German Vacation Recap – Neuschwanstein Castle – Part 3

Missed Part 1? Part 2? Visiting Neuschwanstein Castle (pronounced Noy-Schvan-Stein) was next on our itinerary.  While researching points of interests and routes from Berlin to Munich, this beautiful castle appeared on dozens of "must see" lists.  If you Google "Barvaria" there are hundreds of pictures of Neuschwanstein on the first page.   Neuschwanstein Castle was built on on a hill above the village of Hohenschwangau or Schwangau near Fussen.  The palace was commisionsed by "crazy" Ludwig II as a personal retreat.  The castle was…

German Vacation Recap – Rothenburg ob der Tauber – Part 2

Missed Part 1?  Berlin was an amazing city (and I look forward to returning in September 2017), but Cliff and I were super stoked to begin our trip to Rothenburg ob der Tauber along the Romantic Road <-- cue awww.  The Romantic Road is a 200 mile + highway between the cities of Wurzburg and Fussen, linking dozens of towns and castles. These small towns are quintessentially German - if you close your eyes and think medieval Europe or Barvaia, this is what…

German Vacation Recap – Berlin – Part 1

Cliff and I spent nine fun days exploring Germany despite my little fall.  I posted a recap of the 2016 Berlin Marathon + Spectating last month, but in order to share ALL the details and pictures (this post is picture heavy) I wanted to document the trip in a four part series (by city). I know several of my running buddies and readers are planning trips for next year's marathon, so I wanted to start off with our trip city itinerary:  September 22-26: Berlin  September 26-27: Rothenburg ob…

Year in Review – 2016 Running by the Numbers

A double post for the last day of the year (again)!  If you have been following my Running by the Numbers posts the past few years (2013, 2014, 2015) I introduced an infographic last year to highlight my year in running.  I decided to do the same for 2016! (my poor poor Excel spreadsheet, it will be revived one day).  I am also linking up with Courtney for the Year of Running 2016.   If I were to choose one word to…

Year in Review – 2016 Medals (Bling Bling)

Happy New Year's Eve! Keeping with tradition, here is my 2016 medal collage (smaller this year).  If you would like to see 2014 and 2015 they are here and here. Enjoy! My Favorite Medal: Marine Corps 17.75K Largest Medal: Gate River Run 15K Favorite Maryland Medal: Frederick Half Marathon Relay  Most Unique/Favorite Runner Up: St. Jude Memphis Half Marathon  This one is also a spinner medal! What was your favorite medal this year? 

2016 Berlin Marathon Expo + Good News + Spectating

This year the Berlin Marathon Expo also known as the Expo BERLIN VITAL was held at the Station de Berlin.  In previous years the expo was located at an old airport hanger (which looked so cool). I am not sure why they changed the location, but Station de Berlin is much closer to the city center.  Here is an excerpt from their website for a little history 101:  The history of STATION-Berlin begins around the same time as the birth of…

Before the Fall – My 2016 Berlin Marathon Countdown

Editor's Note: Hello everyone! Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving with your friends and family.  The 2017 Berlin Marathon lottery results will be announced over the next two days, how exciting! I thought it would be a good time to share my 2016 Berlin Marathon Countdown post that I prepared before the marathon.  I was planning on sharing it before our flight to Germany, but we all know what happened the night before.  I have some fun posts lined up (foot update,…

Auf Wiedersehen Deutschland – Goodbye Germany

Auf Wiedersehen Deutschland - Goodbye Germany! Whenever I say goodbye in German I automatically think of Heidi Klum at the end of a Project Runway episode.  Anyways... I'm back home (we actually returned home Friday evening).  Overall it was a fun trip despite the bum foot. Toeing the Berlin Marathon blue line.    Next week I'll share my marathon planning post and my travel recaps (including all things Berlin Marathon and some exciting news I learned while I was there).  My foot…

Berlin Marathon Update

Hello from Berlin.  I have a mini update for everyone.  If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen the below picture on Wednesday morning.  What happened?! Tuesday evening I was going downstairs to throw the trash away (gotta keep the fruit flies away).  I was on the third to last step and, for some reason, I thought it was the last one.  I stepped down, anticipating the floor, and I fell.  The top left foot bore the weight of my fall.  There were…

2016 Annapolis Running Classic A-Team + Discount!

This past May the Annapolis Running Classic team asked if I was interested in returning as an Annapolis Running Classic Ambassador Team member aka the A-Team (search #NapRunATeam on social media). Of course I accepted!  The Annapolis Running Classic will be held on Saturday November 19, 2016.  There is a post race party with soup, beer and oysters.  I ran this race for the first time in the fall of 2013 - when I started getting into running again and blogging and again…