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| Savannah from the airplane |
I left work early to get myself to JFK to take my 1:45 flight
to Savannah direct. So far, this has
been the cheapest of my airfare expenses to get to a race that required an
airplane; sales were aplenty from JFK to Savannah and back, as well as to and
from Charleston, so I quickly booked those fares back in July! I decided to make an extended trip out of it,
since Savannah was only two hours south of Charleston, and visit my childhood
friend Sarah while I was in the area, and it worked out perfectly!
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| Downtown Savannah at dusk |
Only three weeks prior to Savannah, I met Andrew Martin
through my friend Donna, and he decided to run the Savannah race on a whim,
booking his flight from central Illinois to Georgia only a couple weeks before
the race weekend. We timed it perfectly that
his flight arrived fifteen minutes after mine, so after he landed, we proceeded
to the Enterprise Rent-A-Car counter located right in the airport. Very quick and easy, we got the pretty silver
Nissan Sentra (they upgraded me!) and headed over to the expo for bib pick-up.
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| #allofthebibs |
The expo was located at the Savannah International Trade
& Convention Center on Hutchinson Island, just across the Savannah River
from downtown Savannah. We crossed the
gorgeous Talmadge Memorial Bridge along US-17 to get to the expo, and
immediately found ourselves in slow moving traffic getting to the convention
center parking lot. After finally
parking, we made our way to the expo – a nice, medium sized expo, a little
larger than St. Louis’. You found your
standard Rock ‘n’ Roll expo exhibitors here, plus some booths advertising races
in the Southeast like the Gasparilla Half in Tampa, the Charleston Half, and
many others. Here, I picked up all three
of my bibs for the weekend – since I was running the half marathon on Saturday,
and then a 5K and 1 mile race as part of the “Sweet Tee Challenge” on
Sunday.
It was starting to get a little late, and Andrew and I were
getting hungry, so we headed to downtown Savannah, and went to a nice Italian restaurant
along East Bay Street, Pacci Kitchen + Bar, the restaurant within The Brice Hotel. Dinner was delicious, and they had a special
prix fixe menu for participants of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon and
Marathon. I had a delicious arugula salad
and a tasty gemelli caserecce with garden herbs, market vegetables, shaved
parmesan, and salmon, with a glass of montepulciano.
We finally headed to our accommodations, an Airbnb on nearby
Whitemarsh Island. Our host, Julia was
very accommodating, and it was a great set up since she was running the race
the next day, too. In fact, she had
guests for other Airbnb listings in another bedroom in the house and in another
house she owned next door! She even drove
into downtown with me so that I could park my rental near the finish line for
easy access after the race since she was doing the full; and she or her friend
would take us to the start in the morning.
The next morning, Andrew and I headed downtown pretty early
and were dropped off by Julia’s friend Brian near the start line, where we made
it just in time for a photo with other members of the Fifty States Half
Marathon Club on the steps in front of the US Customs House. It was a chilly morning, so I warmed up as best I could since the race
wouldn’t start for another hour. Bay
Street began to fill up rapidly with people, stretching all the way to the end
of Emmet Park. At 7:15, we were off!
The race course was great, offering me an opportunity to see
a lot of Savannah. The first couple
miles headed westward toward a poorer section of the city. It was a little sad to see several people
collecting discarded clothing along this part of the course route (since many
people rid themselves of sweatpants, sweatshirts, and jackets to shield from
the morning chill). We passed the
majestic Talmadge Memorial Bridge and toward a long stretch of highway toward
the first entertainment stage, featuring a gospel choir – great to witness at
7:30 in the chilly morning! We entered
the poorer neighborhoods of West Savannah, but still the residents in the homes
along the route in were very vibrant and jovial, cheering us on as we passed
them.
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The iconic oak trees and Spanish
Moss of Savannah
(photo from Bonaventure Cemetery) |
As we approached mile 5, we re-entered downtown Savannah,
and began to encounter throngs of spectators cheering us on. We ran around several of the historic public
squares that dot the downtown landscape.
The best part of downtown was running down Oglethorpe Avenue, enclosed
by a gorgeous canopy of live oak trees with “hanging beards” of Spanish moss
that typify this great city. Mile 8 took
us down East Broad Street and then eastward toward the more affluent areas of
East Savannah, near Truman Parkway. An
out and back took us back toward Savannah proper, and to the finish line at
Forsyth Park, where we were greeted by an awesome post-race concert with
Detroit-based Cranford Hollow and the headlining act, Phillip Phillips of
American Idol fame. I also got my “Rock
Star” Heavy Medal, commemorating my fifth Rock ‘n’ Roll race in 2014!
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Enjoying Savannah's lax open
container laws! |
After resting a little while, Andrew and I got back to my
car, left untouched, thankfully, at the spot we had parked it the night before. We spent the rest of the day discovering what
Savannah had to offer: eating some delicious barbecue at the recommended
hole-in-the-wall restaurant “Angels,” per my high school friend Jessica;
driving to the historic Bonaventure Cemetery; a quick stop back at the Airbnb
for a shower, and then off to Tybee Island for a hot minute to see the beach
(it was too cold and windy to spend much time there!), and then back to
downtown Savannah for picture taking at Chippewa Square, made famous from the
movie Forrest Gump, and drinks at various watering holes heading toward River
Street, where we were able to sample lots of pralines and decadent candies! It also helps that the city has very lax open container laws, so we just took our drinks with us in to go cups! We
finished the night at Publix supermarket to get some oft-mentioned delicious
Italian subs that definitely did not disappoint.
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Medal Haul: FIVE!!! Half, 5k, 1 mile,
Remix Challenge, #5 Heavy Medal! |
The next morning, I took Andrew to the airport for his early
morning flight and then returned back for some more sleep before I headed off
to Daffin Park for my last two races – a nice and easy 5k and 1 mile race! The 5k was fun, circling around the
neighborhood surrounding the park, and finishing at home plate in Grayson
Stadium, home of the minor league Savannah Sand Gnats baseball team. Afterwards, I made my way out of town toward
Charleston for a fun couple of days with my old friend Sarah and her family!
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Victory Headstand, as per usual!
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