Hello from Iceland!
The Viking and I arrived back to Iceland yesterday to the Northern Lights dancing above us, I feel like they were celebrating our return. And what an epic trip we are returning from, the past week has seriously just been amazing, and now that I have time to reflect back on it I can’t believe everything that we have done and seen in the past few days.
From touring the capitol in Washington DC to making our way around the hustle and bustle of NYC, celebrating a big anniversary with my Viking, oh and doing this little thing I have been training for months for, running the NYC marathon, it was one amazing trip!
After several days of little sleep and jumping time zones I am definitely feeling the jet lag today. I have so much to share from this trip, but it is going to take a few days and several cups of coffee to get my brain functioning again. So while I attempt to work my way through the hundreds of pictures we took on our trip here is a quick recap via Instagram.
We arrived in DC late on Wednesday night and woke up nice and early on Thursday to get as much exploring in as possible. And what a beautiful day we had for exploring! I was like a little kid running around playing in the leaves, oh how I miss the crunchy sound of leaves in Iceland.
We only had one day in DC but that was all it took for H and I to fall for the city, we definitely will be back. The weather was just so gorgeous and even though I was suppose to be resting my legs we spent the day outside walking all over the place seeing as much as we could. When the fall colors look like this though can you blame me?
Friday morning we had a 4:45am wake up call to catch our train up to NYC. It was rough waking up that early but I was so excited to finally arrive in the Big Apple I didn’t care. And the train ride up, it was like taking a journey through fall color heaven, there was so many beautiful colors in the trees the entire train ride.
Once we arrived to NYC and settled into our airbnb we headed off to pick up my race bib at the marathon expo. With the hustle and bustle of the big city mixed with my nerves and the chaos at the expo I admit I was feeling pretty overwhelmed. The picture below was taken at the first quiet spot I could find outside of the expo, I may of had a mini meltdown before this picture was taken. Those race day nerves guys, they got to me!
Once I got my emotions in check we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring around the city. I think my favorite part of our first day in NYC, all the Halloween decorations outside the adorable brownstones where we stayed.
Our next day in the city, it was a special one, it was the Viking and I’s 5 year anniversary. We spent the day taking in some sights but mostly just taking it easy in Battery Park and then Central Park as race day was the next day. Visiting the quieter parts of the city was more our cup of tea so it was the perfect way to celebrate together.
And while the trick-or-treater’s ran around our street in the evening I was inside trying to stay calm and prepare myself for the big day. This turned into me reading way to many things online about bad experiences at the NYC marathon and totally stressing myself out, but somehow I managed to fall asleep and get some rest for race day.
4 am, that was when my alarm went off on race day. I woke up, tried to keep my nerves at bay while I prepared for the day. By 5am I was on the subway heading to the ferry terminal. And by 8 am I had finaly arrived to the start village where I spent the next hour trying to distract myself by people watching and chatting with all the other runners.
Before I knew it we were lining up for the race, and I somehow ended up at the very front of the line! Looking back and seeing thousands of runners behind me, that was an “oh my gosh this is really happening!” moment. And then we were off, and for the next four hours I ran through the 5 boroughs of NYC taking it all in. There is a reason this is one of the best marathons in the world, the fans were epic! I will share more on the race later, but it was amazing, and worth every painful minute.
The Viking and I spent the rest of our time in NYC celebrating. And by celebrating I mean finally enjoying a much needed glass of wine! Even better, one of my childhood friends who has lived in New York for the past few years joined us for the celebration and took us to some fun spots in SoHo. By the end of the night I was totally exhausted, but it will be one of those days I will never forget.
It really was the most amazing trip and I still can’t believe that I actually ran the NYC marathon! A big thank you to my Viking for all the support these past few months. And for the awesome pictures he got of the marathon, he was the best fan!
And now time to dive head first into real life. At least Christmas is just around the corner so we have some holiday time to look forward to!
Question of the Day?
Have you ran the NYC marathon? What is one of your favorite travel memories?
