City 21 done: St. Louis

I landed in Las Vegas for a week long work conference in December 2011 to find out that the following day was the Rock n Roll Las Vegas half marathon. I was gutted because had I known it was taking place I definitely would have entered. In hindsight it was a good thing I was not running the next day as that evening turned into a rather impromptu evening of shots, dancing and general death by mini bar which is no way to prepare for a race. 

However; the following year I returned to Las Vegas for the weekend primarily to run the race. The night before was still a late one (as they always are in Vegas) but was much more civilized in the form of seeing a Cirque du Soleil show followed by a late dinner and ice cream. The Rock n Roll Vegas run is actually a night time run and goes up and down the strip. It’s a fantastic route allowing you to take in the bright lights of the strip as well as the downtown area. Many bands line the route hence the rock n roll title the event affords. It was a great race to be in and I finished it in 1 hour 31 minutes 35 seconds which is not bad given I had flown there all the way from London for only 2 nights to take part! I would love to return to this event as they now have an option for you to do a “run thru wedding” where you can marry a fellow competitor along the way. Sounds great to me. Any takers? No? Ok, let’s move on.

After this I then began to see Rock n Roll runs pop up all over the place and I then ran one the inaugural ones in Edinburgh (in 1 hour 27 minutes) and Liverpool (1 hour 21 minutes 1 second) which were also great events (although no wedding option included) and the medals are some of the best race bling you will ever get.

So I wanted to compete in a Rock n Roll race as part of my Olympic challenge. Enter St. Louis.

After the road trip which took in Atlanta from the chapter before I then made my way to St. Louis for a couple of days for the half marathon. I didn’t really know much about the city apart from the fact it had an impressive monumental arch (630 feet tall for those interested) and featured in the Judy Garland musical movie Meet Me in St. Louis. I landed and headed straight for race registration. It was a simple process and got me excited for the race. I checked into my hotel and then made my way down to the Mississippi river to see both the arch and go on an old fashioned boat (called Tom Sawyer no less.)

The city was much more urban than I thought it would be. By that I mean that the factories and old buildings that lined the streets and the river gave it a very raw feel. I liked it. It made for some excellent pictures particularly in black and white.

The night before the event was actually a bit of a strange one for me. As a very seasoned traveler I rarely have experienced homesickness but all I can think of is that this is what I had. I guess going from two weeks on the road with the boyfriend to then being on your own (also in the lead up to the first anniversary of the passing of your Mum) is possibly conducive to suddenly feeling a little deflated. I had a quick word with myself and ordered room service to carb up and enjoyed a couple of classic movies from bed in what was a lovely hotel room.

I awoke at 5am feeling refreshed and ready to race. The night before I had bought a single bowl of porridge which you add water to for my breakfast and some bananas. This did not turn out to be the breakfast of champions that I had envisaged. Sadly the pot ended up being a rather water logged wheat bowl mess but I did still eat it. Needs must on a race day. I left my hotel room to discover a clearly intoxicated woman asleep against the ice machine in the hallway. I asked her if she was ok and she said yes. Did she not realize she probably would be more comfortable in her actual room? Before leaving the hotel I let the receptionist know that there was a woman asleep in the corridor of floor 8. Before I finished my sentence he said he knew about the lady on floor 10. Oh dear. I wonder was it the same woman who had moved or were there two of them? I’ll have to live never knowing the truth. I am sure that is pretty doable.

I then made my way through the chilly dark morning (or should that be night) to the start line. I had paid for entrance into the VIP area which had promised our own bag drop, immediate access to the start pens, sustenance before the race, sustenance post-race, massage and our own set of toilets. I was easily sold on this and only wish it were a service offered by all races. I would sign up every time. It was freezing but I could stand in one of our tents to shelter slightly. I then realized that they were actually serving really nice porridge (or oatmeal as it is known stateside.)

#devastated.

If I had realized that I wouldn’t have filled up on gruel before arriving. Oh well, time to get on with the rest of my usual race prep. About ten minutes before heading to the start line I thought I would take my usual pre-race pee break. I made my way to our VIP toilets. No queue. Completely clean. This made a lovely change. It was still dark though and with no lighting in the cubicles it would make for an interesting aim. Feeling resourceful I turned to the torch on my phone. Marvelous. Although as I aimed the torch in the necessary direction to ensure a good shot at the urinal I realized that if the walls were transparent it would look like I was taking a dick pic. As the urine left my body I could see the steam rising in the light of the torch. It was definitely cold then and not the ideal temperature to take a flattering dick pic. Of course not that I was considering it you understand?

We then lined up in our corrals. We faced towards the arch just as the sun was beginning to break over the top. It looked stunning. I always forget that each race in the US starts with the National Anthem. As it was sung by a local singer all the athletes around me stood with their hand on their hearts (not in the Kylie Minogue fashion sadly.) I realized it sort of looked like I was joining in as I had my hands under my armpits to keep warm. Perhaps I just looked like I had gotten it slightly wrong like when George Bush Junior once stood with his hand on his stomach (Google image it.)

Almost time for the off then. Just one last moment for the official videographer to ask four of us to look at him and shout “Here we go. St. Louis rocks!” We did it and for some reason I adopted an American accent. Why? I have no idea. Perhaps because shouting that something “rocks” in an English accent just doesn’t quite sound right?

Across the line we went. I seemed to be in third position. This can’t be right I thought? That’s because it wasn’t. Soon enough there were people passing me. I wasn’t put out by this as I was intent on enjoying the race and seeing the city. Above all I wanted to warm up.

As I mentioned the city has a real urban feel and I really liked this. There are not the high sky scrapers that you get in other US cities (because nothing can be higher than the arch) and it really reminded me of how I viewed the US when I was really young based off 80s movies. We passed some fantastic old fashioned theatres and then into an area called The Grove. It boasted fantastic street art, rainbow pedestrian crossings and some unique looking shops. I made a note to myself of the street names in order to come back and have a wander the next day as it looked really quirky.

I was slightly warmer at this point but my thumbs were still pretty chilly despite running with them tucked into my clenched fists. As we rounded another corner I was hit with the sun. It felt gorgeous on my skin and had me thinking that this was going to be the point I would cease resembling Olaf from Frozen. The long stretch ahead was uphill and into the direct sunlight but I didn’t care that I couldn’t see where I was going. I felt warm. Plus; maybe it was a blessing not knowing how much longer the hill would go on for? A mile or so later I summited the hill and was back into more shady (in terms of temperature) areas. We passed through a beautiful park, amazing houses and soon were on the home stretch back to the CBD. Not before we passed a big sign which said “WTF…where’s the finish line?” It made me smile.

We were running along huge empty boulevards and being close to the front of the pack it almost felt like I had the city to myself. Around one last corner and I could see the magnificent arch again. I crossed the line in 1 hour 24 minutes 2 seconds. By no means a personal best but I was happy to have completed my 21^st Olympic city run and it turned out I still placed 25^th overall which was great.

I was still chilly (and sweat free which shows how cold it was) so made my way back to the VIP tent for a massage, lovely food, a pee in a clean portaloo (this time without the use of a torch) but I did sneak a quick dick pic in. I’m kidding. 

As I put on my tracksuit (words I never like to say) one spectator said “I am cold just looking at you, would you like to borrow some of my body fat?” A kind offer I thought but still politely declined.

Back at the hotel I had a lovely warm shower and returned to a healthy pink colour. That evening I made my way to happy hour at the hotel bar and enjoyed drinks and a pizza with other guests. I retired to bed fairly early once the hotel had given me a cookie and warm milk post dinner. I had been up at 5am after all.

So there you have it. City number 21 completed. Judy Garland’s ghost didn’t come to meet me but I still had a great time in the city and I still love Rock n Roll races. Bring on the next one. Maybe Lisbon?

Getting ready the night before:

Is it still night time?!

Done:

I saw this later that day. Appropriate given the temperature at 7am:

City 20 done: Atlanta

When the decision was being made as to where to hold the 1996 summer Olympic Games it should have been clear. It was to be the centenary of the modern Olympic Games and in my opinion they should have been awarded to Athens where the Games begun. Athens had bid to host the Games in ’96 and living there at the time (albeit as a youngster) I still was very much in full support of the bid and used to often wear my bid support t-shirt.

Somehow my t-shirt attire seemed to evade the attention of the IOC and the Games were awarded to Atlanta. I was gutted.

Nonetheless I still supported the Games in Atlanta and watched them when they were on. The biggest memories of the Games include Michael Johnson and his odd looking running style, the bomb, Michelle the Irish swimmer who came out of nowhere and won lots of Gold (since taken back due to doping) and Gloria Estefan singing the official song Reach. What a tune.

So as I started to plan when I could do a run in Atlanta it dawned on me that 3 out of the 4 cities I had left to run in (Atlanta, St. Louis, Mexico City and Rio) were located in North America. What about doing one trip taking them all in rather than flying across the pond numerous times? Coincidentally I was nearing the my 10^th anniversary of working at Expedia Inc. and made the bullish move of asking my manager to give me one month off work to celebrate this fact. They agreed. In fact she commented saying that she thought I was going to ask for three to six months off. Oops. Nevermind, I still got the result I wanted. The planning began. I found a half marathon in St. Louis during the month I had off and snapped up my place quickly. For Atlanta and Mexico City I was going to have to be creative with the events I did as I couldn’t find any official ones that would fit in with the dates. No matter; I had done that before and could do it again. So here was the plan for the month. First, a road trip across the US:

Dallas

Austin

New Orleans

Memphis

Nashville

Pigeon Forge (Dollywood if I’m honest)

Atlanta

St. Louis

Then, a couple of weeks in sunny Mexico:

Cancun

Mexico City

Quite a trip. All of the cities did not disappoint and despite the initial shock of how much fried food there was on offer in the south of the US I manage to stay in shape with the help of hotel treadmills. Having said that a few days in to the trip my foot started to be a little sore. Was it the treadmill running? Was it the walking around cities sightseeing all day? I am not sure to be honest but the remedy would be a few days off training. Ask any runner and this is an unnatural state of affairs. No matter how much I know that rest is sometimes is required it still pains me (more than the sore foot) to take time out of my training schedule. However; I was very good and did so. The result; my foot was fine and would allow me to keep running in Atlanta.

For my run in Atlanta I had researched city running tours like the one I had done in Rome. Bingo. There was one available and the lady that ran them (pun intended) said I just needed to contact her shortly before travelling and we could do a 10km tour around the city together.

So three weeks before setting off on my trip I emailed her to see if the deal still stood. An immediate response confirmed she would have loved to but she was now heavily pregnant and therefore wasn’t doing any tours. Yikes. What to do? She kindly put in me touch with a local running specialist shop called Big Peach Running Tours and they did weekly runs that anybody could turn up to and join in for free. Excellent – I was back on track. After a short email conversation with them it turned out that the night I planned to arrive in Atlanta they were due to do a 6 mile run around the city and I was more than welcome to join.

I was confused by the running shop’s name but it transpires (after a quick Google) that the state of Georgia is known as the peach state due to the importance of the peach business to its economy. Who knew?

On arrival in Atlanta I had time for a quick shower, change and then it was off to find the shop for my evening run. Once I got there the man in charge (Dave) was super friendly and took me under his wing. He asked what pace I would like to run at and introduced me to an equally friendly chap called Nick who would be running at the same pace. Brilliant – I could stick with him and not worry about getting lost. Dave gave me a map and directions for the run but since I had only been in the city a couple of hours my navigation knowledge consisted of the hotel and the running shop which were on the same (albeit long) street so my confidence of leading the run was not high.

Dave then welcomed the group and introduced me to the others as Mike from London. Cardinal sin calling me Mike. Perhaps my face said it all as he quickly corrected himself and then introduced Michael from London. Cue a high five from the lady next to me. I love America.

So we set out into the city. The route took us through the suburbs and parks on the outskirts of Downtown where we had begun. The park and the houses that we passed were magnificent. We ran through the gay district where a couple of the pedestrian crossings had been painted in rainbow colours which I loved and even passed a few churches that were displaying the pride flag in aid of pride which was taking place in the city later in the month. Very welcoming of the churches to do so. As we looped back to return to the CBD the view was fantastic. As dusk was upon us the silhouettes of the skyscrapers lining the horizon was a brilliant sight to see and I wished I had got better photos of it. Nick (and another gentlemen called Larry) were going at a good pace (and leading the pack) but it did mean the photo opportunity stops were nonexistent. I managed to get a few of the city and also a very shaky one of the two of them just ahead of me as I thought I would be good to remember the view I had of them leading me through the city. What I didn’t count on was that at that moment of taking the photo I almost trod on a cat that had been the victim of a hit and run. Fortunately I didn’t have to take the role of the guy who trod on the dead cat when we got back to the store. Nobody wants to be him do they?

As we neared the last mile Nick and I were slightly ahead of Larry and I heard him say something but couldn’t make out what. A few seconds later Nick shouted “see you later Larry” as he had turned off to make his way straight home. I felt terrible as he probably thought I was incredibly rude not saying anything before he turned the corner but the moment (and he) was now gone. If you ever read this Larry thanks for leading me around the city and bye!

Atlanta had been quite hilly and the evening was quite humid whilst running so the water and refreshments at the shop when we got back there were welcome. Everyone hung out (as they Americans say) for a little while although I was too embarrassed to ask them to take a picture of me with my American flag for the blog and book. A selfie in their bathroom would have to do. I asked Nick where would be good to go for dinner and some drinks that evening. His response shocked me. “I’m not 21 yet so I can’t go into bars yet but I hear there are good ones on this street.” OMFG. That means he was only 1 when the Olympics took place in the city.  

That aside his advice rung true and I found some very nice places to eat and drink (because I am firmly over the age of 21) that night to celebrate.

Atlanta had a nice park downtown to celebrate the Olympics; however there were a lot of Olympic artifacts in the World of Coca Cola museum. Coke have been a sponsor of the Olympics since 1928 (the Amsterdam Games) so there were a lot of pins, pictures in the museum which was a fun addition to my weekend in the city.

So it wasn’t a difficult or even timed run in Atlanta but it still counts as my Atlanta chapter I think.

Thanks Big Peach for ensuring I had a run to do and for not getting pregnant!

Ready to go in the hotel room:

The city on our run:

Big Peach Running Store:

Done...stay strong & stay positive:

Nick and Larry (and a dead cat) in front of me:

The Olympic flame from the Atlanta Games in the Coca Cola museum:

Memorabilia in the Coke museum: