Sunday, October 10, 2010

Hartford Weekend Away




We are back from a fabulous weekend spent in Hartford, CT with two of our very closest friends, Jen and Brian. 

The recap for your enjoyment

Friday, 10/8/2010

We started the road trip around 10:30am and got all set for a beautiful drive into New England.  (Funny story: I am the WORST known person when it comes to geography and up until we got into the car, I fully believed that Connecticut was located in the midwest.  Needless to say, I was the brunt of many jokes for the first half of the trip)

We googled a place to stop for lunch and found a fun little Mexican place not too far off route. 




One other stop was for so much needed coffee after spending 2 hours in traffic. 



About 3 hours later than we anticipated, we finally arrived at the hotel.  The city was BEAMING with Marathon fever. 



We were all pretty starving by the time we got checked in and cleaned up and decided to hit up the city for dinner.

Luckily, we found a great Italian place that was able to seat us right away.

Jen and I had every intention of carb-o loading, even if our race was only going to be 3 miles.


The menu looked awesome with so many good things to choose from, Jen and I decided to do what we do best in these situations.  Split.

We ordered the Salmon served over a lobster risotto.

And the Shrimp and Gorgonzola Pizza. 

Both dishes were incredible!!  The salmon was cooked perfectly and served over such a delicious risotto emerging with huge lumps of lobster.  And this pizza was some of the best pizza I have ever had.  Bold statement, I know, but I promise I'm not exaggerating. 

For dessert, we split once again. 

Tiramisu. 


Even though we weren't running the full marathon, we sure ate like we were. 

Our bellies were full and ready to go first thing Saturday morning.  



We checked in to get our bibs and headed right to the start line. 

The race was huge.  Over 13,000 runners came out and the entire city basically shut down for this event. 


Jen and I found our spots at the 5k start line and waited for the "Go." 

Jen took off.  She is super fast and even though she offered to stick with me, I told her to go on ahead and try to win something.  I started off strong but it took me a little while until I found my groove.  I was feeling nervous because I hadn't run in a few days and I wasn't sure how my knee would feel, but it actually felt great so I kept running.  After mile 1, I realized I was running a lot faster than I had thought. The course was the hardest course I have ran with major hills on some significant inclines. I really thought I wasn't maintaining my normal 8:30min pace, but when I saw I was at a 7:15mile after mile 1, I realized I was running faster than I thought.


Jen did AWESOME!  She finished around 21 min and placed 2nd in her female age group.  

I came in just under 25 min with my official time of 24:49.  I was so happy to be under the 25 min mark and was even more thrilled to find out that I had placed 6th in my age group and 160th overall out of almost 1000 runners. 



We totally rocked it!

I felt so great about this race.  Even though I was feeling so bummed about pulling myself from the 1/2, in the end, I realized it was the best decision.  I still ran and I ran well and most importantly, I had FUN and went injury free!  This race reminded me every reason as to why I love to run and I'm so happy that I did not seriously do anything to jeopardize me ever running again.

After the race, we all showered and got ready to see more of the city.

We headed in West Hartford to check out a recommended touristy town.

Brian suggested sushi for lunch and we all agreed to that idea.





After lunch, some wine tasting, and shopping, we all came back to the hotel and crashed!  It was fantastic to just sleep in the middle of the day for a few hours.

When we woke up, we were all feeling refreshed and ready for another night in the city.

Cocktail hour!



 For dinner, we chose a recommend Mexican restaurant called Agave.

To start your experience here, they offer table sized gauc making.  Ummmm, yes please!


Toly had never tried guac before (I know, how is this man married to me?!?!) and was surprised at how much he loved it!!

For my meal, I had the scallops. 



And ended the night splitting the Mexican Apple Pie with Toly.  All fantastic!


What a fantastic trip!  We ran, we relaxed, we ate; everything I could ask and more. 

I'm already looking forward to our next trip together and Jen and I have already been scoping out possible race cities for the next one. 

Again, thank you everyone for all of your support well wishes.  I am so blessed to have amazing friends, such a supportive husband, and wonderful people to share my experiences with. 

Love to you all! 



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11 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the amazing race, Lauren!
    Great job :D

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  2. It is so fun to travel with friends! Especially ones that share your interests (running, health & good food!). All your eats look awesome. I love table side guac ...mmm fresh, delicious! And congrats on the race- you both did just awesome.

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  3. congrats on the race!!!

    i had sushi tonight, but yours looks soo much better :)

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  4. Congrats on your time!

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  5. Haha, geography is NOT my thing either, Lauren, I would have been right there with you!!

    Glad to see you had such an awesome time!!! :D

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  6. What a fabulous trip! You four are one group of gorgeous people! I loved seeing the photographs of all the fun you four had together. The food looked amazing (especially that tiramisu) and I'm so glad you had such a positive race on Saturday. You made the right decision lovely!

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  7. What a fantastic weekend! Nice job on your race - I can only imagine how great you felt knowing you listened to your body! I <3 guacamole. It is my FAOVIRTE!!!

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  8. Congrats on the race- that's a great time!! Looks like such a fun weekend, I love that you had Mexican twice!

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  9. What a fabulous weekend!! tableside quac is always amazing!!!

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  10. We just had a 5K this weekend too, great weather for it!

    Hey, I found your blog from How Sweet It Is. You mentioned in your comments that you make a cornbread with pumpkin. Do you have a recipe? That sounds unique and awesome!

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  11. YaY! You all did fantastic! What a great experience from getting to see a new city to running with your BF!

    If you really want to come to the Midwest, you all can do Columbus with me next year. :D Just the half! I'm no marathoner girl. ;)

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