I picked up Katrina around 6:15am and we headed out on vacation. We hit traffic in Atlanta for some crazy reason (I purposely avoided rush hour) but otherwise the drive was uneventful. Note: I-16 is the most boring stretch of highway you can imagine. Be prepared! Stop for gasoline/bathrooms before you hit this 100-mile stretch of nothing. There weren't even any billboards to look at! On the way down, we noticed that a lot of the exits had red and white "arms" that could come down to block them. Katrina astutely observed that this was due to storm evacuation routes. (They block the exits so both sides can be used to route evacuees.)
We drove through a tiny corner of Savannah on our way to Tybee Island. I was so excited to see the huge live oaks with the mossy overhangs and the adorable pastel-colored houses.
Then, we finally crossed over to Tybee Island and I was even more excited to see palm trees and creeks filled with tall grasses. When we got to the hotel, my excitement was crushed. The website said the hotel had been recently renovated. If renovated means a coat of paint on the outside and possibly some carpet in the hallway, then maybe you can call it renovated. However, we were assigned a room that was dirty. (cobwebs were everywhere, which means it couldn't have been cleaned recently). The telephone didn't work. The main lamps didn't have light bulbs, and there was a giant bug in the toilet. When I complained, they moved us down two rooms to one that was equally gross. Luckily, Katrina travels with Lysol and sprayed down the beds. We quickly made our way out of the room and down to the beach. (Oh, and did I mention we were on the first floor and our door opened to the PUBLIC beach parking lot!))
The beach itself was gorgeous and the big sand dunes with the tall oat grass made it feel very different than any other beaches I've been to.
We walked around a bit and had dinner at Fannie's. (live music and a funny, flaming bartender who told us he'd lived just about everywhere, including Alaska and he and his partner just picked up and moved to Savannah on a whim!) After that, we drove around and found the famous Tybee Lighthouse and then came back to the room to crash.11/6/15
This morning, we hit the road toward Savannah, stopping at the Bonaventure Cemetery on the way. We happened upon the statue to Gracie. (I'd read about this one in guidebooks. The little girl died around the age of 6 from pneumonia. Her father was an innkeeper and to this day, it's said that she haunts the place.) Savannah loves its ghost stories. When we got to Savannah proper, we found that there is NO parking available in the city. Luckily, we put the Visitor's Center into the GPS and not only found reasonable ($7 for the day) parking, but also found a great sighseeing trolley. This one had actors who boarded periodically and told stories about the area. We saw Forrest Gump (the famous "Life is like a box of chocolates..." bench is in Savannah.) We also saw the Waving Girl (who is on the race medal). The story goes that this young woman was supposed to be wed and her beau was shipped off. She waited for him for 44 years, waving her kerchief at every ship that landed. We saw the Old Pink House (a fancy restaurant these days), the city courthouse (with a gold top), the beautiful cathedral, the birthplace of Juliet Lowe (founder of the Girl Scouts), the First African Baptist Church (the one Porsha visited on Real Housewives of Atlanta, revealing that she thought the Underground Railroad was a real train), and all the famous 22 squares making up the city. We also went by many of the famous restaurants like Lady and Son (Paula Deen's restaurant) and some of the ones Anoop recommended like Vinnie Van Go-Go's. We rode up and down Albecor and Bull Streets. The timing worked out perfectly because as our tour ended, Christina was just getting into town and we met her and walked around a bit, ate a yummy Italian meal at Corlione and then boarded the ferry to the island with the Convention Center where we picked up our race packets. Then, it was back to the horrid hotel early to get ready for race day. Unfortunately, I was an anxiety-riddled mess and only slept around 2.5 hours the entire night.
11/7/15
I started getting ready at 3:45am and Christina rolled her bag down to our room (she checked out after the race to drive home). We got on the 5am trolley into town and made it to our corrals with a lot of time to spare. The humidity and fog was thick. I was so scared that I wouldn't be able to make my projected 2:05 that I didn't go all the way up to my assigned corral (8). Instead I stopped at corral 11 where the 2:15 pacer was lined up. I think that was a mistake because I spent a lot of energy trying to get around slower runners at the beginning. In fact, this race was so big and so poorly organized, that I never actually got out of the "pack." I've done huge races before (like Disney) and it's always jam-packed at the start, but the crowd always thins out quickly and you can find your groove and some breathing room pretty easily. That wasn't the case with this race. I was smashed up against other runners for the entire course. The streets were often narrow and people were coming to a dead stop right in the corners, so we were always having to scoot around each other. I had expected the course to be beautiful and take us through the historic sections, but we ran through some of the poorest, most run down areas I've ever seen. (Tiny houses that looked like they were on the verge of falling down. There were lots that had signs posted on the front doors saying "Condemned by the city due to code violations.") We also ran on a section of the interstate. I knew it was humid, but I don't remember feeling hot. It was more sticky and hard to breathe. I found out later it was 78 degrees with 95% humidity. There was not enough water anywhere on the course. Hundreds of us were trying to hit the water tables at the same time and they were offering us an individual cup to hold while they poured it. It was a nightmare. There was no Gatorade. The water stations weren't marked so you had no idea when they were coming, even if they had been properly staffed. There weren't even good mile markers. I was feeling strong by mile 8 and even started to be upset with myself that I hadn't pushed a little harder. Then, I hit a wall. It was so hard to keep going when I couldn't get hydrated. At mile 11, I took a little cup from a kid on the side of the street. I thought it was juice. Imagine my surprise when it was BEER! As thirsty as I was (and yes, beer has carbs!) I spit it out and threw the cup down. I had passed the 2:15 pacer miles back but she caught and passed me at mile 12. When I finally crossed the finish line (2:16:58), I staggered through the crowd as best I could, but the spectators were surrounding the finish line and not letting anyone through. I grabbed a banana, some more water and some chocolate milk and several snack bags and tried to get OUT of the course, but I kept getting pushed and couldn't go anywhere I managed to find a break in the crowd and headed toward a big mossy tree in the shade. I started to sit down and then things got dark and I was magically in the dirt and people were stepping on me. It was awful. I turned my phone on and messages from my dad and Melissa came in. I was so emotional, I burst into tears. Melissa called me and I boo-hooed that I would never do another one. I laid under the tree until Christina finished and then we caught the shuttle back to Tybee. The shuttle driver was hilarious (Cindy). She kept up a steady stream of stories and even tried to turn into Parker's (a gas station chain) to get beer for a couple of the guys. Thank god they told her they were only kidding. She did take a group to Arby's after she dropped us off, though!
Christina and I took our medals out onto the beach and took some photos. Finally, we showered and went to Spanky's for lunch. Christina left and Trina and I decided to drive back to town. It started to rain and we stopped at Savannah Bee Company in Wilmington (just outside Savannah). I think both of us thought we were going to have to turn around and go back due to rain so we tried to find something to entertain us. Savannah Bee company actually turned out to be really fun! The owner told us about all the different kinds of honey, including tupelo which is very rare because it only blooms a few days out of the year and the previous year's crop hadn't come in. We both bought a small set of honey and miraculously when we came back outside, it had stopped raining! We circled forever to find parking but finally found a great garage just near the City Market. We had to-die-for chocolate martinis at Lulu's Chocolate Bar. (The Milky Way for me and the White Chocolate for Trina, followed by a "shot" of Lulutini) We walked around City Market which is a fun pedestrian area filled with shops and live music. Trina got a slice of pepperoni at Vinnie Van Go-Go's and I got a Georgia Peach Sangria in a to-go cup! (You can walk around the streets with your alcohol like you can in New Orleans). We also tried a bunch of the famous cookies at Byrd's Cookie Company. My favorite was the Scotch Oatmeal, made famous in 1924. I also liked the Georgia Peach cookie. Neither of us bought cookies (though I was SO tempted). I did buy a little bracelet for Melissa for her b-day and some gourmet dog treats (sweet potato and honey) for Stella. There were tons of runners walking around with their medals and t-shirts. I wish I had thought to do that! It's funny to see how we were all walking (clearly very sore!). We finally headed back to Tybee and went to bed. This time, I slept like a rock.
11/8
We got up fairly early and walked along the beach one last time. It was SO windy on the pier that I wondered how the birds were able to stay upright. Then, it was back on the road again. Luckily, Trina drove a lot so I could wiggle around and get more leg room. All in all, it was a great trip. Although I would never, ever do that race course again, I would love to come back to Savannah one day!!!
