in your head... but maybe you should tell Meese and her girls to go ahead and beast mode through this hill and you'll catch up on the down side... NO DON'T VERBALLY GIVE UP... You can make it one more hill... Don't verbally give up... Don't verbally give up... Holy mother my legs are burning but you can see the top of the hill.... Breathe.... breathe.... 'And I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more just to be the....heavy breathing... heavy breathing..... LOTTA VODKA......LOTTA VODKA.......and pizza wine and chocolate and more.....".... 13.1 miles of mind games. But....

We made it!!!! Sweet victory!!!!!! Look at us go! And Meesie even got a beer!!!!

After we finished shivering and congratulating ourselves for being masters of the universe, we decided it was time to head back to Independence. We stopped for Starbucks, and made our way back to Casa di Himmler. We showered, snuggled her furrbabies, and did what we do... nap. :)

Okay! Powered up and starting to rehydrate! Just in time to get ready and do a WINE TASTING! Okay!!!! We also made our way onto the Kentucky Backwood Wine Trail, and I'm not even mad. I'm impressed. Meese and only 48 hours recovered from Double Dragon Neese did good!

Wine tasting kind of took the wind out of our sails. #runnerprobs #perpetualdehydration And I was still trying to prove to myself I was NOT sick anymore.  We grabbed dinner and went back to Meese's for March Madness. But really, it was March Calmness, as we were asleep within about 30 minutes. :) 

The next morning, we went to ....

This is the restaurant where Marisa and her boo Aaron had their rehearsal dinner. Sunday brunch was just another level of merriment for us. Truly an amazing place. We were lucky enough to have the place almost completely to ourselves before a large party arrived.

 We obviously earned these breakfast cocktails. On the menu, there was an option for "bottomless"... I've got my eye on you for next time, Bottomless Mimosa! 

 My "Best Sandwich" and Meese's biscuits and gravy! nomnomnomnomnomnom

Well, that took me to the part of the weekend where I had to say goodbye to my bestie... so sad. Our time together is never long enough, but man, was this a necessary jump away from normal life! :) 

Marisa, thank you so much for being such a gracious host to a sicky Sciato, and I cannot wait to see you again very soon!!!!!

Until next time, New World, wherever your travels may take you... 
Mine will be taking me on my second spring break trip very soon....... EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

But wherever I am... 

I'll still be here... Just bein me. :) 

Cheers. :)