3 States in Less Than 7 Days!

Ok, so I'm a little behind on blogs. I FINALLY got my pictures off of my iPhone to share with all of you from my IL/MO/NC trips! :) I know I blogged about O'Fallon, IL - I DID get in St. Louis, MO and the next week I ran in Wilmington, NC! Crazy couple of weeks but some good times were had. The run I was really excited to tell all of you about was my 6 miles in Missouri. I really wanted to run in the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Park beneath the St. Louis Arch but I also wanted to do Forest Park (I mentioned earlier is about 500 acres larger than Central Park in NY and beautiful!). With everything we had going on and the distance of the parks from where we were staying in IL, I had to get them in on the same day! I set out early on my Saturday morning on a 40 minute drive from O'Fallon to St. Louis. I drove straight to a parking lot we'd noticed about a mile from the arch when we were there earlier in the week. This is my view running up to the park. (I brought my iPhone with me tucked into my sports bra since I was by myself in a strange place - was great to have so I could snap some pics to share! Click on the pics to see them larger!)


I had to climb up these stairs and had the view of the capital when I got to the top. Very cool!


When I got to the arch after the long drive and the mile run, I ran around the park for a bit.


Then of course needed to potty. What a geek I looked like going into the underground tourist entrance for the arch all sweaty and in my running clothes - I had to go through security and put my water belt through the x-ray, then my knee braces went off when I walked through the metal detector! The guy was nice enough just to feel them for the metal rather than make me take them off. I went in and hit the bathroom, then of course, since I didn't hit up the Arch store earlier in the week I went in there with the $20 I put in my water belt as a "just in case" and bought a magnet for us and a pin for a friend for about 7 of those dollars. Silly, I know, but hey...who knows when I'll be back, if ever! Came out of the underground and realized it was a real treat to be running right along the Mississippi - I went and dipped my hands in the muddy water just to say I did!


I even saw a Lewis and Clark statue on the way back to the car right along the river!


Got back to the car and headed about 6 miles away to Forest Park. I had just finished about 2 miles total at the arch and needed to get in 4 miles here. BEAUTIFUL park! I passed by museums, sports teams practicing - even some "medieval knights" practicing with real swords that had protective covering on them that almost looked like big sword shaped potholders! I contemplated taking a picture but didn't want to make a mockery out of them since I was actually really impressed as I ran by watching them. A beautiful morning in the park - I wish I had all day there but we had to get to our cousin's wedding (and get the groom there early!). Here are some shots from the park - I highly recommend checking it out if you are in the area.


So that was Missouri. I went to North Carolina on business the following week. I did get in some running there but it was unfortunately NOT on the beach. We made it to the beaches for couple dinners, but since my coworker isn't a runner and the car was in his name it didn't quite work out to make it back for a run on the beach. Still enjoyed a few miles on the treadmill at the hotel and a few miles around the hotel (literally around the hotel in the parking lot!). It was really nice outside so it was definitely enjoyable! Here is what the beaches were like - next time I'm running along there! I did get to put my feet in the Atlantic finally, though!