Friday, March 2, 2018

Johnny Mac House of Spirits Train Run (Asbury Park, NJ)

While this run was not a race by any means, it was a fun experience despite some miserable weather, so I decided to recap it on its own instead of just a brief summary on my weekly training log.

Before this, I had never done a train run. In short, a train run is where you take the train to where you want to start, then run back. The Jersey Shore Running Club puts on one where you take the Asbury Park train to either Bradley Beach, Belmar, or Spring Lake, depending on how far you want to run. I saw it and had eight miles planned for last Sunday, so I decided to make it part of my long run and take the train down to Spring Lake.

Even though this was not a race, I decided that I still had to sparkle AND rep my We Run Social crew! It was Phoenix Marathon weekend, which is pretty much the We Run Social anniversary, so I broke out my hoodie for the occasion. ;-)



I woke up on Sunday and saw rain. Just, ugh. I would have ran at the gym if I didn't already pay for the run. So I grabbed my poncho and down to Asbury Park I went. I did not get the mile and a half that I was planning on because of the weather, but I would be okay with what I got. 

Check in for the run was at Johnny Mac's, which is where you got your train ticket (included in the price of the run). Once I got my ticket it was a lot of mingling until we went to the train station at about 10:30 (train was scheduled to depart at 10:58).

We then went to the train station for the national anthem played by Trumpeting Dave (if you've never ran a JSRC race, you wouldn't get it) and some photo ops before getting on the train.
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Soon enough, we were on the train, and there were actually a handful of us who were going long and making the trip down to Spring Lake. 

I started off okay, but soon enough, the weather took its toll on me, I got separated from the pack, and I was going solo. Which normally would be fine, but on a wet day like that one, it was not a fun run. My feet got SOAKED within two miles, so going for another four(ish) with wet feet was MISERABLE!

Because of the weather, it was very slow going. I got back on a main road and cut it short by about three tenths of a mile. Definitely not my fastest, but I am proud of myself for not backing out and sticking with it through some tough wind and rain. 
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I made it back to Johnny Mac's, where I checked back in for my souvenir shirt and drink ticket. After I got my drink (Miller Lite never tasted so good), I got my ticket to get pizza. I thought it was a slice, maybe two. WRONG! It was a whole bar pie. So worth it. I spent a few hours hanging out with other runners, and got home at about 3:00. 

Other than the weather (which is out of our control), this was a fun experience! Train runs are pretty cool, going somewhere I normally wouldn't. It was also nice to get to hang out with other runners. Pizza, a drink, shirt, and a train ticket at $25 was a pretty sweet deal. I would totally do this again, but hope for better weather.  

How about you? Have you ever done a train run?

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