Philly to Philly - Rooning Around: # 3/10 Hands on House Half Marathon, Lancaster, PA

I don't mean to start diving into earlier in the week for these blog entries, but I have to tell you that me and the Big Yellow Monster went to Phillies Game on Wednesday, and we saw them clinch the NL East (we've seen it twice now out of three years), and it was awesome.

So Moving onto the Half, I took the 4:45 Keystoner from 30th street to Lancaster, where Todd picked me up and took me to a great pasta dinner thanks to his friends Andy and Sandy. We made a quick stop at the Lancaster Brewing Company for a pint before heading to his folks house to stay the night.

30th street station, Philadelphia

Just a 75 mile train ride to Lancaster Brewing Company

Milk Stout and Octoberfest

Despite warnings of rain, the morning cleared up and by the time we arrived at the race it was sunny and clear. The race helps raise money for the Hands on House Children's Museum, "a not-for-profit educational center whose mission is to create and provide interactive learning opportunities for all children and their families".

We meet up with Andy and Sandy once again since Andy was also running, got loose, and went to the start.

The gun went off and before long I was pleasantly surprised that I was moving along at a decent clip without too much effort, despite the fact that I was slowing down to take pictures of other runners, scenery, cows, horses, and a dog who also ran the half. The scenery is great, but let me tell you, its miles of rolling farmland with very little distraction. Its a mentally challenging run. The other challenge came after the turnaround when I realized i was moving along so well on the way out because I was in fact going downhill. The uphills are steep at times, but really just long slow gradual climbs. This is a tough race, but well worth the effort. I'm hoping it helped to put some strength into my legs for the halfs ahead... Congrats to Andy for placing 2nd in his age group and to Todd for finishing 4th and crushing his time goal despite all the hills on his comeback race after fighting a tough battle of his own over the past year.

Tood and I headed back to Philly in the Canyonero and moved some stuff from his old place to his new house, before meeting up with BYM, K, and Mikey for some food and pints at St. Stephen on the Green in Fairmount.

Me, Todd, and Andy

Running past Lancaster PA cornfields

and Cows.

Check out this guy.

Dog running the half. He beat me.

Lancaster Farmhouse. Check out the runners in the foreground.

Me, BYM, K, Todd and Mikey at St Stephens in Fairmount.

BYM and I didn't stay out too late, she had the Bassman Triathlon and me and Kodiak Superstar had pre-race support duties, so the 3 of us got up at 4:30 AM and drove through the fog to Bass River State Park in NJ Sunday morning. We all had a great morning, and then Kody took a long nap while Melanie and I finished up the weekend right where we started... at the Ballpark, for Fan Appreciation day and the final regular season game of the 2008 World Series, 2009 NL East, champs.

The Big Yellow Monster. My amazing, strong, resilient girlfriend Melanie who took 24th overall, was the 7th female, and placed 3rd in an extremely competitive age group in the BassMan Triathlon. By the way, this was despite a tough recovery from a serious bike accident involving numerous bone, rib, and skull fractures, some brain injury rehab, and collarbone surgery among other things just 3 months prior.