Monday, May 22, 2006
A New PR!
Wow! If you have been keeping up with the show or my blog, you know that I was in Cleveland this past weekend for the RiteAid Cleveland Half-Marathon. As it turns out, I was in Cleveland for so much more. My cousin Kristie and I flew out of New Orleans Saturday morning to Detroit and then on to Cleveland. The second leg was only 24 minutes, but it was, without question, the worst flight I have ever been on. The stewardess err... flight attendant was so rude that was all the passengers talked about once off the plane and in the terminal. It was a tiny prop plane that only say about 40 poeple. I don't know if it was the piloting or the turbulence, but for the first time in my life I reached for the barf bag -- thank God I didn't have to use it!
Once we landed, the real fun began! Kristie and I went to dinner at the Winking Lizard which was only a few blocks from the hotel. When we got there, a common theme was unmistakable -- Pearl Jam. Yes, the band (one of my all-time favorites) was everywhere. People were donning T-shirts, their music was playing throughout the restaurant; it was evident something was going on. I asked the waitress and she told me they were playing a concert across the street at "The Q" (Cleveland's basketball arena). I flipped out! I begged Kristie to come with me to the show, but she wanted to go back to the hotel and get some rest. After all, we were going to be running 13.1 miles in less than 10 hours. I didn't care. We left the restaurant and were immediately approached by a scalper. I talked him down from a $53 face-value ticket to $15! Fifteen dollars to see Pearl Jam! I had a few beers, loved the show, and got in bed around 12:15 a.m.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! The alarm went off at 5 a.m. and it was time to get ready for the run. I was still all adrenaline from the show and the prospect of competing in a race again. There was only one problem: it was 47 degrees, raining and windy! Not exactly ideal running conditions. We got our running gear on, stretched and headed to the start anyway. It was at that moment that I knew: Runners are a special breed of people. First of all, you have to be crazy to want to run 13.1 or 26.2 miles. You have to be completely insane to want to do it in conditions like these. Seriously, one of the pop-up tents at a water station got tossed 25 feet in the air by the wind. Oh yes, it was that windy.
We took off at 7 a.m. anyway. I was sporting a long-sleeved LSU shirt -- got to represent the alma mater! About a mile into the run, the wind stopped, the rain subsided and it was merely cool and overcast -- perfect running conditions! At that point, I was off to the races! I kept my pace perfectly, ran my race and when I crossed the finish line I had a new PR, beating my previous best half-maraton time by more than 20 minutes! My official time was 2:11:36. Kristie did great to, finishing in 1:58:14! Way to go Kristie!
But we weren't done at that. We went back to the hotel, got cleaned up and then went to Jacob's Field to catch the Cleveland Indians and the Pittsburg Pirates. We left in the 8th inning because we had to catch a flight, but it turned out to be a beautiful, clear blue day.
I am calling it the most production 18 hours of my life: Pearl Jam concert, Half Marathon and an Indians baseball game.
What a weekend! Thanks for all of your prayers and support!
Peace!
Once we landed, the real fun began! Kristie and I went to dinner at the Winking Lizard which was only a few blocks from the hotel. When we got there, a common theme was unmistakable -- Pearl Jam. Yes, the band (one of my all-time favorites) was everywhere. People were donning T-shirts, their music was playing throughout the restaurant; it was evident something was going on. I asked the waitress and she told me they were playing a concert across the street at "The Q" (Cleveland's basketball arena). I flipped out! I begged Kristie to come with me to the show, but she wanted to go back to the hotel and get some rest. After all, we were going to be running 13.1 miles in less than 10 hours. I didn't care. We left the restaurant and were immediately approached by a scalper. I talked him down from a $53 face-value ticket to $15! Fifteen dollars to see Pearl Jam! I had a few beers, loved the show, and got in bed around 12:15 a.m.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! The alarm went off at 5 a.m. and it was time to get ready for the run. I was still all adrenaline from the show and the prospect of competing in a race again. There was only one problem: it was 47 degrees, raining and windy! Not exactly ideal running conditions. We got our running gear on, stretched and headed to the start anyway. It was at that moment that I knew: Runners are a special breed of people. First of all, you have to be crazy to want to run 13.1 or 26.2 miles. You have to be completely insane to want to do it in conditions like these. Seriously, one of the pop-up tents at a water station got tossed 25 feet in the air by the wind. Oh yes, it was that windy.
We took off at 7 a.m. anyway. I was sporting a long-sleeved LSU shirt -- got to represent the alma mater! About a mile into the run, the wind stopped, the rain subsided and it was merely cool and overcast -- perfect running conditions! At that point, I was off to the races! I kept my pace perfectly, ran my race and when I crossed the finish line I had a new PR, beating my previous best half-maraton time by more than 20 minutes! My official time was 2:11:36. Kristie did great to, finishing in 1:58:14! Way to go Kristie!
But we weren't done at that. We went back to the hotel, got cleaned up and then went to Jacob's Field to catch the Cleveland Indians and the Pittsburg Pirates. We left in the 8th inning because we had to catch a flight, but it turned out to be a beautiful, clear blue day.
I am calling it the most production 18 hours of my life: Pearl Jam concert, Half Marathon and an Indians baseball game.
What a weekend! Thanks for all of your prayers and support!
Peace!
# posted by Matt Moscona @ 8:52 AM 
