Lakewood 5K ~ April 14, 2012

On April 14, 2012 I ran the Bridges to Recovery 5K through Lakewood. It’s the same route I’ve run in most of Lakewood’s 5K races, so there were no surprises and I knew it would be fast and flat.

On Friday night, I didn't know whether I would run this race or not. I was not pre-registered so I decided I wouldn't set my alarm and figured my body would tell me if I was supposed to run or not. To my surprise, I was up at 7:30 and ready to run! Steve was close behind and we headed to Lakewood Park. I called my mom & Rich to let them know I’d be running past their street at about 9:05 so they could be there with bells, whistles, Molly and Daisy (my biggest dog fans.)

The race began at 9 am and it was the smallest race I’ve run with barely 200 people. I started off fast (8:40 mile) and maintained a faster pace than usual. Having recently run a half marathon, I’m in better distance shape so 3.1 miles seemed like a breeze and my little legs were moving much faster than they’re used to. I very happily finished in

27:59

which is a personal record by 1:24! I have to say that a sub-28 minute 5K is pretty spectacular for me. I ran at a 9:02 pace, when I actually train at a 10:00 min/mile with occasional 8:00 min/mile sprints. Hooray for me!

Dyngus Day Cleveland 2012!

For the second straight year, we embarked on a fun-filled day of polka, perogies, pussy willows, Tyskie, Sobieski, kielbasa, cabbage and of course, DJ KISHKA! Yep, on Monday, April 9, 2012 we (along with 1,000’s of others) participated in Cleveland’s second-annual Dyngus Day! It’s almost impossible to explain the mass number of people who participated in this year’s celebration, but it was a fun day and we're already looking forward to next year's festivities scheduled for April 1, 2013!

What is Dyngus Day?? As much as I’d love to go into detail about my Polish heritage and stories from my youth and Dyngus Day traditions…I’d be lying. So check out the official Dyngus Day Cleveland Web site and let the professionals tell the real stories and traditions… http://clevelanddyngus.com/

Our Dyngus Day began around 2 pm at Stone Mad where we watched DK Kishka perform his routine in front of a tame crowd of lunch-goers. Sobieski and Tyskie were the Polish drinks of choice.

We were joined by mom, Rich, Sean, Alex, Meredith (Alex’s sister who flew in from Chicago) and Dan (Sean’s friend who drove up from Columbus).

We were early enough for Dan to get whipped with a pussy willow by a total stranger, get a bunch of free t-shirts and consume a couple of Tyskie beers.

Willoughby Brewing Company even brewed a “Kishka” beer for the occasion!

Our next stop was the Happy Dog, so we all piled into Rich’s mini-van (which serves as an amazing party bus) and made our way about ½ mile to West 65th & Detroit, where we watched “Those Guys” polka band perform.

By this time it was about 4 pm and the place was packed with a mix of people. The beauty of Dyngus Day is that it’s an all-day event (12 pm-2 am) celebrated by young and old, polish and non-polish, drinkers and non-drinkers. My personal favorite was the group of older women with pussy willows, squirt guns, mardi gras beads and rain caps so their hair didn’t get wet. You truly have to see it to believe it.

The Parkview was next on the list. We surely didn’t want to miss the crowning of Ms. Dyngus 2012! The crowd was insane at this point. We could barely move and when we got beer, we got beer for the masses. We watched DJ Kishka perform again, then prepared for the accordian parade!

The parade was led by Ms. Dyngus, dancers and musicians up West 65th and back to the Happy Dog. I’m not sure we were actually a part of the parade or if we were just slowly walking behind it. Either way, we felt included and it was much better weather than last year.

Back at the Happy Dog, we watched DJ Kishka perform (of course) until we thought it was time to venture elsewhere. We popped in at Luxe, then to Spice Kitchen and Bar then onward to Reddstone. The walk to Reddstone was long, but we were on a mission and moved forward. 

The main part of Reddstone is actually closed for construction, but they opened their upstairs room for this most special occasion and this is where the Kishka performed. Outside they had tents with food trucks and beer sales.

There we saw a few other people we knew, including Ms. Dyngus and my old friend Becky.

Unfortunately, we never made it to the Battery Park Wine Bar or XYZ, but that’s probably a good thing :) Dyngus Day 2012 was quite the event...please take my advise and join in next year's celebration. I know we will! Na zdrowie!

APRIL 1, 2013!!

Visit with Family and (not our) Babies!!

I learned in December that I was selected to run the NYC Half Marathon. By this time, we were well aware that our far-away families in Connecticut and Massachusetts would be having babies during the next couple of months. Steve’s sister Karen and Andrew were due to have a baby boy at the end of February and my brother Todd and Erin would have their baby on March 15th.

With the race scheduled for March 18, we thought a trip a little more East was inevitable…not only to see the newest babies, but also to visit with Paul, Sue, Gretchen, Scott, Karen, Andrew, Lorelei, Todd, Erin & Zachary! They all live less than three hours from one another so we were prepared for a few days of family fun :)

Needless to say, Julian Peterson Horan decided to arrive on January 23rd (5 weeks, 2 days early!) so instead of a 3-week-old, we saw a 2-month-old! Dylan Hendrix Mott arrived as scheduled (a planned Caesarean tends to do that) so we saw him when he was mere five days old and only 6 lbs!!

Now on to visits galore!!

We arrived in New London, CT via train on Monday afternoon. Our brother-in-law Scott welcomed us with open arms and took us back to their place in nearby Mystic, CT which we had designated as our “home base.” Not a bad place to call home :) Thanks Gretchen & Scott for letting us take over!

To our delight, Monday was also Scott’s birthday so that night we went to his mom’s house for a super celebratory birthday dinner where multiple March birthday’s (including Steve & Scott) were honored with corned beef, cabbage and cake! We were joined by Paul and Sue who also brought us a car to use for the rest of the trip.

The next morning we headed about 40 minutes North to see my brother Todd, Erin, Zachary and Dylan in Plainfield, CT. Following breakfast at the Gentleman Farmer Diner, we returned to their place to catch up, gawk at Dylan, and attempt to catch a very active Zachary.

  

 

Later in the afternoon, Todd fired up the grill until it was time for us to head “home” for the night. We could not have had better weather for our entire trip.

 That night, we returned to Gretchen & Scott’s where Scott made some overly impressive, time consuming and insanely delicious sushi. Seriously. I’ve been on a sushi kick the past couple of months and this stuff was awesome. He made spicy tuna rolls (he actually went to the fish market and got tuna right off the truck!) smoked oyster rolls and veggie rolls. Did I mention he even brewed his own beer for us?? Of course he did! I sure wish we lived closer so he could spoil us more often.

On Wednesday, Gretchen, Scott, Stephen & I headed to Newburyport, MA to visit Karen, Andrew, Lorelei and Julian. Paul was able to join us for the first couple of hours and we all enjoyed some amazing weather outside.

The day was filled with books, presents (Lorelei turned 2 on March 5!), pizza, wine, beer, pulled pork, more books, wine and beer! 

 

Andrew was able to get out of work a few hours early and it was nice for all of us to have time together.

We also got a look at Karen & Andrew's brand new kitchen! Renovated just in time for Julian (well, not quite…due to his eagerness to arrive) This is quite a change from the closed space we had seen during our last visit.

On Thursday morning we drove to Willington, CT to visit with Paul & Sue for a little bit before they drove us to Hartford to catch our plane home. Although we saw everyone, it was not nearly enough time. It’s one thing to live so far away from parents and siblings, but it’s something else to live so far away from Lorelei, Julian, Zachary and Dylan. Although our visits together are few and far between, we hope we are simply impossible to forget…We tend to have that effect on people :)

Until next time…Lots of love to family, new babies and sushi!