Rutgers University
New Brunswick, New Jersey

Saturday, April 16, 2011 - Sunday, April 17, 2011

In Jill's quest to become a member of the 'Half Fanatics', the UNITE Half Marathon at Rutgers University would be race number two (race one was the Princess Half, and race three would be the Bridge Run in Binghamton). We left on Saturday morning, making the drive to New Brunswick, New Jersey. Our first stop along the way was at the expo, which was held at the Sonny Werblin Recreation Center. There, Jill picked up her bib and other race goodies, and we wandered through the vendors they had. Upon exiting the expo, it started to rain (and rain hard!). We knew we were in for a wet weekend at this point!

To the car, and it was off to our digs for the night - The Heldrich Hotel, a beautiful find by Jill! We skipped between the rain drops from the parking ramp to hotel and checked in. After settling in the room, we walked down George Street in search of some lunch. We found the Harvest Moon Brewery and stopped in for a bite. Good meal, nice space. After lunch it was back to the hotel.

Saturday night, in an attempt to find something to do that didn't involve staying in the hotel, but did involve staying as dry as we could, we drove to the Menlo Park Mall to walk around a bit. When we had exhausted all of the stores we wanted to see there, it was time to 'carb up' for Jill. We found a really good Italian restaurant near the mall called Villa Gennaro. Very good food, and a nice find (since we love the local places!). After dinner, we made our way back to the hotel so that Jill could get some sleep before her big race on Sunday.

Sunday morning we got up, got ready, and Jill headed off to the tram stop. She would be shuttled from the finish line area to the start line. Mike and I soon followed, choosing instead to walk all the way to the start. Along the way, we heard people talking about the flooded areas of the course, and that they were going to have to cut the race short. This was bad news for us, because a 'requuirement' for the Half Fanatics was, well, that you run a half marathon. If the course was shortened, the mileage wouldn't count. This, in fact, is what happened. Jill had a great time, a PR in fact, and scored a really cool medal, but in the end the main reason we came to Rutgers wasn't 'realized'. We would need to find her another race to run in the near future (she only had 90 days to complete three halfs to make it in).

Mike and I cheered Jill across the finish line, and afterwards we all went back to the hotel. Jill changed, we packed the room up and headed out. We drove back over to the race area so Mike could go to the Rutgers Grease Trucks. As seen on Man vs Food, Mike wanted to have a 'Fat Darrel'. Quite the sight watching him power through it too! Jill and I opted to not have anything from the 'grease' trucks, instead we searched out a lunch spot for ourselves once Mike was finished with his sandwich. We found Panicos Brick Oven Pizza, a good spot for just the right meal on a damp and cool Sunday afternoon. After lunch, we hit the road and drove back to Binghamton.


Jill's racing attire


Pre-race, man it was cold!


Jill in the home stretch!


Jill and I post-race


Mike's pretty excited for the grease trucks


Mike polishing off the 'Fat Darrel'

Total Mileage: 380 Miles

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Page Last Updated: July 27, 2011