Erin's new baby boy - Jackson James!

Erin's last day at work - Friday, October 16th. She looks pretty happy to be leaving...


I don't know why she would be - look at this screen - absolutely fascinating!!!

Erin & her husband Matt welcomed their little one the following Thursday, so she didn't have to wait very long.

Jackson James Ponte
10/22/09
6 lbs. 12 ozs. – 20 ½ “ long
At 12:07pm

Isn't he the cutest thing? All boy, with very long fingers. He's going to be a great Red Sox pitcher someday (or Cubs...)

He's already been to a Halloween party and out to lunch with the girls. What could be better?!?

Pa Raffa's with Erin, Nancy, Ana, Rochelle, Marina, Leslie, Pauline, Steph, and Jackson!

Pumpkin Hat :)

Off he goes onto another adventure in his handy dandy Bob stroller!

Washington D.C. weekend - Marine Corps Marathon

What a weekend! Chris & I decided in early 2009 that we would run another marathon, since we weren't planning on doing a 'big' triathlon. We chose the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C. 10/25/09. It's been on my wish list for a while. Our last 'marathon only' event was New York City marathon 2004 (it was our 5th marathon together). Well, training and racing them never gets any easier. We had a very good weekend though - our fastest marathon and no yelling (just a little bit of complaining from me - but very little...) - a great way to end our 2009 season!

Chris had a business meeting in the D.C. area earlier in the week, so I flew down on Friday night and met him in Baltimore. He happened to be traveling with a co-worker who was also doing the marathon. We all jumped in a cab together, since we were staying in hotels all the way across town. 1 1/2 hour cab ride later..., we checked into our hotel room and grabbed some dinner. Early to bed, as Friday night's sleep was the most important of the weekend.

Our only plans for Saturday were to go to the marathon expo and pick up our race packets. Good thing, since it rained a lot all day. The expo had a ton of vendors, race advertisers, and guest speakers. We didn't spend too much time there. We've done it all and have seen it all before. I was going to take a picture, because it is a sight, but I completely forgot. We just picked up our race packets and bought new race belts that would hold our race #'s and gels (fuel for the run). Oh yeah, Chris did find a vendor that was getting rid of last season's running shoes - so he found his favorites & bought 2 pairs (for $30 each), and another pair of racing flats (very light weight running shoes for short distances). He was very excited, since his running shoes usually cost $130 a pair - and he got 3 pairs for only $90!

Sunday, race day, was sunny and cool - a great day for running. We were up around 6 am and walked a couple blocks to the bus shuttles to the start. Our hotel wasn't far from the starting line, but we didn't know exactly how to get there, so we took the shuttle. Won't do that again! Hundreds of people in line for the bus, so it took way too long to even get onto a bus. Luckily the line wound around through a parking garage where it was nice and warm. It's now about 7:40 am, and the race starts in 20 minutes - yikes! We made it to the starting area at 7:50, but we were still 1/2 mile away from the actual starting line. Good lord, we actually had to run (after a quick stop at a porta pottey) to the starting line, of a marathon!! Like we weren't going to be running enough as it was. Oh well, lesson learned - get up extra early if you plan to take a shuttle!

21,000 runners, and we started toward the back. Yuck. We tried to maneuver our way a little closer tothe starting line, but the cannon went off before we could get too close. We were Off, and walking... So many runners, such narrow streets... It took us 10 minutes to cross the starting line. Good thing they give us little timing chips to wear on our shoes, so we get our actual time - not just the clock time. We did manage to run some once we crossed the starting line. The streets were still narrow, and there were still a lot of runners - it was hard to get into a good running pace. Chris & I planned to run each mile, and then take a 30 second walk break at the water stations, so we could get down good amounts of fluid. Well, they didn't have water stations at each mile, and the streets were still so crowded, we couldn't do our walk breaks. The first water station was at mile 3, so we took our walk break, and drank some powerade and water. We continued on, and on, and on. I kept hoping the crowds would thin, or the streets would widen (or the miles would get shorter LOL), but no such luck. We would find little pockets of running room, but they wouldn't last too long. The scenery was great though - running along the Potomac river, and the streets of Virginia and D.C. - pretty neat. You can't do this every day. There were more hills than we expected. No fun running up, but love the downhills! We ran past the Washington Monument, the Mall, the White House (we missed seeing this, since it was behind some trees), Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and the Capitol. It's so great that they close such major streets down, and let us run down them. There were a lot of spectators lining the streets too. Sometimes they were a little too close - especially on the narrow streets. I almost took a couple out!! A lot of kids holding their hands out for 'high 5's'. I normally slap their hands, but with all the flu warnings, I avoided them this marathon. Sign of the times, I guess. Chris & I maintained a good pace until mile 16. My stomach was giving me issues (infrequent water stations, and the powerade wasn't digesting well). I told Chris that I was going to push to mile 20, then maybe walk it in. He said 'let's see how you feel at mile 20 - don't give up yet'. My stomach issue did go away somewhat, but I started getting a lot of cramping (charley horses in my shins, calves, feet). This was also due to me not getting enough water. I'm a heavy sweater, so I need to drink a lot. Chris doesn't sweat as much, so he wasn't as affected. At mile 20, I had to start adding extra walk breaks in. I was running 1/2 mile, walking for 1 minute, then running another 1/2 mile. I was able to run through the cramping, but I was just plain tired and weary. Chris was feeling great though. He said his mind was in a great place, and he was having a great day. I told him to go on ahead, not to wait, but he said that I helped him through the Louisville Ironman marathon portion, and he was going to help me through this marathon. He kept rallying me, and I kept struggling on. The last few miles of a marathon are so hard. You know that there are only 2 miles left, and you can usually run 2 miles in your sleep, but after running 24 miles, 2 more miles is like 10. We finally made it to the last .2 miles - and we had to run up a hill - a very very very steep hill - leading up to the Iwo Jima Memorial. Yeah, the Finish line and a new personal record - 4 hours 23 minutes!

Now we just had to shuffle along with the thousands of other runners who finished with us - through the chutes, to get our medals, water, and finish line food. I was a weeble wobble - I needed water and food pretty badly. Usually Chris finishes races feeling like that, but this time it was me. Once I got my box of Cheerios, and a bottle of water, I started feeling better. We sat on the ground for a little while and chatted with other finishers. Then we headed back to the shuttle buses, so we could get to our hotel room, shower and have lunch!

Happy finishers!!

After a hot shower and lunch, and a little down time watching NASCAR, I decided that we needed to spend a little time sight seeing.

Hey, we need to take advantage of a beautiful day in D.C. Plus it would be a good idea to stretch our legs... 4 hours of sightseeing later (and probably 6 miles of walking, oops) we were back at the hotel & off to dinner. Here's what we saw on our walking journey of D.C.

Lots of museums - which one should we visit? We only had one hour before they all closed...

We chose... Museum of American History (they had a transportation section...)

Chris looking at the cars :)

Hey, it's the Jean Anne!! (see below - my captions precede my photos...) A ship built by my last company - Pasha. It hauls cars from San Diego to Hawaii. And it's in the Smithsonian - pretty neat!


Pretty cool train

White House, obviously... While we were taking some pictures, the front door of the White House opened, and Bo (Obama's portuguese water dog) came bounding out - for a bathroom break on the front lawn. Niiiicccccee.

Washington Monument & Jefferson Memorial in the far distance (we ran pretty close to these during the marathon)
Reflecting Pool, Washington Monument, Capitol (in far distance). The sky was so cool that evening!

Lincoln Memorial - my favorite (Illinois is the Land of Lincoln - woop woop!) We didn't like the hundred stairs we had to climb to get inside though. Ouch.

Nice chair!

Korean War Memorial - very creepy at night - but very powerful.

My favorite again.

World War II memorial

Monday morning - flight back to Massachusetts and reality.

Reliability Run

Chris & I have been looking forward to Reliability Run weekend since last October! It's a 'hot rod' fun filled weekend of beautiful country drives, hot rod shops, parties, and good friends. Rolling Bones Hot Rod shop out of New York puts it together each year, and we are never disappointed. This year started out with a little bump.



We originally planned to take the 1937 Ford Phaeton because it has a top & side curtains. Not to mention the cushy seats! (weather prediction - lots of rain & cold weather) But unfortunately, the Phaeton's fuel pump decided to die on Route 495. We called good ole' AAA , and they sent a tow truck for us. He arrived about 30 minutes after we called, and proceeded to tell us that he couldn't tow our car because it's a convertible, and the top would be ripped off. What?!!? We've never heard of such a thing! Fortunately, Chris had been messing around with the fuel pump while we waited for the tow, and had gotten it to work -but we weren't sure how long it would keep running. So Chris asked the tow truck driver if he would follow us, and we would go with plan B (load the car backwards onto the tow truck; take the top down...) if the fuel pump quit again. We got into the Phaeton, took off down the highway, and got off on the next exit. Our tow truck driver kept going... Seriously, he only followed us for 1/2 mile. Gee, thanks for your help mister!!

Anyway, we did manage to drive all the way back home (about 15 miles) without the fuel pump giving out again. Whew.

10:30 am - Pick a different 'hot rod' (it's very nice to have more than one in your garage for times like these). We chose our summer favorite - 1931 Ford Model A pickup. Since it doesn't have side or back windows, we grabbed some blankets, and extra coats. And we were off!

11:00 am 1st stop - Gathering of the Old Faithful in Rochester, MA. Since we were going to miss the start of the Reliability Run (it started at 11:30, and we were 2-3 hours away), we decided to check out the local car show - a favorite of real hot rodders. And we had heard that there were a couple guys at the show who were going to drive to the Reliability Run later in the day - so we might have some company. Great show, lots of cool cars, but the guys who were originally going to drive to the Reliability Run bagged out. Rats! Oh well, let's get this show going anyway!

2:00 pm - Stafford Springs, CT We had called our good friend Billy O, and he promised to keep us updated on the run, and the location of all the drivers. We parked at a gas station for about 20 minutes when we saw the first group of hot rods go by. Chris wanted to wait until the 'real' ones showed up, so we waited for the 2nd group. This group consisted of Keith (Rolling Bones Hot Rod shop owner); Charlie & Gloria (Grafton, MA); Dave (CT); Charlie (Douglas, MA) and a few others. We jumped in behind the last car, and took off! Yeah, now the run really begins!

We spent about 3 hours driving a lot of backroads (only getting lost once...), and ended up in Berlin, CT: Allstar Hot Rods.

These next few photos are pictures of cars that did the Reliability Run (about 30).

The inside of the hot rod shop was very cool - lots of project cars, but also very warm and comfortable. They fed us pizza; beer; brownies - what could be better?!!?

We stayed here chatting with good friends until about 10:00 pm. Then we only had to drive across the street to our hotel - Best Western!

Sunday morning (10/18/09)- at least it wasn't snowing!!!

Yeah, the weather wasn't the best on Sunday, so we met at another garage, had breakfast, chatted some more, then called it quits. Bummer :( They usually have another beautiful country back roads drive scheduled.

Another Billy was driving our way so we were going to have some company on the way home at least. We didn't want to suffer through the downpour alone!!

Some last minute directions,

And we were off again!

Made it home in time for a hike in the local forest with our mini schnauzer Toules. Gotta love Sundays!!

Heyo!

Here's what I did last night (Steph) - horseback riding with Miss Beauty - a beautiful quarter horse. I have been leasing her for almost 2 years now. Alas, I will be ending my lease with her in November. Too many other hobbies take precedence :(

I will still be taking riding lessons with my super star instructor Cheryl Lane-Caron (who will be at Nationals in one week - yeah!). And I'll still be able to ride Beauty, so all is not lost. I just won't be able to go to the horse barn (Haskins Farm) and ride her whenever I want - which I really didn't ever do anyway.

Chris spends his extra time in the garage - building awesome hot rods like this 1931 Model A Ford pick-up. I know it doesn't really look like an original - but that's because he has chopped and channeled it into a real 'rat rod'. We're headed to Connecticut this weekend to ride with the Rolling Bones (wicked cool hot rod group from upstate New York). It's their annual Reliability Run, and it is fun, fun, fun! It's mostly just driving around the beautiful countryside in cool cars - but we always manage to make it an adventure. There is always a great party on Saturday night too - good food, great friends, and cool bands. We are really looking forward to our trip. Weather doesn't look good - but hoping it will change. Definitely don't want to have snow showers this early in the season!!!

Welcome!

Woo hoo! Welcome to Steph & Chris' Blog!
It's fall in New England, and we're ready to keep training hard. Fortunately, we have a seasonal rental in New Hampshire, which will make this winter much more enjoyable. We are really looking forward to more hiking & snow shoeing. Mt Washington - here we come!!