It’s officially been a week since I was in Bethlehem, PA enjoying the fall foliage, cool weather, and surreal meet ups with some of Running’s greats.Only now do I feel like I can talk about the incredible adventure we all took part in. It never sunk in fully and I constantly felt like it was all a crazy dream I would wake up from; drenched in sweat and with a goofy smile on my face slowly dissipating as I realized that I was still in fact in my bedroom.

I began the day early by waking up at 4:30 a.m. and tip toeing around the house to gather my suitcases and pull on my airport comfy outfit. You know the one that keeps you warm and mimics pajamas as closely as possible without looking ho Charlie immediately woke up and trailed my every move throughout the house while Ryan continued to sleep. I envied him all snug in his bed. For some reason I never sleep well before a trip so there was only 3 hours of shut eye before waking up. Surprisingly I held it together and was pleasant to most of the people I encountered later

I took my copy of the latest Runner’s World with me to pass the time between layovers. Little did my air patrons know that I was heading to Runner’s World headquarters for a BBQ in the afternoon. Hehe my little secret had me grinnin’ like a Cheshire cat inside.

My flights were only took about an hour each and soon I found myself Philadelphia with plenty of time to charge my phone and wait for Amanda from RunToTheFinish and Larisa from ZerotoTwentySixPointTwo.

I love landing in new airports. It’s interesting to get a glimpse of the people, their leaders, and tourist items in the gift shops.

Flights into Allentown, PA where the race is held were too expensive when we checked so we opted to share a car rental together from Philly. Best decision ever!! We ended up paying only $50 each and had a car to travel around town with for 4 days.

While I was waiting, Larisa called to tell us that her flight got delayed and caused her to miss the connection. So when Amanda got to Philly we headed into town to grab some lunch to pass the time.

The trees were mostly still green in Philly but it was such a gorgeous day.

We circled around to try and find Jim’s after my shuttle driver recommended it but gave up after going in circles too long. We ended up at the OCP Grill, a small littler diner on the corner of the street.

Amanda ordered a veggie sub per her new diet and fared a little better than me and my choice.

The most pitiful sub I’ve ever seen. Gah I guess you win some, you lose some. My Philly cheese steak was more like just a steak sandwich. Barely any cheese and pretty dry to boot I’m making it my mission to return next year to erase this sad memory of a sandwich gone wrong. Anyone know a great place I can go to?

We left after an hour and went to pick up the third amiga Larisa at the airport. I was so happy to see these girls and get to know them a bit better. I met Amanda briefly at Fitbloggin’ and had been texting with Larisa for the past few weeks. It was really nice to spend a car ride just gabbing and anticipating the BBQ together.

We passed cute little houses…

Lots of tree lined roads

And finally more and more brightly colored trees as we headed towards Bethlehem.

Our hotel was adorable! Don’t you love this cute mini replica they had at the front desk? It’s the little things people This Courtyard Marriott had a homey little lobby with a fireplace, bar, and it’s right across from a Panera bread and Ruby Tuesday’s! Gotta love the convenience! Many of the girls took advantage of this during the weekend in between sessions.

As soon as we checked in we were surprised with personal swag bags from Runner’s World. Ahh I can’t tell you how giddy I was to get such a cool welcoming gift! Thank you Runner’s World!!

The Runner’s World Blogger’s weekend had officially started off with a bang and I couldn’t wait to see what else they had in store for us.

To be continued…

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