Happy Halloween

From Queen Emily (and me).

News from Around the South Jersey Shore

The Borgata's shutting down their newer building, the Water Club, mid-week again. BAD NEWS.

Oh, shore politics.

In case you forgot, it's still birding season in Cape May.

Update on a new station that will connect the NJ Riverline and NJ Transit, which will make another way to take the train to Atlantic City.

Is Atlantic City in a "death spiral"?

Another call to pass the Atlantic City smoking ban (I am 100% for this, by the way).

Alright kids: I'm not going to be doing a "here's what to do down the shore on Halloween post" for a very good reason: WORLD SERIES! The first home game takes place on October 31. As far as I'm concerned? Halloween's taking a back seat this year.

Series Time

In case you haven't heard, the Phillies are playing the Yankees in the World Series. This is sending everyone in an even greater tizzy than last year -- Turnpike series!

Blog regular Steve Chernoski spent the weekend interviewing folks in the middle of the state about how they cheer for and why. While I'm over my head in work and sister-wedding-related issues, enjoy:

Update

Winners! Turns out that there was a mix up with the timing chip, and the Running Tillies *DID* come in third place for the co-ed relay on Sunday at the Asbury Park Relay Marathon. Official team time: 3:41:00. Woo hoo!

Running with me in that picture is Brian Devers, who finished his first marathon on Sunday. Congrats, Brian!

I'm surprised at how un-sore my legs were yesterday, which was great news since I went to the Bruce Springsteen concert last night and barely sat down for three hours. He played the Born to Run album from start to finish -- perfect since it's largely about Asbury Park and I listened to the album before running my loops on Sunday.



Great show. I was one PATCO stop away from seeing the last swing of the Phillies game, but that's OK. The Boss was worth it (though I think I have a few decades of Spectrum slime on my shoes now).

Now: I'm off to DC for a few days. I'm not even unpacked from Sunday, but I'll be ready. I think someone doesn't want to see me go. She opened up my gym bag for this one:

Running Photos

Tillie! Lots of Tillies yesterday, from the medals to pumpkins to, of course, the Wonderbar. I ran the marathon in a relay team -- I did the last 10.1 miles, so I had some time to snap pictures.

The marathon was eight loops through Asbury Park, and part of the course was inside Convention Hall. It was also where we finished.


Here are a few pics from Sunday's relay marathon.

Rain much?



Tillie!



Strong finish.



Know the worst time to take someone's picture? After she's run 10.1 miles in a beach storm:



After the race, we went to the Wonderbar. Oh my God, what a great idea -- the cheeseburger was PERFECT. And even though I still think Congress Hall has the best bloody marys at the Jersey Shore, for a beer bar? The Wonderbar does a great job.

The only black mark on the day? The staff at Bird, a shop in Convention Hall. Guys, there was absolutely no reason for you to be rude to the runners. We did not, as you said, put you out of business for the day. YOU put yourself out of business for the day. The Asbury Park Relay Marathon brought 700+ runners and their family and friends to Convention Hall and your doorstep on a cold, rainy, windy day in October. Where else were you going to get that foot traffic on an abysmal day? Yelling at us was uncalled for, and won you no customers where you might have picked up a few that day.

Anyway, despite the crud weather and being yelled at by a shop keeper, I had a great time and am happy with my times. If I can run through that kind of weather, I should be fine during the Philadelphia Half Marathon. I'm feeling better than I thought I would today. My legs aren't that achey, and my hip, which has been giving me problems, feels fine. I'm ready for the Boss concert tonight -- born to run!

Born to Run

The Running Tillies sure ran. The question is -- how fast?

By our calculations, our two-man relay team finished the Asbury Park Relay Marathon in about 3:40. But according to the first results we're seeing, we've been assigned a 4:22:50, and another team got 3:41.

At 4:22, I'd already eaten two bananas, changed, and was looking for a beer. I was our last runner. The splits don't line up at all. If it was a small amount of time that was off, I wouldn't care. But that's 40 minutes. So we're going to see what's what.

Why's it matter? For finishing the marathon, you get a paperweight engraved with your team and time (it'll be mailed in a few weeks), so it'd be nice to have the right time. Also, 3:41 would put us in third place for a co-ed marathon team. Not bad when you've only got two runners.

Whatever the official time, it was a grueling race. The cold and rain didn't help, but it was nothing compared to those 30mph wind gusts. On one turn, it literally grabbed my first and told it to head westward. Not fun.

I'm tired, and up only because of the Phillies game. I took a lot of pictures, so I'll post them soon.

Until then -- I'm seeing Bruce Springsteen tomorrow night. Can you guess what marathon relay t-shirt I'm wearing?

News from Around the South Jersey Shore

OH NO! LUCY'S HURT! Lucy the Elephant has been wind damaged. Unfortunately, she has a 25,000 wind damage deductible. No word on her healthcare policy.

I've got to get to the Schiavo Library, the new Strathmere Library, next time I'm in town.

The New York Post takes a look at casino deals.

The Walk in Atlantic City is expanding.

This story is so bizarre that I'm going to leave it to the expert to tell you about it.

Yikes, Sea Isle.

Is Resorts being taken over soon?

This looks like fun: wine train.