A post maybe only my mom will read.

Here is a little more detail about our Boston trip. (Not the race... that has it's own post!)

Packed and ready to go!

Not pictured: 3 ice packs. Hehehe...

The Drive

First of all, it's a long drive from Camp Hill, PA to Boston, MA! Paul and I chattered all the way to NYC. It got a little traffic-y there. I plan to find and alternate route home to bypass that craziness. But once we got on I-95 North, it was a straight (albeit 3.5 hour) shot to Beantown. We listened to some pod casts on the way, so we learned all about the moon landing, disassociative identity disorder, and heard Terry Gross interview Jimmy Fallon and Mindy Kaling. Terry gross always makes time fly!

I-95 with my game face on.

The Hotel

Our hotel for Saturday night was in Braintree. It was really nice and extremely reasonably priced. If you are taking a trip to Boston and want to stay a little bit outside the city, I totally recommend Candlewood Inn & Suites. They have a nice gym, free washers and dryers, and it's really clean and QUIET. Somehow, we got a suite. It made me wish I brought groceries to make us a round of pancakes in the morning!

Paul was very excited that our room had the EXACT

same microwave that we have at home.

Saturday Night

Our plan on Saturday night was to meet my cousin Alex for dinner. We left Braintree with 40 minutes to get us to the restaurant. Unfortunately, our GPS is super wonky and it took us over an hour to get there. After our GPS took us past Berklee for the second time, I totally lost it. Luckily, we called our cousin and he directed us to the restaurant. I have never been so stressed in my life and vow to never EVER drive in Boston again!

We had a delicious dinner and had a ton of fun catching up with our cousin. The boys ordered big slabs of meat. I had: Dirty Martini, roll w/ butter, seared Ahi tuna, a cup of New England clam chowder, and some sweet potato fries. Wow, it was SO delicious! I highly recommend the Stockyard in Brighton if you want a yummy dinner.

Sunday Morning

I was so freaking tired Saturday night, yet I just could not sleep in Sunday morning! I awoke at 5:00am but finally rolled out of bed an hour later. I got 2 free coffees in the lobby (score!) and then relaxed in the room fiddling around on the computer until Paul was up and at 'em and ready to go!

Yes, I drank all of these!

Watch out, Beantown! Megan is hopped up on caffeine!

Oh, and I checked the weather for the race the next...

Perfect conditions!

Look what I saw in the parking lot of our hotel. Clearly I should not complain about an 8 hour drive...

We vowed not to drive in Boston again, but I found really good directions to a cheap parking garage ($10 for the whole day!) so we took the risk. It ended up being a good decision. The garage was near the New England Aquarium, which we were going to visit in the afternoon.

After we parked, we walked about two blocks to the nearest T station and took a simple ride to Boylston Street. I had to hit up the Expo to pick up my race bib and packet. Paul got a lot of cool pictures on the way down Boylston Street and at the finish line.

I ended up buying the Boston jacket in an Adidas Tent on Boylston Street. I remembered how busy the Expo was the day before, and since I hate people, I wanted to spend as little time in there as possible!

Picking up my packet didn't take long. Would you believe I saw one of my elementary school teachers in the Expo? What a small world! Her daughter was running the race.

Sunday Afternoon

After the Expo, we took the T to South Station and ate lunch there. Then we walked a few blocks to the aquarium. Again, Paul was an awesome DOP (Director of Photography) and got some good harbor shots!

We got to spend a lot of time at the aquarium. It was pretty crowded at first, and I saw a lot of orange jackets! Here are some of the friends we made...

Paul's shadow and fish.

This sea lion just stood up against the wall the whole time. Maybe he got in trouble?

 We hit up the gift shop and chilled in the cafe for awhile because we were a little tired from walking around.

Reading my Boston Marathon Program and gearing up for the next day!

Then we took one more loop around the aquarium since it was practically empty by this time! We wanted to say goodbye to the penguins and the sea lions!

Sunday Night

We were really tired from walking around all day and wanted to just grab a quick dinner. So guess where we ate dinner the night before the marathon? DUNKIN' DONUTS. I know, it was weird. We actually say down in a  TGI Friday's but walked out after looking at the menu and seeing that every dish probably had 12,000 calories and 50g of trans fats. I'm exaggerating, of course, but the food just looked really shitty.

Source

This is what I had for dinner: Turkey, bacon, cheddar on a French roll. 

It wasn't that good but at least it was cheap and not greasy!

After dinner, it was time to head to my cousin's house, where we would be staying that night. Before I went to bed we had time to play a game of Salad Bowl with him and one of his roommates. Salad Bowl is HILARIOUS and will be a game played at our game nights from now on! All you need is pencil, paper, and a bowl. It is a cross between Catchphrase, charades, and Password.

Even though the accommodations were very comfortable, I had a hard time falling asleep that night! I had a pretty important race to run the next morning and I just couldn't get my brain to calm down...

Monday Morning/Afternoon

If you want to read a race re-cap of the 2014 Boston Marathon, go here and then here.

The Drive Home

Running a marathon is not bad ass, but driving 8 hours home is. The first part of the trip was fun. I told Paul all about the race and he told me all about his adventures in spectating... and believe me, he has some adventures! The middle part of the drive home was very stressful because once you get to the Bronx and the George Washington Bridge, shit gets really confusing. The last part of driving home was a struggle to keep awake. I started to hallucinate. The telephone lines looked like dental floss flapping in the breeze.

Food and coffee kept me as energized and awake as I could be. What does one eat after running 26.2 miles you ask? Anything she wants!

I ate a small bag of these directly after the marathon.

Starbucks

For the drive home.

Starbucks

Santa Fe chicken panini from Starbucks for my post marathon meal Part 1.

(That was just my warm up!)

Arby's

Crispy chicken, bacon, and swiss sandwich from Arby's for post marathon  meal Part 2.

Arby's

...with a side of 'tater cakes...

McDonald's

...and a McD's milkshake for dessert!

You would think food like this would make me sick since I rarely eat it. Nope. I have a stomach made of steel, I guess.

So that was our Boston trip! If you actually read this whole thing and you are not my mom, you deserve an award!

I apologize if you are craving a milkshake or something right now!

Have you ever been to Boston?
What's the longest you've ever driven to get to a race?

Do you enjoy aquariums? Paul loves them!

My heart was touched.

When I went back to work after Boston, I opened my classroom door and found this on the board...

My sub made a huge chalkboard card for all the kids to sign!

I got a poster from my Girls on the Run team before I left...

And from a 4th grade class as well!

When I got back, one of the second grade classes made me congratulations cards. They are treasures.

That says: "I almost won."

I seriously cried when I read their cards. I think I freaked them out a tiny bit but I explained that people can cry when they are happy, too!

It was hard explaining to students that I didn't win the race. It was also hard explaining that I actually came in twenty-one thouand and "somethingth" place. 

I told them how I was running for fun, taking pictures, and even stopped to talk to Mr. Cooney (my husband). "That's probably why you came in 21,000th place," a little boy said to me with his eyebrows raised. That comment made me laugh my head off!

Anyway, my heart was really touched and I wanted to share it with you!

Teachers, what is one of the sweetest things a student has done for you?

Weekend Wrap Up

It's just another Manic Monday...

Here's what we were up to this weekend...

Friday was like the light at the end of the tunnel for me. It wasn't a bad week, just really busy. Look what Paul texted me while I was at work to help me get through the day:

This is Chrissy and his sock. He has had this sock ever since I first brought him home.

I used to wear it on my arm when I played with him so he wouldn't scratch me.

Now he carries it around and cries, then lays down and kneads it. It's so freaking cute!

After work, we went on an Aldi date and stocked the fridge!

Then we caught up on some TV shows we missed during the week. First up, was Bates Motel, which Paul lovingly calls MasturBates. There are only two episodes left, and this one was really good.

Source

Freddy Highmore's character keeps getting creepier and creepier.

I think he really looks like Anthony Perkins here!

Second, was The Mindy Project, which was just awful. I know I keep saying we are going to office it, but the characters Morgan Tookers and Peter Ponce keep bringing us back!

On Saturday, I slept in, which felt GREAT! Then I went on my first run after Boston. You can read how it went here. Short version: Quads are still a bit sore, legs are tired, but my body is holding up well! I'm going to take a few more days off running to totally heal my quads. Boston is pretty much a downhill marathon, which really tore them up.

Then we went to Dockside Willies to celebrate a friend's birthday. We didn't eat there or anything, we just stopped by to hang for a little. I mentioned I haven't worn heels since November, but look what I broke out on Saturday night...

When we got home we played cards, ate dinner, watched Parks and Recreation, and had a Paul & Jelly photo shoot!

Sunday was just one of those days where I felt tired and blue. I got a lot of work done around the house, cooked, and even did some stuff for work. (Sometimes it's just quicker to do things at home.) But that afternoon I did something very out of character- I just laid on the couch and watched Seinfeld after Seinfeld. (At least I was resting my quads!) Jelly laid on my legs the whole time, so that sort of cheered me up. Paul was doing schoolwork so it was just me and my baby boy chilling.

When Paul was done with his schoolwork, we played an epic match of cards. What else would you expect from us? Later that night I started to get a sore throat and headache, so I went to bed super duper early. I really hope I am not getting sick!

I hope you had an awesome weekend! What were you up to?