Walk This Way ....

This past weekend I had the opportunity to be in Philadelphia for an amazingly beautiful weekend. It was my 1st trip to Philly, similar to our NYC jaunt in February, I had the same reaction about Philly...why have I not been here before?!?! It is only about a 2.5/3 hour drive from D.C. (except returning to DC Sunday you should expect to be in the car a  wee bit longer).



The city of Brotherly Love ~ photo taken in LOVE park

We were in Philly for the 1/2 sauer 1/2 Kraut 1/2 Marathon...which I've been training for the last few months and has inspired my recent creative walking post.

This was my 2nd 1/2 marathon, and as I've mentioned before, I am a walker (not a runner), so for both races there is always a bit of anxiety about if I will finish on time before the sweeper comes to pick me up off the trail....and YAY, for the 2nd time I beat the sweeper. (I know, I think I need a new goal).

Some of my favorite moments of the race:

• Weather = amazing (high 60s/low 70s ~ low humidity)

• Race = walked/ran = PR'd (yes, I can actually use that phrase, I have a personal record. I beat my last race by about 6 minutes finishing just under 3 hours @ 2 hours & 53 minutes)

Markings keeping us on the right trail

• Shaded trails in the Pennypack Park, with beautiful rolling hills, serene with a beautiful stream as the artery of the course, cute bridges and underpasses to add to the atmosphere. (Note: those rolling hills were the cause of severe inner thigh pain for the 2 days post the race...but thanks to my yoga training, I was able to ease some of the pain with several poses and of course my breath (a great reminder as I was walking early on, Alexi Murdoch, Breathe, played ~ which became the backdrop of my race ~ Don't forget to Breathe.)



• Uberhans in lederhosen playing the accordion along the trail. How creative!

Learn more about Uberhans

• Finishing! The race was sponsored by the German Club, so being German I can completely appreciate the small touches at the finishing party, including sauerkraut, cute-little-old-aggressive German ladies passing out bratwursts and sauerkraut (reluctantly giving me a veggie burger), picnic tables next to a stage where a Bavarian dance group performed in Dirndls and Lederhosen (similar to the movie, Sound of Music).

• P.S. Veggie burgers with Sauerkraut = Wunderbar

I was very happy with the race, the weather, my performance and am excited about our next race,  Disney wine & dine in November! The only thing I wish is that I made time to visit a yoga studio on this trip. BUT....I was too busy enjoying the beautiful creative artistic city of Philly, so my yoga was limited to the hotel room.

Stay tuned for my next post on the creative & artistic side of Philly.