NOVEMBER 15-17, 2019 | RICHMOND, VA | I decided to take the train up to Richmond for my half marathon as the twins car needed to stay with them and I didn’t feel confident driving Jon’s car up, plus timing wise it was just the best option. I had originally booked an AirBNB for myself but then a few weeks ago JJ decided to come join me for the weekend and registered herself for the 8K.
So Friday morning dawned and Jon’s dad brought me to the train station. It’s been a minute since I’ve ridden Amtrak so I wasn’t sure how it was going to go. But it was fine- I was able to eat my packed lunch with no issue, worked on my computer the entire time, and relaxed as we slowly crept up from Greensboro to Richmond. I had some interesting neighbors but it was fairly uneventful.
I arrived around 2pm to the Richmond suburbs station and thankfully Wynsor was there to pick me up. First stop was to the expo to grab bibs, t-shirts, and see if there was anything else good to get. It was kind of a disappointment. I really wish they had had more of my favorite vendors… but hey at least it kept me from spending any money. Afterwards we headed back downtown so I could check in to my place. It was super cute, pretty random, but cute. It was a small restored carriage house where they rent out the back unit onto airBnB. I dropped off my stuff and we headed to pick up Wynsor’s other friends and meet another person out in the suburbs at the Hardywood Brewery. It was beautiful and as much as I wanted a drink, I had told myself to wait until after the race- it was for either celebrations or drowing sorrows. haha.
Afterwards we drove back into the city and they dropped me off at the Oiselle pizza dinner. I caught up with some of the birds I hadn’t seen in awhile, and met others, and ate all the delicious thin crust pizza. Conveniently JJ got to town right as I was finishing up and was able to grab me before we headed back our weekend place. Got all unloaded, took my flat runner picture, and then headed to sleep.
Race morning dawned early, ate my usual race morning food, stretched and foam rolled, and got dressed for the day. Full recap coming tomorrow. Afterwards I celebrated in style with a PR bell ring, a Sierra Nevada beer, and all the food. Also it was freezing so my finisher’s blanket came in handy. JJ had come back to meet me at the finish after her 8K so we stumbled back up to our place so I could shower and get warm. Then we went around the corner for brunch/lunch at Parette. It was delightful. I had a mimosa (yay celebrations!) and JJ and I caught up on all the things. We went back to our place for a hot minute before walking to the Oiselle Happy Hour about a mile away. Silly me forgot to pack a coat so it was a little brisk but I made it. Of course a couple of beers later and the walk back was just fine 🙂 We hung out with Wynsor and her buddies at the happy hour. It was a lot of fun.
For dinner that night we had a reservation at Tarrant’s Cafe. We both ate our weight in pasta and I had one final celebratory beer. Then back to our place to pass out for the night.
Sunday morning we got to sleep in! I haven’t slept in IN AGES. It was so nice. We tidied up the place, showered, packed up our stuff and then headed to Perly’s around the corner for lunch. We ate AMAZING potato latkes and then I had a huge breakfast sammy. It was delightful. After lunch we officially checked out, and with some time to kill before my train home, headed to the Virginia Fine Arts Musuem. A little bit of culture on our primarily running filled weekend.
Great time had by all! Thanks for a fun weekend Richmond!
chasing every adventure 