26.2 in Philly...

The Philadelphia Marathon was Sunday, November 22, and I have clearly been dragging my feet on writing a race report since then. I was deep in pity party mode in the immediate aftermath of the race, and to be honest, I still don't know that I have progressed much beyond that state with respect to my race. But, 26.2 miles deserves a proper recap, if nothing else than to reflect on this race for future races.

I arrived in Philly on Friday to allow myself plenty of time to take care of packet pick-up at the Expo that day and to avoid the stress of traveling the day prior to the race in terms of potential travel delays. Several Rogues were also on my flights, so it was nice to have a sense of community as we all descended on the city for the race. K didn't arrive until mid-afternoon on Saturday, so I was on my own to navigate the Expo, eat healthy meals (I highly recommend Fuel), and relax. Mission accomplished.

This is the first race that I have done since becoming a member of Oiselle Volée earlier this year. One of the amazing benefits of joining this team has been the national (and international) community of women who are a huge source of running inspiration and support to each other. Since this was a destination race for me, I was excited about the opportunity to meet other Oiselle team members who were running and providing support during the marathon. I normally don't do a shake-out run the day before a marathon, but I met up with a couple of the other girls on Saturday morning for an easy 2-mile run that included climbing "Rocky's steps" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

At Love Park

Rocky and I are ready to take on the marathon tomorrow

Had to climb "Rocky's Steps" to get here

K arrived around lunchtime ready for a cheesesteak, so we headed to Jim's so that he could indulge. I, on the other hand, did not in light of the race the next day. Then, it was time to stay off my feet until dinner with more of the girls from Oiselle that night.

Early to bed, early to rise for race day! I opted to get an early start and walk over to the start area from our hotel, as we had been encouraged to get there early to avoid any delays going through security to enter the start area. The weather was on the chilly side (in the low 40's), which I was super excited about having survived another summer of training through the Texas heat. However, there was a fairly strong wind (15-20mph) coming from W/NW (more on that later). Unfortunately, the start of the race was delayed (I'm not entirely sure why), and my corral didn't start until almost 7:30am, which meant that I had been in the cold for nearly an hour since stripping off my warm clothes for the gear check. Brrr...

First flight in my team singlet

One of my concerns going into this race was that my piriformis muscle had been agitated in the final weeks before the race. I ran five 20-milers in my training leading up to this race, which I think was ultimately too much for my body. I had a massage on Wednesday before the race, and I had been icing and stretching like a mad woman until race time. It ached so badly on Friday night before the race that I had significant difficulty sleeping. So, I was fully expecting that the dull ache would rear it's ugly head in the second half of the race. The challenge that I was expecting to face was how much discomfort would I be willing to tolerate when push came to shove in those later miles. As it turned out, the challenge ultimately came from a different source - for better or worse.

One of the local Oiselle runners wrote this great piece with tips on running the race. And, I think it was pretty accurate.

My race was definitely a tale of two very different half-marathons....

Here's a description of the first half of the course from the race website: From the history-steeped streets of Old City, through one of the liveliest stretches of Center City, across the Schuylkill and through the campuses of University City, up through the bucolic trails of Fairmount Park, and back down to canvas the banks of the river.

How it played out for me:

I started at the front of my corral, so I never felt too boxed in during the first mile with everyone jockeying for position. However, that may have worked to my disadvantage, as I was able to take advantage of the open road in front of me and actually run. I was out of the gate faster than I should have been. To my surprise, I saw K shortly after the first mile, which was an unexpected treat. There was some construction in the next mile or so that narrowed the road in a brief section so things got more crowded there, which was probably good as it likely helped to slow me down a bit. I also saw a fellow Rogue who I ran with years ago and gave him a shout-out as I passed. We wound through the historic streets and made our way through the city center where the crowds got extremely thick on Chestnut Street. I was expecting to see the Oiselle cheer spot and likely K nearby at around mile 6, but the crowds were so large and the streets so narrow that I couldn't pick out anyone. So, on I went.

We then crossed over the Schuylkill River and headed toward the university area. This is where the road went up for a bit, much more so than I was actually expecting. This beat me down a bit mentally because I was expecting more of a blip rather than actual hills. And, then I got another hilly stretch as we entered the area around the zoo. I'm not gonna lie - there was some walking up both of those sections.

I stopped for the first time to fill my water bottle (and add Skratch) at around mile 10-11. This was farther than I was anticipating going before needing my first bottle refill, but I was drinking less in the cooler temperatures. Since Skratch is my primary nutrition though, I have to be careful to ensure that I am still getting in the appropriate calories for the long haul, even when I feel that I don't need to hydrate as much while running.

As we were running along the river about to cross back over to the Art Museum, I had another unexpected K sighting shortly before mile 13. This was a nice surprise because I could already tell that it wasn't going to be my day. I waved my hand to signal to K that I needed him to run along with me for a bit. As we passed the Art Museum, the half marathoners went to the right to finish their race, while the marathoners went left to do an out-and-back section along the river for the second half of the race. And, that's where I fell apart.

Once I made that left turn around the Art Museum, I was hit by the strong headwind that I mentioned earlier. I had felt the wind here and there at various points in the first half, but not really for a sustained period of time like I was about to endure until the turnaround at mile 20. I don't know whether it was the wind, but suddenly my ear buds kept falling out and were getting to be annoying. I stopped to walk several times to fix them and also to try to mentally and physically refocus. K followed along slightly behind me on a bike path that ran along the river for a bit, but I think he knew better than to get too close to me because I would have stopped and had more of an emotional meltdown in his presence. And, I had to get myself through those remaining 13.1 miles by myself anyway, so it was best that he dropped away when he did without calling attention to it. Onward, one foot in front of another I went.

I stopped for another water bottle exchange at around mile 14-15. I know I had another refill somewhere along the way after that too, but I can't remember at what point on the course. The 3 stops that I made to fill my bottle were slower than I would have liked, mostly because I had gloves on and had difficulty getting them off to unzip the pouch on my water bottle to get the packet of Skratch out efficiently. By that point though, time was no longer a priority since my chances of meeting my "A" time goal had already dissipated.

It was a final push uphill to the turnaround point around mile 20 in Manayunk. I realized that I was a few songs on my playlist past where I wanted to be in terms of finishing the final hour to my pre-planned tunes. So, I stopped to walk and rewind a couple of songs to ensure (hopefully) that I got to finish to my girl, Kelly C. After the turnaround, I was so relieved to be out of the damn headwind and heading back in that I let my stride out a bit on the slight downhill section. Unfortunately, my left ankle caught a pothole and turned slightly. This is the same ankle that I broke in 2010, so I am always very cautious and guarded with it. I took the next few steps fairly gingerly, and I was ultimately able to soldier on. That could easily have been disastrous though.

Somehow I got myself back to the Art Museum (with a lot of fits and starts), and I had enough left in the tank for a final kick of .2 miles. I crossed the finish line with my fist in the air, even though the time on the clock above didn't meet the goal that I had set for myself in this race or fully capture the months of hard work that came before it.

2:00 first half, 2:17 second half = 4:17 marathon (for some perspective, I ran the Colorado Marathon in early May in 4:18...at altitude on a warm, sunny day)

Definitely a top candidate in the best marathon medal category

Trying to get warm on the walk back to the hotel after the race

So, where did it go wrong? Ultimately, the headwind in the second half of the race broke me mentally. And, should I have started out more conservatively in the first half? Probably. Will I ever learn to race that way? Hopefully. 

The inevitable question is what's next? I had originally planned to run the marathon in New Orleans at the end of February "for fun." However, I have ultimately decided to run LA on Valentine's Day instead and then likely run the half in New Orleans a couple of weeks later. We are planning on going to LA that weekend anyway to watch the Olympic Trials for the marathon, so why not run the marathon there the next day? I am anticipating that there will be a large Oiselle team presence at that race too because of the marathon trials, so that's a nice bonus.

I have also decided to make a huge change in my training for that race. I have been training with the Rogue Sole Survivors consistently since May 2014 - first for MCM, then Colorado, and most recently Philly. For a variety of reasons, I am going to train again with a former Rogue coach who I ran with many years ago and who K has continued to train with for the past several years. I'm excited for the change, even though it means a drastic change in my schedule as I shift to morning workouts twice during the week plus long runs on Saturday.

Welcome back to Team Mac!

olée.

Volée

Volée

A month later...

Yesterday marked a month since I ran the Colorado Marathon. So, what have I been up to since then?

Well, I took the week after the race completely off from running. Then, I started back on day 8 post-race with some easy runs. This actually fit perfectly with my group's training cycle, as many folks are building a base this month for fall marathon training. I already have a strong base after a year of consistent training that has included 2 marathons, so I reframed the focus of my runs for May as recovery. My weekly mileage has been in the 32-35 range, which is quite a drop from where I had been in the past couple of months leading up to my race. I have been running 5 days/week consistently (taking a break from running 6 days/week for May) and going to yoga multiple times per week (4 times last week!). The lower mileage has given me a nice mental break and allowed me to enjoy not having every day focused on how I am going to get my mileage in for the day, recovering appropriately with sufficient sleep and good nutrition, and doing it all over again the next day (all the while managing my practice and our household).

One great thing about this training cycle is that Sadie has joined the Sole Survivors to train for the Chicago Marathon, so it has been a joy to spend time with her and run together again after several years away. Speaking of races, I had originally slated Philly as my fall marathon, but St. George opened up to guaranteed entry after they didn't fill their cap with the lottery and I just couldn't resist signing up for that one too! Only one of those will be a goal race though because I doubt my body can handle racing two marathons in consecutive months. Since St. George is one of the earlier fall races and Philly is one of the later races, there should be sufficient time in between for recovery.

Celebrating National Running Day last night with the Sole Survivors on Exposition hills 

 

 

The weather has definitely turned warmer and more humid, so I am having to acclimate to that all over again. I'm already having to monitor my fluid intake on Saturday morning long runs because summer running = sloshy tummy for mel, more often than not. 

A couple of books that I have really enjoyed reading lately:
-My Best Race: 50 Runners and The Finish Line They'll Never Forget by Chris Cooper
-Onward! The Absolute, No B.S., Raw, Ridiculous Soul-Stirring Truth About Training For Your First Marathon by Brook Kreder
-Yoga Girl by Rachel Brathen

A couple of fun things that are coming up that I am looking forward to:
-We are going to Toronto next week to run the Nike Women's 15k.
-We are celebrating my birthday in August with a trip to Denver that will include yoga at Red Rocks and a 10k race in the foothills.
-And, not fitness-related, but we are heading to Europe for our annual summer trip at the end of the month!

CO Marathon...

K and I arrived in Denver, CO late Friday evening, May 1. There was no time to acclimate to the altitude for this Texas girl because we needed to avoid taking a day off from work since we already have K's vacation days allocated for the year. And, part of the appeal of this race was that it was easy for us to access with a short nonstop flight from ATX. The weekend was all business - the business of running a marathon.

After lunch in Denver on Saturday with a friend from my internship year up there, we made the drive up to Fort Collins. We headed straight to packet pick-up, which was a pretty straightforward affair with a small expo.

Go Fast, Take Chances #oiselle

I added a pin for South Austin

Then, we drove the marathon course, so I would be familiar with what to expect during the race. The only other time that I have done that was for my first marathon in Austin (when the course was point-to-point). I was glad that we did because I was able to get a sense for the elevation profile, which was largely a gentle downhill rather than a steep, quad-burning downhill. It also reaffirmed my suspicion that the race was really going to be divided into 2 sections - the first part through the canyon which was peaceful and scenic then the more exposed and boring section for the last 10 miles or so. I knew the temperatures would be warming up too in the latter section, so I had to be mentally prepared for a tough stretch after leaving the canyon. I had a plan though...which ended up helping in the later miles on race day (but probably didn't come soon enough).

We had my usual pre-long run pasta dinner at Noodles & Company (thank goodness for a chain restaurant) then I got everything ready for the next day.

Race day (Sunday, May 3) had an early start with my alarm going off at 3:45am. We left the hotel around 4:15am, and K dropped me off in the downtown area of Ft. Collins to catch the bus up to the race start. Taking the official buses up was the only way to get to the start. We arrived at the start around 5:15am or so, and I was greeted with a sound system blaring a song about Boston when I got off the bus (inspiring for the hopeful BQ runners) and hundreds of runners milling around. I went ahead and hit the port-o-potty before the lines got too long once the rest of the buses arrived. It was actually a bit windy so I stayed in my warm clothes and sat down in front one of the big trucks to stay out of the wind. I just took in the beauty of the moment and thought that this has the potential to be a gem of a race - much smaller and more intimate than the other big city marathon races that I have recently done and in such a majestic setting.

The marathon was capped at around 1,300 participants (and had sold out). There wasn't too much fanfare around the start - a pre-recorded version of the national anthem was played as folks started to mill around to line up for the start, mostly in relation to the pacers. I saw a woman in Rogue socks and her friend in an ARC shirt, so I said hello as we shared in the experience of being there from Austin. And, then a few minutes later, we were off! I choked up a bit when I crossed the start line thinking about how long I have been anticipating this day and it had finally arrived!

The race started at around 6,100 feet above sea level. Going into the race, I knew that how my body handled the altitude was an unknown factor that I couldn't necessarily plan for or control. So, I had just focused on what I could control - my training. I peaked at 60mpw this training cycle with several weeks at 50mpw or higher. That's definitely on the higher end for me, so I was eager to see how my body would respond with the consistent and higher mileage in my legs. I have previously run a couple of 50k trail races in the mountains at much higher elevation, but there's a definite difference between those kind of runs and trying to run a road marathon at elevation well. And, my goal for this race was definitely to run this marathon well - not simply to finish. I don't really know how to describe the impact of the elevation on my performance, but it was definitely noticeable within the first half mile. And, it's not even that I had started super fast (mile 1 was 8:58 or so). My heart rate never really felt like it was soaring and I always ran a pace that felt comfortable for me at the time, so I don't know how to describe how it affected my performance other than to say that I noticed that running that first half mile felt different than starting a run at home.

And, don't even get me started on the sun. Oof. When we drove the course the day before, K commented that I should have enough cover from the canyon walls that I shouldn't have to worry too much about it to start. So, I simply started the race wearing my visor as I normally do, and I had planned to pick up my sunglasses from K when I saw him at mile 16 or 17 as I entered the more clearly exposed sections of the race. I remember how blinding the sun was at MCM last fall, so I was trying to plan ahead for that this time around. Turns out that I needed my sunglasses from the start, as we were running directly into the rising sun from the gun. And, remember how much more intense the sun is at elevation. This did not bode well for my race.

I tried to enjoy the beauty of the course for the first few miles. It was so peaceful with nothing but the sounds of runner's footsteps and the flowing Poudre River as we went along. The miles were passing at a fairly good clip thanks to the downhill nature of the course, but I was a lot closer to the 3:45 pace group than I needed to be. I went through mile 6 in around 52 minutes, I think. But, I already knew that it wasn't going to be my day. The pace felt comfortable, so it's not that I started too fast. I was just really warming up in that direct sun...and I knew it was going to get worse. I was supposed to stop and refill my water bottle at mile 7.5-ish, but ended up going on until about mile 10 (not a good sign in terms of hydrating for how warm it was going to be later). By that point, I had already started walking in some sections - mostly when we were out of the shade. I noticed that nobody else around me had started to walk yet, so I started to worry that this was all in my head (no need to worry because the carnage was to come later for a lot of others apparently).

This was where the first water stop was located - around mile 2.5

My overall pace had slowed considerably because of the walking breaks, and I ended up going through the half in 1:58. While that is a respectable time, it was pretty disheartening at that point because I knew it could have been much faster if I hadn't started to fall apart so early from the weather. Mentally, I actually declared my race done once I reached halfway. I was done. Cooked. I didn't care anymore. But, the thing is that I still had to get back to town 13.1 miles down the road, so even though I may have resigned my race at that point, I had to keep moving forward (no matter how slowly). I knew the 4:00 hour pacers would be pulling through soon and they did. Even though I didn't really have much will, I hopped aboard and stayed with them until about 14.5 miles. The pace was nice and relaxed, but I just didn't have the will because I was so darn hot. So, I let them go, and I just tried to focus on getting to mile 16 where I knew K would be waiting. I stopped to refill my water bottle again at around mile 15...and pour some water over my head to try to cool off.

Mile 16 came and went as we exited the canyon, but I didn't see K until just past mile 17 (near the planned intersection where I knew he would be parked). That had been a tough stretch after I realized it was another mile down the road more than I expected before I would actually see him. I stopped for a couple of minutes while I told him that I was mentally done and so, so hot. I was thankful to get my shades and my iPod and overjoyed to have him surprise me with a coke (something I first appreciated at the aid stations for my trail ultra's). He asked whether I wanted him to meet me at mile 21 since that seemed to be another point that he could access fairly easily. I told him no, just meet me at the finish.

Mile 17

And, with that, I took off down the road for the next mile like I was shot out of a cannon! Wow, what a difference the caffeine and some good beats made! I was seriously flying down the road passing everyone! I knew a hill was coming around mile 19, so that would be a speedbump for my momentum, but I completely underestimated how much of a difference running with music can make. It really helped keep me happy and less focused on the negative thoughts.

Unfortunately, it didn't really help with my overheated body temperature. But, getting to run through someone spraying us down with a hose just past the mile 19 aid station was a welcome blessing. We then entered a bike path for the next few miles that pretty much broke any remaining spirit I had left. It was exposed to the sun and boring. Not many folks looked good here. When I ran, I still had nice turnover in my legs and often got encouragement from the folks I passed about how strong I looked. But, the running was always interspersed with a lot of walking by that point. K ended up surprising me at mile 21-ish, which was a nice boost because I got more of my coke here. I also stopped to refill my water bottle again at this point. I knew I had a bit more on the bike path before the race would enter more of a neighborhood section for the last 5k. The race route had apparently been changed this year due to some construction - which turned out to be a blessing because we got to get off the bike path sooner.

Mile 21

Again, I was thankful that we had driven the course the day before because I had a sense of the last few streets and turns that were ahead in the last couple of miles. I got a big boost from Kelly Clarkson - What doesn't kill you (Stronger) - at mile 24, and she took me all the way to the finish on repeat. I'm definitely not a super expressive person, but there was some fist pumping in the air at the end. I finished in 4:18 - not the time that I was hoping for, but I also didn't implode as badly as it could have been given the conditions.

 

I waited for K at the finish line - he missed my strong finish because he wasn't expecting me until a bit later given the negative sentiments that I had expressed earlier about my pace and mental state. We then drove over to one of the nearby restaurants that was offering runners and their families free pizza and beer. What a great perk!

And, with that, it was time to shower, pack, and head back to Denver to catch our 6pm flight home.

Closing thoughts:

• I am not a good warm weather runner. Period. Doesn't matter if it's humid as it is in Austin or not as it was in Colorado. 
• I think it's unclear what kind of impact the "higher" mileage and weekly yoga sessions from this training cycle had on my performance. The variables that seemed to really matter in this race were the weather (71 degrees at my finish and the direct sun exposure) and elevation. So, I guess I'll continue with that regimen, but also add another factor of trying to lose a few more pounds to see what difference that can make for the next race (I was up about 2-2.5 pounds compared to when I ran MCM last October).
•  Never underestimate the power of a coke and some music to get through the later miles.
• Even though I never really felt in a happy place mentally, it is surprising to look at the race photos of me smiling and sailing along.
• While I think of myself as someone who loves the downhill, I think I need the downhill to be mixed in more with the flat and slight uphill just for variety sake. And, definitely more downhill in the later miles as opposed to the beginning.
• I have switched over to Skratch for my hydration/nutrition, and it seemed to work fairly well in my first marathon using it. Even though I also took salt tablets during this race (starting at mile 6 once I realized how much I was heating up), I was still covered in salt at the end, so obviously I needed more.
• This is the second marathon in a row where I have been blinded by the sun. From now on, it is going to be visor AND sunglasses at the start.
• Still need to work on mental toughness. 
• Physically, the only issue I really had during the race was with my right hip. It flared up during the last few miles of my last 20 miler, and I had my massage therapist work on it a couple of times before the race. I'm sure the highly cambered road in some spots exacerbated any problems that I had with it coming into the race.

So, what's next? St. George in October (another downhill race starting at 5,000+ feet) then Philly in November....which means another summer of training in the Austin heat and humidity with my running buddies!

Wellness + Women + Costa Rica = Adventure!

Last year, my amazing massage therapist, Ann, mentioned that she was in the process of organizing a women's wellness retreat in Costa Rica in the near future, so I told her to keep me posted. After spending several weeks there last June, she contacted me while we were in Australia at the time with the details. Was I interested? Of course!

Fast forward to Monday morning when I awoke to this email from the airline:
Your flight on Jan. 28 from Houston to San Jose has been canceled due to severe weather conditions in our route network.

Thank you, Winter Storm Juno in the Northwest, for disrupting my travel plans to Central America two days later.

After 2.5 hours on hold with the airline trying to get my options sorted out and many frantic emails with my travel companions later, I was rebooked on a different flight with a connection in Honduras that was still, thankfully, scheduled to go out on Wednesday as planned.

As usual, my work schedule was hectic as I tried to wrap things up in the days leading up to my absence from the office for a week. I didn't really have a chance to exhale from that until Tuesday afternoon before it was finally time to turn my attention to the fact that I was leaving the country in the morning.

And, it was an early morning at that. K dropped me off at the airport shortly before 6am, as we wondered what it was going to be like for us to be apart for this long. As much as I was looking forward to the trip, I also knew that I was going to miss him and sharing this adventure together. At the same time though, as someone who spends much of my professional and personal life doing for others, it is good for me to have the opportunity to do something that is just for me (well, other than running).

So, I met up with one of my travel companions for the short flight to IAH where we picked up another member of our group who had arrived there on an earlier flight. Then, it was off to Honduras! Tegucigalpa to be exact. I don't even know how you pronounce that! As we were landing, one of the passengers next to me inquired whether I had ever flown into that airport before. Um, no. She warned me that we were in for a rough ride, and sure enough, she was right. Apparently, Toncontín International Airport is considered one of the (if not the) most dangerous airports in the world due to the mountainous terrain that the pilots have to negotiate through on approach and the ridiculously short runway. All of the passengers clapped on our flight when the pilot safely brought the plane down. 

After a short layover, we were on our way to San Jose, Costa Rica! We arrived without any problems (with all bags in tow), hit up the airport ATM for local currency, and went outside to find the guy holding up the sign with our names was there as promised. We had a short wait while the actual driver from our hotel came to pick us up and drove us up the mountain to our hotel for the night, Hotel Buena Vista. We quickly checked in and dropped off our bags so that we could explore the hotel area.

We took a short walk through the hotel's "coffee trail" to see the spectacular views of the city below and surrounding volcanoes, as well as the lush vegetation, beautiful flowers, and fruit and coffee trees. We started to settle into the relaxed vibe of our upcoming adventure, as we sat outside and simply admired the scenery.

"Coffee Trail" behind the hotel

Coffee Beans

I loved the brightness of the orange on this tree and the moon starting to make an appearance overhead

 

Then, it was time for an early dinner and bed soon thereafter. Adventure awaits us tomorrow as we make our way to the Osa Peninsula!

Marathon training reset!

Wow, my last training post was back in November before we went on vacation for Thanksgiving. Not surprisingly, I have had a few disruptions in my training over the holidays (which I had expected) and I will have a few more coming up as well. I knew going into this round of marathon training that I wouldn't have the same level of consistency that I had for MCM last year due to our travel plans. With that in mind, I had made plans to run the half-marathons in Dallas last month and Houston this weekend to help ensure that I didn't completely let go of my running after MCM a couple of months ago. I also committed to training with the Sole Survivors for November and December, even though I knew I would be recovering from MCM initially and then miss several of the group workouts around the holidays. So, all that being said, I commented to Angela at last week's workout that I haven't really gotten my mind wrapped around the fact that I am in fact training for a marathon right now. Now that I have these intermediate races behind me with Dallas and Houston (which I was only using as easy long runs anyway), it's time to focus on the big picture again - Colorado on May 3. I recently put together my long-run schedule for my race in May, adjusting it for known travel plans at this point. It feels more real now that I have it in black-and-white on my calendar for each week. Time to do the work!

Here's a few of the more interesting running-related events since my last post:

Meeting Olympian, Kara Goucher, at Rogue on 12/04/14

Running the half-marathon in Dallas on 12/14/14 (2:07)

Running a (free) 4k fun run with the locals in Berlin on New Year's Day

Half-marathon in Houston on 01/18/15 (2:01)

Pra-ha

Sunday, December 28 was our travel day from Budapest to Prague. It was a long journey via train – approximately 7 hours. We could have tried to break up the travel time better between cities by changing the order of how we did things. But, we knew the Christmas markets in Vienna closed on December 23, so we had to start our journey there. We are getting better at managing long train rides through Europe though (K went to pick up fresh bread and meats for us to snack on before we left the hotel this morning). And, usually the scenery is fairly spectacular so that makes things go by easily. We traveled through Slovakia on our way to the Czech Republic, and there was a lot of snow on the ground throughout the trip along with vast expanses of flat land. The landscape seemed to get more interesting as we entered the Czech Republic, but it also started to get dark so I couldn’t see as much. Upon arriving in Prague in the early evening, we walked to our hotel near the train station, and naturally, passed a Christmas market along the way. We opted for a low-key evening of getting settled into our hotel, having a surprisingly good dinner at the hotel restaurant (food note – K and I have both had goulash now, but not in Hungary where it is apparently more of a watery-stew; I had it in Vienna and he had it tonight, and we both enjoyed it), and putting our plan together for our time here. Like K said, even Le Tour has rest days!

On Monday, December 29 we woke up to snow in Prague. While it was pretty to look at it, it was somewhat treacherous to walk on the slippery cobblestones. So, we opted not to stray too far today. We are staying in New Town near Wenceslas Square, so that’s where we started our day. We stopped to say hello to the St. Wenceslas Statue in front of the National Museum then made our way down the Square through a Christmas market. 

Surprisingly, we haven’t visited too many museums thus far on this trip. Even without the cold, the Mucha Museum was on my list of must-dos for Prague, but the cold weather (temps in the teens) made it an easy decision to start with. I honestly hadn’t been aware of Mucha’s work until we started researching this part of the trip, but I took an instant liking to it. He is the founder of the Art Nouveau movement and made a name for himself as a poster artist and illustrator. I love the colors of his work, his amazing detail of the human form, and, of course, the flowers. The museum included a great video that detailed his career.

Feeling inspired by his work, we went off in search of a couple of other Art Nouveau style buildings, notably the Municipal House. We debated taking a tour of the interior, which is apparently impressive, seeing a concert later, or simply having a meal in the restaurant there. But, ultimately, we decided to move on because we still had things to see.

 

We passed under the Powder Tower next door, which is the only surviving piece of the wall that was built to defend the city in the 1400s, and entered the Old Town. We quickly found ourselves in the Old Town Square, which naturally featured a lovely Christmas market. 

 

 

 

After unintentionally grabbing perhaps the most expensive lunch one can have from a market stall, we needed to warm up so we decided to head up the Old Town Hall Tower. After a lengthy wait, we made our way up to the top and were taken aback with the beauty of the panoramic views of the city. Now, we have climbed up plenty of towers and high panoramic viewpoints throughout Europe, and the views from here just might have been the best (certainly rivaling the views of Florence from The Duomo). I’m sure the snow on the rooftops and Christmas atmosphere below added to the already spectacular views of the city with its numerous spires.

 

 

 

After rushing back down from the top to see the show on the Astronomical Clock at the top of the hour, we spent a little time exploring the market in the square before heading back into the Town Hall building to warm up while waiting for our guided tour. The tour of the building was informative, and we got to get up close and personal with the statues of the 12 apostles that parade by to outsiders on the hour.

 

 

 

 

Not wanting to brave the cold for too long, we simply headed across the square to the Gallery of Art Prague, which featured exhibitions of Dali, Mucha, and Warhol. I enjoyed the works by all three, even Dali who I usually don’t care much for. This was definitely more of an art gallery than a museum, as it didn’t necessarily feature a lot of the original works – primarily prints. But, I enjoyed it nonetheless, and it was a good use of our early evening time indoors.

 

 

Then, it was time for dinner and planning for the next day’s adventures!

We had a lot on our agenda for Tuesday, December 30. We started out by taking the metro/tram up to Prague Castle, which sits atop a hill overlooking the city and Vltava River.

 

This nearly turned into a planning fail though because, upon arriving, we had to wait in a long line for tickets to St. Vitus Cathedral (and other attractions) in the Castle complex and the Cathedral had limited hours (which would screw up our afternoon schedule if we didn't get into the Church in the morning as we had planned). But, it all managed to work out, thankfully. We started our tour with a visit to the Cathedral, which was quite grand and featured a beautiful stained-glass window by Mucha, as well as the Royal Mausoleum, tomb of St. Wenceslas, and other beautiful artwork.

 

 

Then, we dashed over to join the crowds at the top gate for the changing of the guard at noon.

We were chilled to the bone by now and went into the nearby gift shop to warm up before visiting a few other Castle sights, including the Old Royal Palace, Basilica of St. George, and Golden Lane. But, honestly, I was pretty cranky because I was cold and hungry, so I was ready to move on to food and warmth by now. After exiting the complex, we stopped for a yummy lunch at the nearby Lobkowicz Palace Cafe (thanks Rick Steves for the recommendation!). We were then treated to beautiful views of the city as we descended from the Castle Quarter.

 

We made our way on foot over to the Jewish Quarter, stopping for a photo op of the Charles Bridge (which connects the Old Town to the Little Quarter and Prague Castle and features statues along the way).

Unfortunately, we didn't have as much time as we would have liked to really take an in-depth look of all of the sights in the Jewish Quarter (most of the buildings closed at 4 or 4:30pm at this time of year). But, we made a quick run through of what we could, including the Old Jewish Cemetery, Pinkas Synagogue, Ceremonial Hall, and Klaus Synagogue. It was extremely moving to visit the Pinkas Synagogue, which is a memorial to the victims of the Nazis and has walls covered with handwritten names of the Czech Jews who died at Auschwitz and other camps. Upon exiting the building, we entered the cemetery, which was the only burial ground for Jews in Prague for centuries. As such, the tombs were built on top of each other due to limited space and the tombstones became crooked as the land resettled over time. It was an amazing sight.

We then went back to our hotel to rest and get dinner (at a great Italian restaurant across the street from our hotel) before a late evening show of Swan Lake at the Hybernia Theater. There was no orchestra used for this performance, so the music was done from a recording which was a bit disappointing. We enjoyed the dancers though, and it was a nice way to wrap up our trip to Prague.

Overall, we both really liked the city, which certainly looked more magical with the snow and holiday lights. I am sure we'll be back in warmer temperatures!