1,000th Post - My 2015 Running Year in Review

When I realized my last post was #999, I knew my next post had to be a good one. It's simply amazing to me that I am currently writing my 1,000th post on this blog. I am so grateful for all of the amazing opportunities that have come my way over the three years and never once do I take anything for granted.

I am dedicating my 1,000th post to my 2015 running year in review. This year has been a little different than 2014, where I went out of control and did too many races which nearly burned me out. I made the decision to run fewer races this year and focus on experiences such as racecations. While I only completed 5 races in 2015, 2 were in other states and 1 was out of the country - less medals isn't such a bad thing when you had an Epic racecation year.

January 
2015 runDisney Walt Disney World Marathon

The 2015 Walt Disney World Marathon was my 4th 26.2. I had run this marathon in 2014 as part of the Dopey Challenge and when my best friend Keri stated she wanted to run her first full marathon, I knew this would be the one for us. We had an amazing time and this was my first (and only) marathon running with a friend. My Mom even met us at mile 25 so we could cross the finish line with a glass of Moet Champagne.

2015 Rock n Roll New Olreans Half Marathon

Two weeks following the Disney marathon, my husband and I headed up to run the Rock n Roll New Orleans Half Marathon where we had the opportunity to run by the exact spot we said "I Do" 4 months prior. I went on a cruise with my best friend the week prior to the RNR Half and I was exhausted from our girls trip (too many cosmos). I nearly considered cancelling our trip to NOLA all together. During the race, I had a full fledge a melt-down. This was my first time where I seriously considered a DNF. I was hurting all over and started crying mid-way through the race. However we pushed through and finished. Afterwards, I reflected on the experience and what I would do different next time (not do back to back races with a 4 night cruise in between). At the end, I would've been pretty pissed at myself if I DNF. I'm not a quitter. This helped me grow as a runner.

February 
runDisney Princess Half Marathon  

In 2012, I ran my first 5K during the Princess Half Marathon weekend with my co-worker Nicole. We decided to celebrate our accomplishments by running the 2015 Princess Half Marathon as rebels - we didn't dress up as princesses. We had an absolute blast at this race and it brought back so many memories. I recall that day in 2012, when we both so nervously started our 5K. Neither of us ever imagined being where we were today. Nicole has ran Dopey twice (while I was a one and done) and between the two of us, we have accomplished more than we ever thought were possible. I've recently noticed so much negativity around the runDisney events and this saddens me. I owe everything to them. If it weren't for the amazing races Disney puts on, I would've never signed up for my first race and would surely not be a multi marathon runner.

March
Rock n Roll DC Half Marathon

The Rock n Roll DC Half Marathon was my first full rain running event. While the 2014 NYC Marathon had awful weather, the DC race was non-stop rain. While the weather was not on our side, both my husband and I fell in love with this event. This is one event we will try to return to in 2015. The course was so much fun and it was great running through the Nations Capitol.

Summer 2015
ASICS Ambassador

After a year of working with ASICS on a non-official level, I finally got the invite to become one of 16 bloggers who were chosen to be the first class of ASICS America's ambassadors. This is such an amazing opportunity and l have a hard time believing I am part of this team. I feel honored each and every day to represent a company I love. I am not a speedy runner. I am not the strongest runner. Yet they believed in me.....and my 15 ASICS besties :)

October 2015
The Dublin Marathon

I completed my 5th Marathon which was also my first international race in October - the Dublin Marathon. This was an amazing once in a lifetime opportunity thanks to ASICS who became their apparel sponsor in 2015. We had an incredible time in Ireland and have memories that will last a lifetime.

On a side note, since starting this blog in 2012, I have completed over 30 running events. 5 Full Marathons and 13 Half Marathons. It's hard for me to fathom. When I started this blog, I had only one 5K under my belt. If I have one piece of advice for anyone, it is your body can do anything your heart desires. Thank you for sticking with me over the last 1,000 posts :) Here's to many great memories to come.

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That time we stayed in a Castle - Ballyseede Castle Ireland

There was one thing I insisted on during our Ireland trip - that we spend at least one night in a Castle. I did more research on Castles in Ireland than any other part of our trip and found the Ballyseede Castle in Tralee fit our driving agenda perfectly. It is located about 45 minutes outside of the Ring of Kerry and this is where we had the most comfortable night of our trip.

The Ballyseede Castle was built in the 1950's and was set on 30 acres and was jaw dropping elegant. If there was one thing I wish we did different on this trip, it would have been staying an extra night here. We have traveled to Europe twice and I can tell you, they lack in comfortable beds. However, the Ballyseede Castle had the most comfortable bed we have stayed during any trip - it contends with those in luxury US hotels.

Upon walking in, you were greeted with chandeliers, fireplaces and multiple sitting rooms. You couldn't help but to think of the history and secrets the walls of this building holds.

We were graciously upgraded to a Superior Castle Room, one of the largest rooms in the castle. Ours was the Yeats Room which offered a four poster bed, large bay window overlooking the garden (hi ponies and donkey's!)

The Castle offered many amenities so instead of exploring the town of Tralee, we happily stayed put, living like a royal. Ballyseede castle has two restaurants and a bar. Pappy's Bar was opened until midnight the night we were there and two resident dogs were the hit of night. We made reservations at the two AA Rosette Awarded O'Connell Restaurant, which was our only elegant dinner of the whole trip.

The O'Connell Restaurant offered a choice of a two course dinner for 35 euro or a 5 course dinner for 50 euro. You were able to pick any of the courses and when I inquired, they were full sized entrees. No way we could put down 5 courses each so we opted for the two courses, I got a starter and entree while Gabe got an entree and dessert.

My starter was a Pan Fried field mushroom with a warm soft poached egg. It was delicious and I devoured it. There was a nice red wine puree which was an excellent flavor element. Other starter choices were: Tiger Prawns and Crayfish cocktail, Homemade Chicken Liver Parfait or Baked Dingle Bay Crab.

I was very excited to see they had half bottles of wine on the menu. Gabe was still under the weather and didn't want to drink any alcohol. The half bottle was perfect for me, and I had a little left to take upstairs after dinner!

We both opted for the Pan Fried Fillet of Local Kerry Beef with cracked black pepper and chive cream sauce, candied shallot and a truffle dressed salad. The filet was perfect cooked medium rare and was accompanied by steamed local vegetables (we had brocolli, potatoes, cauliflower, carrots and baby corn). This was a good dish but I wish one of us would have tried something else, the choices being Pan Fried filet of salmon, Half Roasted honey glazed confit of duck (what I wish we would have tried along with the beef), Pan Fried fillet of Roast Hake.

For Dessert, we had to get the Ireland specialty Warm Sticky Toffee Pudding with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. If you like Toffee, you would love this. Our other options were: Creme Brulee, Strawberry and Meringue or Baked Bitter Dark Chocolate Tartlet.

Overall we were impressed with the meal. It was a bit pricey with wine and soda ($100+ euro) but we knew going into this dinner that we would be spending about that.

The following morning, we were had breakfast in the Stone Room Restaurant. We had a fresh cooked hot breakfast and a breakfast buffet, all included in the cost of our room. That made up for the cost of dinner being most of the hotels were charging at least 10 euro a person for breakfast. Following breakfast, a couple came up to me to let me know they also ran the Dublin Marathon. I was wearing my ASICS Dublin Jacket and they were doing the exact opposite trip from us!

I would strongly suggest staying at Ballyseede Castle if you find yourself in Ireland. Drive the Ring of Kerry and end your day here.

On a side note, I learned that the Ballyseede Castle is haunted! It was named one of the top 10 haunted castle hotels in Europe. Here's the story :)

Ballyseede Castle has been referred to as one of the most “exquisite” castle hotels in the Ireland – and with very good reason. The bedrooms at the castle are decorated in an elegant, period style with views across the castle grounds. Ballyseede was originally occupied by the Earls of Desmond, but because they didn’t swear their allegiance to the crown, wars broke out that were known as the Geraldine Wars. The wars came to an end when the 16th Earl of Desmond was beheaded and his head displayed at London Bridge. Step into the castle and you’ll be surprised at the splendour – especially if you know about its grizzly history.

Ballyseede is said to still be haunted by the ghosts of previous landlords of the hotel – it seems that they are still fighting for ownership of the castle, even in death. One ghost in particular, Hilda, is said to appear every year on March 24th. The first year that Hilda appeared, in 1998, the guests that were staying at the castle fled the hotel in fright, and they were last seen in a local library asking for a book on ghosts as they had “seen a spirit”.

However, it seems that the ghost of Hilda has changed – before 1998, it was said that Hilda was a friendly ghost, not known to show any malevolence towards guests. Guests at the hotel throughout the years have also reported hearing strange bangs and thuds in the middle of the night with no apparent explanation, whilst one previous worker at the hotel has reported seeing a wardrobe banging and crashing in a room that he was working in – and he refused to ever go back into the room again.

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Giants Causeway, Carrick a Rede, Dunluce Castle and Belfast

On our second day in Dublin, the ASICS team had a field trip to Northern Ireland. We visited some incredible places on a full day tour.

Carrick-A-Rede

Our first destination on the tour was a visit to Carrick-A-Rede, a famous rope bridge near Ballintoy in Northern Ireland. If you are a Games of Thrones fan, this was teh dramatic spot chosen for Renly Baratheon's Camp in season 2. It is where CatelynStark agreed to a treaty with Renley on behalf of her son Robb.

The Carrick-A-Rede bridge links the mainland to the tiny island which spans 66 ft and is 98 ft above the rocks below. The original Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge was first erected by salmon fishermen in 1755. I had grand visions of taking a selfie on this bridge but chickened out.

Looking down

Giant's Causeway
The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption during the Paleogene Period, around 50 to 60 million years ago. According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant.

Dunluce Castle
Time for more "As seen on" Game of Thrones. The Dunluce Castle represents House of Greyjoy, ruler of the Iron Islands. This castle is a now-ruined castle on the edge of a basalt built in the late middle ages and 17th century.

Belfast

Our last stop on the tour was to Belfast, the capitol of Northern Ireland. The town is the birthplace of Titanic and features the Titanic Belfast Museum. We were so exhausted from a mix of jet lag and hiking all afternoon, that we found ourselves at Starbucks.

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Marathon #5: The Dublin Marathon Recap

Hello!

We got back from Dublin late last night. I have so many travel recaps to share with you but first I want to recap the Dublin Marathon. It's crazy to think this was my fifth full marathon with yesterday being the two year anniversary weekend of my first full (2013 NYC Marathon). Early in 2015, ASICS became the apparel sponsor of the Dublin Marathon which granted me the once in a lifetime opportunity to run the event. I don't feel I could ever show ASICS enough gratitude.

The Dublin Marathon was an entirely different experience for me which overall made me grow as a runner. I did not get near the time I was hoping for but refuse to dwell on that. Instead I will learn from mistakes I made during training and become a stronger person. I had an epiphany at some point during the 26.2 and my entire outlook on running is different.

The day before the race, the group headed over to the expo. Three of us were running; myself, Emily from Rodale and Melinda from ASICS. Emily's a rockstar by the way - she was featured in Runners World for running two marathons in one week in two different countries. We quickly made our way to the ASICS booth where I purchased a Dublin Marathon coffee mug and we all got jackets.

Inside our packets were some interesting items. Mayonnaise, nonalcoholic beer, a safety vest were at the top three of eyebrow raising interest. We did receive a Dublin Marathon branded portable charger (best welcome packet present ever). However, no shirt was in the packet. We learned that we receive the shirts upon crossing the finish line. I LOVE this. I know many people have different opinions on race day shirts but I am one who refuses to wear it until after I actually completed the event. It drives me bananas seeing people wearing "I Did It" shirts 3 days prior to the event.

The day before the marathon, I carb-loaded all day. My Step-Dad's sister Leslie happened to be in Dublin with her boyfriend Tony who was also running the race. It was amazing seeing family in a different country!

We went for Ramen which became my go to pre-race meal of choice in 2014.

That night, we met up with the Team ASICS crew and carb-loaded as a team at a restaurant named Toscana. The restaurant was right outside of the famous Temple Bar district.

We made it an early night and I had no problems falling asleep. My nerves were non-existent and the only issue I had was waking up every hour, thinking I overslept the alarm clock. The weather forecast was 100% rain and windy. Not my first rodeo with this type of weather!

Race Day:
I met Melinda and Emily bright and early in the lobby. We headed off for the start line and here is where my day started falling apart.....
1. I didn't have coffee - for over two years, I have never ran without coffee in my system.
2. I spilled half of my pre-workout drink
3. NO MUSIC. I got a iphone 6S the weekend prior to leaving for Dublin. I forgot to make my marathon play list available offline on Spotify and ATT international does not work - at all.
4. I don't typically run with a Garmin and didn't think to bring one being I had no access to wifi for Map my Run. I had no idea what pace I was running.

The race started and the two speedsters took off. In the first mile, I was already in my head. The first three miles were pretty much awful as nothing but negative thoughts were in my mind. That's when forced myself to snap out of it. I am in Dublin.

So what if this is going to be a quiet 26.2 miles.....You're in DUBLIN.  SMILE. That's more like it. Where is everyone else?!

Around mile 6, I had an emotional breakdown. I passed a group of people running for Childhood Cancer and I became a blubbering mess. My 2 year old Cousin Lana lost her battle with Cancer in September. From that point forward, every time I wanted to quit, I thought of Lana and dedicated each remaining mile to her.

We ran through many of the cities landmarks. We spent a great deal of time around Phoenix Park, including the Dublin Zoo. It was in the park that I realized my audible had one book downloaded on it. I started The Glitter Plan: How We Started Juicy Couture by Pamely Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor.

The water stops threw me off on this race. Instead of handing out cups of water and electrolyte drinks, they handed runners full size bottles of water and sports drinks. Going through water stations was like a water bottle war-zone since people were taking one sip out of their bottle and throwing it. Knowing ahead of time that they had fewer water stops than I am accustom to, I brought my water belt. Smartest idea ever.

This time of year in Dublin was gorgeous. The leaves were changing but it was still very green. The contrast of colors were almost blinding at times. Everyone told me that this was a flat course. Not so much. While it wasn't the hilliest course I have ran, there were absolutely some inclines.

It was surreal running through certain parts of this course. The history, the buildings, the landscape....absolutely gorgeous. There's a castle back there, I promise.

There were quite a few runners dressed up. I saw people in minion costumes, clowns (gah) and more. My favorite had to be the guy dressed up as Marty McFly in a Delorean. You win Mr.

See all the water bottles? Around mile 10, I was over that book. I had switched to doing Galloway's run/walk method and was maintaining what I thought to be a good pace but I had no concept and wished for my Garmin. This is when I ran into another American named Jennifer who had just finished the Twin Cities Marathon two weeks prior. She was hurting and I needed someone to help make this race go by faster.

Jennifer and I made quick friends. We made each other laugh, pushed each other when we wanted to quit. Two strangers quickly became each others support system. It was raining and being I had no music, I had no reason for my phone to be out. I didn't take any photos for the rest of the race. Plus the second half of the race was very residential and there wasn't a ton to look at. We did make frequent jokes about stopping at a pub for a pint.

During the last half of the race, I saw two people running with Gasparilla shirts. For those not familiar with Gasparilla, it's a large Tampa based race that happens in February. I stopped both, one was from Orlando. The other was from Tampa and lives 2 miles from me. Here I am in a foreign country and finding people in walking distance from my house.

At mile 23 Jennifer decided to run the last three miles in. With all the walking we did, my body wasn't having that so I maintained 1/1 Galloway Splits. Steve, the runner from Tampa and I finished the race together and just like that, 26.2 miles is over. Time to celebrate!

After a celebratory dinner, we did what any crazy marathon finishers would do.....

What I learned from my first international race: Expect the unexpected and double check everything.

• Have a backup for your backup plan. Don't assume anything and be sure you have what you need in order for race day. 
• Make sure your music is downloaded
• Bring zip-lock bags for your snacks, phones, etc.
• Have a Marathon recovery kit on hand. While there were pharmacy's on nearly every corner, they don't have the same products that the US carries. I was thankful to have my Advil PM for the night after the race.
• Remember where you are. If you start getting negative, embrace your surroundings.
• Train harder (don't ignore your coach)
• Stop comparing yourself to others

It was truly a once in a lifetime experience. I cannot thank ASICS enough. Not only did I get to run my first international race through a really amazing place, my husband and I fell in love with Ireland and are currently trying to figure out how to win the power ball so we can retire early and move there. #agirlcandream. 

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