Just One Run Short of Fabulous

It is 40 and fabulous right?  If that's the case I'm now one more state shy of hitting the big four 0 thanks to this weekends Massachusetts and Connecticut's cool and not-so-cool runnings.

Planes, trains and automobiles
This weeks travel to Boston and then Hartford and then Boston involved all 3 modes of travel.  I rate them as follows:

Planes: D- 
While all delays were supposedly weather related, I am really hating air travel these days for some reason.  My Friday morning (was it the 13th?  Sure seemed like it....) 11:05 AM flight that was due in Boston at 2:52 PM Houston time was delayed 4 1/2 hours.  I was still on the ground at Bush IAH when I should have been in Boston driving towards Hartford.  My initial travel plans had me picking up my Saturday morning race packet very close to the 7 PM Friday evening expo close in Hartford.  Thankfully, Hartford had a race day pickup option.  Many races don't offer such an option.  Once our plane arrived from Philly via a weather related diverted stop and refueling in Lake Charles, LA and we boarded and on our way, we encountered yet another weather issue on our approach to Boston.  1/2 mile visibility turned into 1/4 mile which led to our circling in a holding pattern waiting for visibility to improve.  I have never been so relieved to hear the "Welcome to Boston" greeting from the flight attendants once we landed as we could have easily been diverted to another airport.  The return flight Sunday evening was slowed a half hour or so by headwinds from Boston all the way down to Jackson, Mississippi as well as a landing approach at IAH from a westerly direction due to Houston winds.  Total planes lost time: 5 1/2 hours

Automobiles: C
Car rental shuttle from Logan to Hertz rental site rather quick.  Very smooth rental process with my new Hertz Gold status thanks to a new company contract with Hertz!  Kia Spectra more than adequate for my needs.  Loving the Garmin nuvi GPS that was on its 3rd out of town trip with me.  GPS does make solo navigating much easier than trying to read mapquest and drive at the same time.  As I realized that Hartford pasta dinner wasn't going to happen I stopped at the Framingham rest/service area on the Mass turnpike around 9:30 PM.  They actually had a pizza and pasta place there.  Unfortunately all they had left was pizza so I opted for McD's grilled chicken and fries.
Made it out of Taxachusetts tolls right under $8.00.  Not sure if I was in Mass or Connecticut when it happened.... nuvi showed me being 20 minutes from Hartford when I saw a red glow up ahead; made it up a hill and saw red brake lights.... 3 lanes worth... as far as I could see.  Someone decided it was a good night to merge 3 lanes of interstate traffic into 1 lane on the right hand shoulder to restripe the lanes.  Watched the 20 minute ETA time move up with real time as I crawled along with all the traffic.  Orange cones eventually stopped and all 3 lanes were open.  Made it to downtown Hartford without further incident.  Checked in quickly at Crowne Plaza, moved car to CP garage and made my way up to my room with my bags.  Got a call from the front desk 5 minutes later.  They had my wallet downstairs.  By this point had no idea how that happened.  I either brought it to the front desk for some reason (didn't need it as my drivers license and credit cards were in my front pocket)  or it fell off my lap when I got out of the car.  It was in my lap for the toll booth stops I made thru Mass.  Headed down and retrieved wallet after midnight, set alarm for 5:30 and caught a few hours sleep. 

ING Hartford 1/2 Marathon:
The 1/2 was part of the full marathon weekend; a 5k was also offered as well.  They had a total of 10,000 runners in all 3 events.  I put on my warmup pants and a long sleeve T shirt and headed out the door to the XL center to pickup my packet.  It was a short walk to XL.  Of course forgot my race number that had been emailed to me earlier in the week and my drivers license. Got my packet and race shirt quickly and headed back to hotel to get ready.  Warmups and T shirt weren't neeed as temps were in the 60s and humid.  Headed out to Bushnell Park/race start in running gear with no need to check baggage. 
Probably a combination of lack of sleep, poor fueling/carb loading and warmer temps had my heart rate higher than where I wanted it most of the race.  Kept reining myself in..... telling myself that I had another 13.1 to run the next morning.
Finished in 1:50 and change with wet clothes and wet shoes.  Had more clothes for the Boston 1/2 and another pair of shoes in the shoes that I wore for traveling.  Post race food was provided by Whole Foods; great job by them.  I headed back to hotel; applied some blow dryer heat to the shoes to jump start the drying process to try and run in the same shoes for Boston.  Got out of downtown Hartford without too much difficulty; had to head west on I-84 a few miles and turn around once outside of race closures as full marathon had roads still closed.
Headed back to Logan to return the rental car and make it to Back Bay Fens in Boston.

Trains: A+
After returning the rental car, took Hertz bus to Logan terminal B to catch the MBTA blue train shuttle to the Airport T stop.  Walked right into shuttle bus; bought my $4.00 round trip ticket and headed to Prudential center stop headed for the Boston Sheraton.  MBTA station and Sheraton were both within Prudential Center.  Didn't have to leave the block.  Also noticed a Cheesecake Factory, PF Changs and food court on the walk to the Sheraton.  Ate pasta at Cheesecake and took a nap; stretched legs a little and settled in for the night after getting directions to race start for the next morning.
Sunday morning warmups and sweatshirt came in handy with 40 degree temps.  After walking a little out of the way by Fenway Park, I found the race start/packet pickup.  I started to head back to the hotel after picking up my packet but realized it was too far to walk so I just stayed and checked a bag. 
The Boston course was tougher than Hartford but the cooler temps more than compensated. It was a beautiful morning for a run through several Boston parks.  I wound up running a 1:45; this was my 4th race run with a HR monitor; my HR was the most controlled that I had seen it.  I chalk it up to cooler temps.
Grabbed post race lunch in Prudential Center and then headed to airport.  Caught the end of the early NFL games and the beginning of the late games pre flight.

All in all a nice quick trip to pick up states 38 and 39.  This has been my 3rd straight Columbus Day weekend where I've run 26.2 miles.  Must be a popular time of year for races!!!!