Day 13 and 14 - Alpe di Suisi to Venice to Geneva to Reykjavik to New York to Denver...

July 3
Days 13

We left the Airbnb just after 6am. The car was due back by noon, and they charged $64 an hour if you were late returning it. After the fiasco we had getting there, we weren't risking it. We had programmed the gps to get us back to the Venice airport.

In yet another shocking turn of events, the gps routed us on some super sketchy one lane road that was obviously not the right way to go. WTF with all the directions being off??

Anyway, we managed to find the autobahn, and we made the drive in just under 4 hours, speeding along at a glorious 130kmph most of the way. We had opted to return the car at the airport instead of where we rented it near the bus station.

We found the garage where we had to return it, but accidentally drove past the return area for Avis. In an incredibly frustrating turn of events, the floor where the returns were was only one way. Yet it wouldn't go full circle, one way. Which meant we would need to exit the garage and then come back up. Only you need a ticket to exit the garage because they also rent cars from the same location. BUT HOW DO YOU GET A TICKET IF YOU HAVE ALREADY DRIVEN PAST WHERE YOU NEED TO GO AND THE ONLY WAY OUT IS THROUGH THE EXIT WHICH IS ONE WAY. For the first time, I finally broke down and started crying. We had so many problems the last few days and this was apparently my breaking point.

Maureen walked across the building to talk to the Avis people, got us a card, then we had drive around and come back up. Returning the car took another half hour. Luckily we were not charged for anything additional (which reminds me, on our drive back to Venice a BIRD flew into the windshield - luckily it did not cause any damage).

We were all "over" our trip by now, and opted to spend our last few hours at the airport instead of lugging our bags around Venice.

Our flight to Geneva left right one time, and was short, only about an hour. On to the NEXT problem. The hotel we had booked was actually across the border in France, about 5 miles away. They were not going to be able to accommodate us checking out at 4 in the morning (plus we were concerned about border crossings), so we had to spend the night in the airport.

There was a Swiss Chalet where we spent about an hour having beer (or wine for Maureen) before we tried to find chairs where we could stay for the night. Maureen and I found a little shop that would give us alcohol to go, which we hoped would help us sleep.

Third glass is for... A?

Steps - 11,778
Miles - 0

July 4
Day 14

We (or at least "I") did NOT sleep. Our flight was supposed to start boarding at 6, so we started heading to security around 4:30 (since Maureen still had to check a bag).

We had breakfast at the gate (stupid small coffee and a croissant) before boarding our flight to Reykjavik.

That flight was about 4 hours (?) long. I have absolutely no recollection of how I passed the time, but I think A and I watched Netflix.

Arrived in Reykjavik with about 2.5 hours to catch our next flight. We got through customs with no issues, got our boarding passes from the Delta counter, then picked up a ridiculously expensive wrap (to share) and a souvenir for our neighbor who was watching Batman and Robin while we were gone.

The flight was almost 6 hours to JFK. I watched Patriot's Day (and I was surprised at how emotional it made me) and most of The Girl on the Train. Dozing off in the middle of the movie was the only "sleep" I would get.

Arrived in JFK on time, and headed to customs. The line was INSANE. In the tradition of "things that only happen to me," I got a black "X" on my receipt. That meant that we had to go in a special line. I assumed this was random and they would ask more questions. Well the only question we were asked is if we bought anything. (Outside of food, we seriously only bough about 4 magnets and a patch). I then was hit with another "additional screening" - which meant we had to go in a tiny room with no windows or bathroom, and no cell phones allowed! After about 75 minutes, finally released, without ANY questions being asked of me, or an explanation of why I was flagged.

We exited the airport and opted for a taxi instead of Uber to take us to La Guardia for our last flight. We found some cheap pizza by the slice and a salad bar for dinner. Our flight actually landed about 40 minutes early in Denver, about 8:00.

Light rail took over an hour (presumably because of all the 4th of July chaos in the city), and then we still had to go to Maureen's house to get our car. It was after 10:30 before we got home.

LONGEST DAY(S) EVER EVER EVER (EVER).

Steps - 18,402
Miles - 0

THE END.

Day 12 - Alpe di Suisi half marathon (Race Recap)

July 2
Day 12

Alpe di Siusi, Italy
Half Marathon #166
Weather - brisk, perfect!

Well as you can imagine, "sleeping" in the rental car did not go well. Being higher up in the mountains, it was chilly, and we had not dressed properly for it. Not to mention, three people trying to get decent sleep in a Ford Fiesta? Didn't happen.

Once the sun came up, we decided to drive down by where we had seen the expo. Didn't look like that was where the race was going to be, so we drove back up by where we had spent the night. Turns out that we had parked about 10 feet from the race start. Finally, a stroke of good luck! We parked right next to the start line, then went to a cafe to have some breakfast. I was able to get on some wifi and was able to get back in touch with our Airbnb host (who didn't seem to understand how we had so much trouble finding her) and Francesca, to see if we could meet up. Picked up my packet (which included 4 apples and an apple corer, random), then back to the cafe so I could change into my race clothes in the bathroom. As you can imagine, I was not incredibly optimistic for how the race was going to go.

Francesca had run part of the course the week before and said that it wasn't incredibly technical, and thought it wasn't quite as tough as the elevation profile would lead one to believe. I was a bit nervous for this race, the cutoff was 3 hours, and about 1900' of climbing. That's right around the time I finished my Eagle course preview, which had a pretty similar elevation change. Ugh. I hoped that the cooler temps would help me out.

We lined up for an incredibly late 10:10 start and headed out. The first few km were on the road, and I surprised myself with running a sub 11 minute mile. I wanted to bank all the time I could. I took of my windbreaker early, cursing myself for wearing it in the first place. We started some climbing, and I was able to pass quite a few people. We got onto some single track and I tried not to stop too often for pictures, knowing that I was running against the clock.

There were also more aid stations than I thought there would be, which helped a lot. The screaming downhill was really nice, and we looped around to a fork in the road for the second half. I had been running near Francesca for some time, I would catch her on the uphills, then she would blast by me on the downs. We decided to run the second half together, which turned out to be great. We had a decent amount of climbing to go, and since she was first-hand familiar with the course, she was able to give good insight on where we were and how much more climbing we had to still do.

More cowbell at the halfway point!

 

We had a 1200m out and back section and did not see Maureen. I was a bit worried about her as she gets out of breath very easily on the climbs and I know she was also very concerned about the time limit. Francesca and I were running strong, and we knew that we would have no trouble finishing in time. We thankfully had a full mile downhill before the finish - where we saw A. She had spent the morning at the finish line and going for a run up to the ski lodge on the course.

We finished in just over 2:40 - a time I'm very pleased with!

Garmin time - 2:40:43
Elevation gain - 1,834'
Mile 1- 11:00
Mile 2 - 13:07
Mile 3 - 14:33
Mile 4 - 10:17
Mile 5 - 11:33
Mile 6 - 11:27
Mile 7 - 12:29
Mile 8 - 17:19
Mile 9 - 14:07
Mile 10 - 11:25
Mile 11 - 10:39
Mile 12 - 12:02
Mile 13 - 9:29 (!!)
Mile 13.1 - 12:54 (cruel uphill right at the end)

Francesca headed off to find her cousins, and we waited for Maureen at the finish, who squeezed in at 2:55. The post-race party was nice, lots of food varieties and some cheap beer.

At about 2:30, we finally headed up to the Airbnb and restaurant, and got the keys. After showering, I took a much needed nap. We went back up to the restaurant for dinner - and had a great "last supper" of pizza and pasta.

View from our dinner table

A ran from the village at the bottom up to the tallest chalet in the picture while we raced!

Had to pack up all our stuff (yet again, so tired of that!) and then in bed as early as we could manage, we had yet another early start.

Steps - 33,274
Miles - 13.1

To be continued...

Day 10 - Cinque Terre

June 30
Day 10

We were supposed to arrive for our tour at the train station by 6:45. We were out the door and prepared to arrive with enough time to get something to eat before we left. We arrived at the train station to discover that none of the shops or restaurants opened until 7, so we had to exit and go to a small cafe across the street to get food and coffee.

Check in for the tour was pretty disorganized since there were multiple groups doing variations of the "same" tour. We left right on time at 7, walking to a bus for the first leg of the trip. The bus took a few hours, and unfortunately, we weren't able to stop along the way to take any pictures. It really was a very scenic drive!

The tour was structured that we had meet up times at each of the villages, but we were able to have free time outside of the general meet up.

We took trains to travel between each of the villages and spent our time walking around and taking pictures, as well as going into the shops. This part of the country was definitely what I picture when I think of "coastal Italy" - very colorful buildings, lots of boats and breathtaking landscapes.

Delicious pesto lasagna

#dessertoftheday

We were not able to take the ferry at all because the water was too choppy, although A was able to go to the beach for a bit. I opted to just sit on the patio and watch as we only had about 20 minutes before we had to meet up with the group, which hardly seemed worth the time and effort.

Dozed off on the trip back - a very long tour at over 12 hours! The three of us were starving by the time we got back to Florence, and we all agreed to go back to the brewery by the hotel as it was inexpensive and the food/drinks were delicious. We were all pretty tired and A and I watched some Netflix before bed.

Steps - 18,253 steps
Miles - 0

To be continued...

Day 9 - Venice, Florence

June 29
Day 9

We didn't get up super early, since the front desk didn't open early. We were pleased to have a pretty good breakfast provided by the hotel - yogurt, fruit and tons of bread. Since none of us had changed money, all we were able to do was pay the hotel a fee for the shuttle back to the airport so that we could get cash.

We all bought bus tickets to go to the bus station, since we would be taking the train to Florence. Somehow, A and I managed to get tickets on the express bus, which meant no stops, and Maureen got on a bus that had a billion stops. Wifi was very hard to come by, and it was HOURS before we reconnected. In the meantime, A and I went for a very expensive ride in a gondola, then sat in a cafe until it was time to catch our train.

#dessertoftheday

The train trip took about 2 hours, and was fairly uneventful. Once we arrive in Florence, we encountered the same issue with not being able to get wifi. We wandered around the city lost for a while trying to find our hotel. The desk hours for this place were also ridiculous. Like 10 am to 1 pm. We hadn't arrived until evening, but they had left a note on a room door for us and keys.

A and I went to dinner at the brewery that was downstairs. I had some delicious pasta and A had a burger. I also finally got a nice stout beer! And the prices were so much more reasonable than other places we had been.

A was pretty pleased with her ketchup smiley face

Steps - 17,999 steps
Miles - 0

To be continued...