Hamptons Half Marathon

Today was the Hamptons Half and Full Marathon out at East Hampton, Long Island. The day started with a 4:30am wake up via the alarm clock. UGH. We had most everything prepared from the night before so we could just get up and go. We hopped in the car at 5am (with Ella of course), and set off. 2 hours later, we arrived. The weather was perfect for running - nice and cool with a lovely breeze. The race started at 8am. I finished in a personal best time of 2:03:50. My last half, you may recall, I ran in 2:07. So, managed to knock over 3 minutes off my time since June. Not too shabby! Got home in one piece...and collapsed for a 2 hour nap. Ella had been very cranky all day...turns out she had a fever! Poor little thing - 101.7! We gave her Motrin and an ice pop, and she settled down nicely, went to sleep like a champ. Hopefully she sleeps through the night! Here's some photos!

Pre-race

Just crossed the finish line (Note: the time says 2:04:13 - my actual time was 2:03:50, due to not crossing the starting line until 30 seconds after the start!)


Home - with my medal!

Bonus photos:

Ella enjoying her time with Grandpa Nick and Grandma Sheila!

Nice family photo

Conehead?

Ella LOVES that chair!

My view of the little menace

Pestering Ainsley as usual

Bermuda!

Well, we made it back from Bermuda, and it must be said, it was hard work - Ella is well on her way to walking now, and all she wanted to do was crawl or walk all over, and we had to restrict her to either our tiny cabin or holding our hands down the hallways, due to the fact that there were 3000 people on board and many stairways for her to fall down. She got frustrated, we got stressed. When dinner came around, she made it through the salad course, then was tired and had to go to bed - which made for a pleasant experience at the dining room. Like I said, it was hard work, but luckily Mom and Marty and Sheila and Nick had a great time - we are glad we gave it a go, but now we know to wait until Ella is a bit older to try this sort of thing again. Here's some pics!

Ella and Grandpa Nick in the cabin before departure.

Mom and Marty on the balcony.

View of Lady Liberty and Empire State Building on our way out.

The Verrazano Bridge after we just went under it.

Hangin' on the balcony.

Sharing breakfast with mommy!

Ella at playgroup on the boat with her new friend Austin.

Her eyes match the stroller!

Strolling with Grandma Karen!

Somewhere over the rainbow...Skittles fall from the sky?

Well, HELLO!

About to climb the rock wall...

...last minute instructions...

...and we're off!

Up...

...halfway there...

...nearly there...!

Made it to the top!

Fallllllllllling down...

Angela's turn!

Up she goes! Made it halfway :)

What goes up...must come down!

Views from the boat.

Royal Naval Dockyard

The Explorer of the Seas

Family photo!

The ship at night.

The cruise is nearly at an end...

Ella strolling with daddy, holding her present from Grandma Karen

And finally...the required posed studio shot of the family - note the gleaming smile on my daughters face - such a delight to see her so happy to be alive!:

Labor Day

Today me, Melissa and Dan ran the Long Beach 5-mile Race - it was Mel and Dan's first race and they both finished and did awesome! I did pretty good, although not as fast as I was hoping (42:33 which is an average of 8:31/mile). In any case, the weather was fine and we had a good time. Here's some photos of the race (some taken by Marty and some by Angela) and some other randoms thrown in:

Ella and Brucey chillin'

Ella in her do-rag getting ready to clean!


In the pool at Rob and Gina and Alexa's house


Alexa helping to arrange the poolside furniture.


The start of the race (with me just right of center)


After about 1.5 miles, leaving the boardwalk and starting the road portion of the race.


Dan on the road.


Mel on the road.


Me just about to finish...


Finished!


Recovering...


Smile!


Dan finishing


Mel finishing


Done.