Two Burgers in Two Days .... all the way in Rhode Island!

A couple of weeks ago I got to travel to Newport, Rhode Island to help celebrate my friend Shannon's bachelorette weekend.  A bunch of us flew in from Charlotte and met up with some of her friends and family from up north.

Even with staying up late and having a few cocktails Friday night, I managed to get in a run Saturday morning.  I ran from our hotel to the "Cliff Walk," a 7 mile out and back trail near Newport. 

For someone as clumsy as I am, I was pretty scared going over the rocky parts of the trail.  But the views made up for it!  It was a little cloudy and much cooler than it had been in Charlotte, and oh so quiet.  I ran and walked just under 5 miles and headed back to the hotel, coffee in hand, ready to party!

One of the fun activities that Shannon's sister planned for the group, was a trip to a local vineyard (Newport Vineyard), complete with a chauffeured party bus ... no drinking and driving for us!

After touring the winery and sampling our fair share of delicious wines, we headed to their in-house café for lunch.  I settled on their beet & bean burger and chips.
BEET + BEAN BURGER                                                     9
herb mayo, arugula, tomato, brioche roll

It was tasty and definitely made me feel like I was eating healthy!

The next day found us on the water aboard a mimosa cruise.  Although I was too hungover to partake in any drinking, I did work up an appetite while sailing, and devoured a burger at our lunch spot. 

Not only did the Midtown Oyster House have a delicious burger, they also had a killer bloody mary that worked wonders for my hangover.

GOOD BURGER*          13
Bacon, Gruyere Cheese, Onion Jam Toasted Brioche Bun



I loved spending so much time with one of my favorite people in such a cool city.  Eating 2 burgers in 2 days wasn't so bad either :)

Famous Toastery American 4 Miler - race recap

I was lucky enough to win a free race entry into the Famous Toastery American 4 Miler on July 4th.  There are a couple of reasons why I shouldn't have run this race ... I was still on antibiotics for my sinus infection (ie. hacking up a lung) AND I didn't have my pre-race cheeseburger the night before.

I made it to the race with time to spare; I parked 1/2 mile away at the nearby middle school and took my time walking over.  I wasn't feeling all that motivated to race and had a feeling I wouldn't be setting any PRs that morning. 

I didn't even make it to the 3 mile mark when I began to text Ryan.  I told him I wasn't feeling well and that I was stopping to walk.  A side effect from my sinus infection medication was DIARREHEA.  Boy oh boy did I have to poop.  I continued walking the course as I coughed up all sorts of green and yellow grossness. 

I finally crossed the finish line in 36:14 minutes, by far my slowest 4 miler time ever.  Although I was disappointed I didn't run faster, I was surprised that I actually finished the race.  I could've veered off course and found a shorter way to my car but instead I suffered through the 4 miles.  How noble of me right?  Wrong.  I should've skipped the race and gotten healthy.  You live and learn I suppose.

Run For Your Life always puts on a great race and the Famous Toastery American 4 Miler was no exception.

Did anyone else race during the holiday weekend?  Any fun patriotic running stories?   

"woah, we're half way there"

gotta love a little Bon Jovi to shake things up on a Friday night.  "Woah, livin' on a prayer."

it's July 1st.  to me that means that half the year is already over ... which means I should have already run at least 500 miles to hit my goal of running 1,000 miles in 2016.

lucky for me I ran 507.4 miles in the first 6 months of 2016.  492.6 miles to go!  so close, yet so very far.

I'll have to remain pretty aggressive with my weekly mileage to reach my goal this year.  I'm up for the challenge and have run (slightly) more each month since January (77 miles).  I'll have to run more than 90.35 miles in July to continue this trend.  Fingers crossed we stay away from injuries and/or sicknesses that would prevent this from happening.