Atlantic City Marathon

In the lead-up to Marathon #99 in Atlantic City, the forecast was looking pretty brutal. The day was supposed to start in the mid-40s (ideal, but cold to stand in pre-race) with winds at a steady 20mph, gusting higher (making it not only feel that much colder, but require that much more effort to keep the pace).

On my drive up, I took a quick pit stop in Delaware to grab lunch. It was so much longer a stop than planned because there was at least one high school band group that was everywhere – so any line for food was taking forever. C’est la vie. I wasn’t in a rush, as I wanted to arrive in AC by about 1:30.

Finally, I arrived in AC about 10 minutes ahead of schedule. Making my way into the hotel parking lot was tricky because the narrow one-way street/alley was littered with what looked like small potted trees (though not in pots), and several other things – evidently from the huge winds of the storm that had blown through recently. Having survived the minefield and parked, I played the optimist and brought all of my stuff inside hoping for an early check-in. Imagine my surprise when I went in the back entrance and was met with a huge cascade of water coming from the ceiling between my and the lobby area where the front desk is. So, I walked around the front to get to the desk and attempted to check in. They weren’t doing any at the time, both because the rooms weren’t yet made up, but moreso because their attention was more focused on getting the burst pipe fixed. They were giving everyone to options: cancel the reservation without penalty or check in at the regular time and have the usual parking fee waived. Considering the arrangements for the weekend, I chose the latter – happy to not pay the $25/day parking. I brought the parking pass and all my stuff out to the car, and then proceeded to the expo.

Bally’s is a little over 1/2 mile away from the hotel we were in. And as I was walking it, I was actually looking at the condition of the Boardwalk – which, over there, is really crummy in lots of spots. So much so that at one point when one of the trams passed me, I could see the boards popping up at least an inch – they didn’t seem to actually be screwed/nailed into anything. Great; note to self and anyone running that I could warn.

Finally arrived at the expo, I got my bib and shirt. Alas, given how late it was in the registration window when the pacer team registered, they were out of the size shirt that I would normally get (large), so I had requested a small instead. I had forgotten that until they handed me a small. Oh, great! I didn’t pack a shirt to change into after the race because of the plan to use the race shirt for that. I was concerned that I would need to just re-use the shirt that I was wearing at the time. While the ladies behind the counter would not swap shirt sizes for me, I was eventually able to avail myself of someone with the appropriate connections who could do so on my behalf. Phew!

As ever, there were lots of people coming by the booth to ask all manner of questions – about the course, about our strategies, about where their spectators could see them/hand them their water bottle, etc. There was even one lady who I helped work out the math for how long she should take starting with one pacer (3:35, I think) to then be able to pick up to the pace that she wanted to run to be able to finish at a 3:30 time, because the next fastest pace group was 3:25. Being in the “no-man’s land” between two pace groups is always tricky as to how long you should stick with the slower pacer before finally breaking away, and at what pace to do once you charge ahead. While the shift was only set for an hour, I wound up sticking around closer to two hours. It’s fun talking to the runners as well as to the other pacers in-between the questions we’re fielding.

By the time I arrived back at the hotel to check in, the plumbers were on site trying to work on the burst pipe. Needless to say, the water to the hotel was completely shut down, and there was no ETA for when it would be restored. Great – so long as it was restored before my waking up in the morning, that’s what was most important to me.

Most of the pacer team arrived for the group dinner at one of AC’s long-time establishments: a little carb loading, some additional socialization, and a brief meeting to go over our regular expectations/rules of the road. Considering the vast majority of us have paced with MarathonPacing.com for quite a while, we know what all the expectations are – the meeting is more of a formality than new information. Near the end of the dinner, one of the pacers at the table called the hotel to see what the status of the water was: all was clear. The burst pipe was fixed and water had been restored to the hotel. Yay!

Sunday morning arrived, and the forecast was still looking very cold and windy. I had been deciding between wearing sleeves along with my pacer singlet or wearing the Boston Marathon race shirt I had packed for under the singlet, and had settled on the Boston shirt, which I thought was long-sleeved. D’oh! I took out the shirt, unfolded it to put on, and immediately cursed myself out. I have so many different Boston t-shirts in my stack (I chose this one because it matched the singlet quite well), but I didn’t check to see whether it was long- or short-sleeved as I was packing the night before. Well, that basically gave me my answer: I would wear BOTH the Boston shirt and the sleeves. I figured it would be too cold without the extra layer. And, heck, given the fact that I forgot my sunscreen (again!), it would be a very awkward and potentially painful sunburn dealing with just the small portion of my shoulders that was exposed between the top of the sleeve and the straps of the singlet.

All the pacers made our respective ways down to Bally’s, milled about inside with everyone else for a bit while staying out of the cold, and taking advantage one last time of a real bathroom, before we headed out to take our group photo and start to line up in the corral. Finally, for the first time in the several years I have been running the Atlantic City Marathon, they did not full cordon off the back end of the starting chute. So, all of the runners could line up whenever they wanted to. Previously, all of the runners would crowd around the back gate of the corral waiting for the organizers to open up and let them flow in – the anxiety was always high at that point. So, this was a very welcome change.

Slowly but surely, I had several people come up to me to ask some more of the standard questions about the course, my strategy, etc. One of the ladies who started with my group was tentative about whether she would manage the time. Not because she hadn’t done it before – she was well-experienced, has run Boston multiple times and has also been a pacer at multiple other races – but because she had open-heart surgery in the not-too-distant past. Fair enough! While she did eventually fall off pace during the race, I did keep on seeing her during the out-and-back portions of the course, so she was still making progress.

We finally set out, having started a few minutes behind schedule. I had a decent-sized group of full and half-marathoners, I think the majority of whom were first-timers. Most of the first seven miles seemed to be “long” according to my Garmin, so I was slowly but surely behind pace. Most of the rest of the markers starting on the Boardwalk appeared to be more accurately set, so it was a bit easier to catch back up to what I needed.

As is too often the case, the water stops were a confusing mess, in my opinion. Often, there was no distinction between the cups of water and Gatorade – there wasn’t always a visual cue. What was worse was there being no rhyme or reason as to the order, whether water or Gatorade would be first. And many times the volunteers were intermixed on that score, and some of the volunteers even had at least one of each in their hands, making it all the more confusing about who was handing out what. These are the times when I am happy that I bring my own water and nutrition to use. And I sure didn’t need to use their water to douse me like I do on hot days.

This year, apparently there was a portion of the Boardwalk near Ventnor that was missing and being rebuilt, so, the course was drastically altered. We left the Boardwalk earlier than normal to get onto city streets on the southern end. And, in a move that was very confusing to me – having run this multiple times before – the city streets that we always run were in*backwards* order compared to normal. It felt very weird, but worked out quite well. But even though the strong wind was only in sporadic stretches of the race, while the early miles were largely a tailwind, the last 10k was largely a headwind. And, boy howdy, was it harsh to charge into.

For some unknown (to me) reason, despite my multiple times reminding my group that they should run single file behind me into the headwind, and while I think they did that a couple of times early on when they had the most energy in the tank, at this late point in the race they unfathomably didn’t listen to that advice – they ran on either side of me, taking on the headwind directly for themselves.

Somewhere around Mile 23-24, I wound up coming up behind a runner (who had not started in our group and was likely always in front of us), and something got his attention enough to turn around, spot my sign, and say something like “Oh, hell no. I’m not letting you pass me” – upon which he kicked in another gear and slowly pulled away. At that point, I knew I had a challenge on my hand. Slowly but surely, his pace slowed enough that I got within shouting distance, so I taunted “on your heels” at which he told his running buddy “Don’t let Pac-Man get you” (largely because the bright yellow singlet is the same color as Pac-Man). This happened another couple of times, until after Mile 25, where I caught him. We ran side-by-side for a couple of minutes. He told me that when he ran it last year, he finished in 5:40 – meaning he had taken a full hour off of his finish time; brilliant!

And, shortly before then, a couple who had been running with me and had just finished insisting that they were one-and-done, heeded my recommendation to start breaking away in front of me. They finished at least 1-2 minutes under time. Always a great thing to witness.

After I finished, it took me a little while before I found where the pacer signs were being gathered. After I dropped off my sign, I picked up my checked bag and headed inside (before getting any food) to start to change into dry, warm clothing. I made a couple of stops along the way, to chat with a couple of the pacers who were already there, and separately with a couple of people who called me over to ask some questions. Somewhere along the way (like with the last couple of people), I lost one of my two soft-sided flasks of water. Grr... This time “marathon-brain” was going to cost me a little bit of money; oh well.

After changing, I went out to look at getting some of the post-race food (mostly to have for the car), upon which I discovered they didn’t have any more bagels. What! This is one of the best parts of the post-race food – the New York bagels. For them to be gone was really disappointing. Oh well. The only saving grace was that I certainly wouldn’t be experiencing the same problems that I did last year.

I made my way to the Broadway Burger Bar, which is inside the Tropicana Hotel – about a mile away from the finish line at Bally’s. I wanted to do something other than go to Johnny Rocket’s – a chain, decent as it is. Boy, was this a good call – tasty burger. Definitely something that I’ll be repeating in the future when pacing AC.

On my way back, I arrived back at the Boardwalk a little before 3pm. As I was walking back towards Bally’s (to get to my hotel beyond it), there were three people who were finishing up the marathon that passed me just before where the 26 mile marker used to be. I cheered them on briefly and witnessed as they approached the finish line. Unfortunately by that time, almost everything that already been broken down and packed up. The only thing that was still erected was the tent that housed the timing equipment, but the timing mat. The actual inflatable finish line had already been packed up. Shame they didn’t get the full finish line experience. And surely it wasn’t just a matter of being a few minutes late – I expect that it had been packed up a fair bit before then.

Mercifully, the drive home was mostly uneventful with just one inexplicable back-up en route. Good day, with a slower pace than normal, should set me up very well for my recovery this week in advance of marathon #100: pacing the first of three 4:15 groups at the Marine Corps Marathon this upcoming Sunday!

Run Rome the Marathon - Piazza Augustus Imperatore

In the center of this piazza is the Mausoleum of Emperor Augustus and contains both his ashes as well as those of others in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. The neighborhood surrounding it was razed in the 1930s and rebuilt – only the church of San Rocco and San Girolamo dei Croati were kept from the wrecking ball. In 2020, a redevelopment project was started which finished in 2025, turning it into an organic, harmonious, and accessible space, connecting ancient, modern, and contemporary Rome in one design.

Nearby is the Ara Pacis, an altar dedicated to the Pax Romana and commissioned by the Roman Senate to honor Emperor Augustus’ return to Rome.

Run Rome the Marathon - Foro Italico

Next up on our grand tour of Rome is the Foro Italico. This sports complex, originally known as Foro Mussolini when it was built in the 1920s and 30s, was originally designed and built in order to win the 1940 or 1944 Olympic Games. (I’ve seen conflicting information as to which.) The forum is decorated with 60 statues representing different sporting activities. Each statue was donated by a different Italian province. The Foro not only comprises this stadium, but also the Stadio Olimpico, Stadio dei Marni, the headquarters of the Italian National Olympic Committee, the Stadio del Nuoto (an aquatics center built for the 1960 Olympics), and the Stadio Centrale del Tennis.

Run Rome the Marathon - St. Peter's and Castel Sant'Angelo

From Isola Tiberina, we run for several more miles before we reach San Pietro. Saint Peter’s Basilica, inside the Vatican, is said to be built on the burial site of Saint Peter, the first pope. Built over the course of 120 years and finished in 1626, it replaced the previous basilica that was built by Emperor Constantine the Great over 1,000 years earlier. The interior is said to be the largest church in the world, able to accommodate 20,000 people seated or 60,000 standing. (Wow!) I’ll need to circle back later in the week to view all of the detail, both external and internal, to include the four colossal statues inside: St. Loginus and his spear, St. Helena with the True Cross, St. Veronica and her veil, and St. Andrew. While the close-up is impressive enough, this full panoramic photo by Andrew Magill from Boulder, Colorado demonstrates the absolute grandiosity of the location.

After we exit from Saint Peter’s Square, it’s a short jaunt to Castel Sant’Angelo. A huge fortress, also known as the Mausoleum of Hadrian, it is approaching 1,900 years in age. Lining the bridge to enter the castle are Bernini’s Statues of Angels. Within its walls are not only ancient rooms and frescoes, but the Papal dungeon. The castle was dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel.

NYRR 18-Mile Training Run

A few weeks ago, I was asked if I could fill in a hole in the lineup for the NYRR 18-Mile Training Run that was held this past Sunday -- pacing for 10:41/mile (the 4:40 group, when put in full marathon terms). Gladly -- not only do I like doing the pacing, and being able to help build up my resume specific to NYRR is something I need if they are going to eventually offer me a spot on the marathon pacing team, if and when a hole opens up on a time that is in my wheelhouse.

The weekend was one helluva fast blur. I went to work on Friday and took up the bus to NYC. Unfortunately, the Beltway had such hideous traffic, it added at least an extra 30 minutes onto our travel time up, so we arrived so late that I didn't get onto the LIRR out to my mom's place until after 11pm. And it was amazing to me just how crazy busy Penn Station was at that hour. (Part of it was because the Harry Styles concert had just ended.) By the time the train pulled in and the Uber dropped me off, it was a little after 1am.

There wasn't all that much time that I got to spend visiting with my mom on Saturday. She had arranged for a car to pick me up on Sunday morning to drop me off just outside the entrance to Central Park. The driver arrived 30 minutes early -- just after 4am. I was actually ahead of schedule anyway, so a few minutes later, I was out the door. Not unexpectedly, there was basically no traffic to deal with. So, where I had planned to arrive about 5:30am (and accounted for a drop of buffer in case there was construction or something else that added time), I wound up arriving just after 5am - in time to see a decent bit of the initial set-up still underway.

Thankfully, there were a couple of chairs inside the tent for the pace team, so I was able to get off my feet and relax for a little while until the registration tent was ready to hand out bibs. Plenty of time for  me to affix the bib onto my shirt, make sure there was nothing in my bag that I needed any more, and bring it down to bag check - well ahead of when the coach with the pacer flags arrived. Donning the "bra" is still a little awkward (that will take a fair bit to get used to), and having someone put the flag into the holder on the back side is also a bit odd. It is what it is. I had time to go in the portapotty one more time before our group photo -- something I hadn't done with the flag on my back previously. It's really quite awkward getting in. Once in, no real problem. Getting out was really weird, because I had to wind up backing out. Thankfully there wasn't any traffic walking outside at that point.

Shortly after the group photo, it was off to the corral. I chatted up several of the runners in advance, answering questions about how to become a pacer, especially on the NYC Marathon team. it was barely starting to drizzle slightly by the time we finally started.

Soon enough, though, it was raining in earnest. And several times pretty heavily. I had several people in the group who engaged in conversation throughout, and were responsive every time I highlighted that we were going too fast and needed to pull back on the uphill, or that we could enjoy going faster on the downhill we were in. The way this Central Park 3-loop course works, the vast majority of the mile markers are on the uphill climbs. So, frequently, it looked like we were behind pace at my time checks. Never by much, but still a little annoying to see. But it was always pretty much within the "window" that I had in mind.

As is typical for me, late in the run, I made sure to announce to everyone that they should make sure to get in front of me within the last mile -- depending on just how much they had left in the tank; just that they should wait until we got past the last big hill to make their move. I was happy to see several of them take me up on that and charge ahead with a lot of energy. I was a bit on the fast side at the tail end of the race, finishing about 42 seconds faster than expected time -- where I was hoping to be closer to about 25 seconds under (the equivalent of 30 seconds under as my goal for a full marathon). Still, success for time and getting people across in the desired time, and providing plenty of advice and encouragement along the way.

After I got my bag and handed back the flag, etc., I had plenty of time left to do the few things I planned on prior to catching my bus back home, so for about 20-30 minutes, I stood just before the announcers just before the final turn to the finish line and held up a hand to hive-five the finishers. Lots of people were happy to make their way over to give the high-five, clearly thrilled with their getting this long run done. And lots of them having run in the Bronx 10-miler the day before. It had finished raining by that point.

Finally, I made my way to the other side of the roadway, got my sneakers and socks off (finally!) to don my flip-flops, and made my way down to Battery Park (where there is a location of my national-brand gym). I haven't been in that particular area in quite a while. The first thing I wound up seeing though is an impressive statue of the namesake after whom the Verrazzano Bridge was named.

A few other things visible from within a block of that location:

After showering and changing (so happy I was able to do so), I headed up to Little Italy. It was the 100th anniversary of the San Gennaro festival. 

And while I would have loved to go to Katz's to get a pastrami sandwich, I haven't been to the San Gennaro festival for at least 35 - 40 years, so I decided to forego my favorite NYC lunch to get my standard fare from San Gennaro. I haven't had spicy sausage in years (I used to make it for myself for dinner intermittently). And the fresh zeppoles? Oh, scrumptious! Hot, soft, and TONS of powdered sugar. (I started with the ones that were well-dusted in the initial shake, and then re-shook the bag a couple of time as I proceeded.)

As I was wrapping up my time at the festival, the slight drizzle that had started during my walk turned into a steady rain. While I had an umbrella with me, it was a really small one, so my left arm was getting wet, not to mention my sneakers (and wool socks) were getting soaked through as I walked all the way back up to Penn Station. (I had the time to kill, and wanted to have an active recovery walk.)

I hung out inside Penn Station for a little while, made my way through all the way to 9th Ave. where I exited and made the short walk a couple of blocks away to wait for the bus to northern Virginia. What a whirlwind weekend!

Run Rome the Marathon -- Tiber Island

Just before Mile 7 on the course (6km), we make our way toward Isola Tiberina --- an island in the Tiber River. It is associated with the temple of Asclepius and has had the Fatebenefratelli Hospital on it since being founded in the 1500s. Depending on which legend you prefer, the island was formed either by angry Romans throwing the body of tyrant Tarquinius Superbus into the river, or them throwing his wheat and grain into the river – either being the basis for the formation of the island. Who’s to question a legend that is over 2500 years old? Certainly not me.

The hospital here also has a positive connection to the Holocaust. While the Nazis were rounding up Jews from the Rome Ghetto, the head of the hospital (Dr. Borromeo) "invented" a contagious, deadly disease – “Il Morbo di K” – which kept the Nazis away, protecting Jews that were hiding inside.

Erie Strikes Again

As anyone who has run the Erie Marathon before (especially multiple times) knows, the weather conditions can be highly variable year-to-year. (OK, who am I kidding? That's basically ALL marathons, amiright?) This year, all of us were burdened with temperatures that started about 70F and gradually increased (about 75F by the time I finished), and high humidity throughout (starting somewhere around 90%). These conditions are a recipe for sapping runners' energy very quickly, and even suddenly -- especially if one isn't paying enough attention to the combination of water intake, electrolyte consumption, and additional external cooling.

While this is the fourth time I've run the Erie Marathon, it is the first time that I've done so as part of the Pace Team. Originally I was slated for a bit of a slower time, but given needed lineup shuffling due to injury, I was placed in the coveted 4-hour slot. (I've paced many times over the years on either side of that, but this is the first time I was the 4-hour pacer.)

I arrived on Saturday a little later than I might have otherwise given a nice visit I had with my godson who is in his final semester at Pitt. By the time I got to the pavilion in Presque Isle Park that served as the expo, there was only about one hour left. Despite that, there were a decent number of people stopping by our booth asking questions, looking for some advice. As is standard, given we didn't have a pace group for EVERY five-minute increment for this race, invariably there was some grumbling from runners who fell in that "uncovered" middle area, and strategizing as to how best to take advantage of the pace groups and when/how to adjust to hit the desired time. The group dinner we had later that evening was a good time, with several engaging conversations at the different parts of the table; no one appeared to be left out of any conversations.

On race morning, given that the few of us in the car I was in left about 5-10 minutes later than we originally planned, I was very happy that we had parking passes that allowed us to park right *at* the pavilion (which also serves as the start/finish area). The line of cars trying to get to and park in Waldameer Amusement Park was very long and slow-moving. We would have had minimal time available to make one last pit stop and check a bag before needing to be in position for the pacer photo and then line up in the corrals. That extra time is so nice to help settle in.

Finally, we take our pacer photo at the start banner and then move to the staging area. Given how relatively small the actual starting area is, Erie has everyone line up on the gravelly area just on the other side of a small patch of trees, in pace order, from which they load the start area. While the method works just fine, the staging area could do with being larger, so that the pace group leaders aren't so tight together -- which makes it tricky for the runners to properly align themselves. As we were waiting around, I tried to identify my group, figure out who the first-timers were, answered some questions.

Being as far back as I was from the sound system, by the time we were being loaded into the start area, I heard the last few bars of the national anthem. It's the first time I can remember that I didn't take off my hat for it. (Kinda hard to do when you don't know it's being played.) Oh well.

Finally, we were off, to the iconic melody of "Chariots of Fire." Given how tightly packed we are in the start, I made it more of a point than normal to announce to my group, while I was walking (not jogging) towards the start, that we don't need to start running until we get to the line. Walking right there allows us to get a little empty space between us and the people in front of us, making life a lot easier on us.

It wasn't long before the conditions were being felt by everyone. While there weren't any apparent negative effects, several people were commenting about just how much earlier than typically they were sweating. Yep - it was going to be one of those days.

To the runners' benefit on a day such as what we had, Erie has water stations approximately every mile of the course. Despite them being very short (one table each for Gatorade and water), often their volunteers spread out, which helped prevent bottlenecks or people simply having to stop to pick up a cup. And having them that frequent meant my group had to endure hearing me exhort them even more frequently than normal to "drink and douse!" There was one person in my group who ran by my side for as long as she remained with us that early on passed up trying, and a couple of times was unsuccessful in grabbing a cup. After seeing that a couple of times, I was more pointed for the group about making sure they douse at every single table. Even if they needed to stop to get the cup and then take a little time catching back up. 

By the time we hit halfway, for at least a couple of miles afterwards, we were seeing people walking back towards the start line. No clue what had happened that they wound up being a DNF, but there were LOTS of DNFs this time around. Where there were over 1600 people who were registered, fewer than 1000 finished. (Unknown how many didn't start - so they likely weren't all DNFs.) Alas, it seemed like I had lost about half of my group by that point; I don't know if they merely slowed but finished, or if they chose to stop by the halfway point, or even had an injury of some sort. (No, there wasn't a separate, simultaneous half marathon event that they decided to "downgrade" to on the fly.) What's worse, but not at all unexpected, I lost the rest of my group by the time I hit about Mile 18 or so. That's always depressing.

During the remaining miles, though, there were multiple times that I saw people who were walking that would perk up and start running as I approached. Seeing the 4-hour sign was motivation to pick it back up. I welcomed them, and brought them along as far as they could go before they slowed down again -- some because of cramps, others because their energy stores were just too sapped to keep the pace.

There was one runner who did everything you weren't supposed to do, and did spectacularly well. From what he told me during our conversation between when he joined me around Mile 22, and when he moved forward after Mile 23, his original goal for the day was to break 5 hours. Then, he wound up lining up with his friend in the 4:20 group to run with her. At some point (I don't remember when he said), he realized that he had a lot left "in the tank" and decided to leave her in his dust, and pulled ahead. Not long after he finished telling me that, and my remarking that none of that really made sense to do, that it was highly risky to have done that on a day with those conditions, but that he was doing remarkably well for it, he declared uber-confidently, "I've got more in the tank!" and started pulling away from me. "Good luck!"

He got a decent bit ahead of me, but by the time we had gotten to Mile 25, I was close enough that I could see him look over his should (as if to figure out if I was gaining on him) and I made sure to raise my sign up high so he could figure what the distance was. I wound up getting close enough (maybe 50 feet behind him) that I called out his name and told him "Don't let me pass you!" He answered with a cocky "Never!" and pulled up ever so slightly further ahead.

Then, we got to the turn around point at about 25.9. I was even closer on his heels at the point, and he did a risky spinning move while going around the cones for the turnaround, and I yelled again "You better stay in front of me!" at which point he definitely put it in overdrive. While I finished in 3:59:31.5 (click for finish video), almost exactly at the time I wanted as the 4-hour pacer, he wound up finishing in 3:58:43. Wonderful time! Based on our conversation, it sounds like he may have one more marathon that he's planning on doing -- in his ex-fiance's hometown in Italy. Just to rub it in. (They were originally supposed to run their first one together, but broke up sometime in advance of Erie. He pushed it as much as he could because of that. And it totally worked out for him.)

After getting back to the hotel to shower and change, having been disappointed at previous attempts for a good local burger in Erie, we went for some BBQ instead. Very tasty brisket. And a large enough portion that I actually couldn't finish everything on my plate, let alone have the additional baked beans that my friend handed my way.

Across the road was a very bizarre statue outside the Sportsmen's Lodge I had to capture. I haven't looked to see if there is an actual explanation. (And I didn't even notice at the time what looks like might be a plaque right in front of it.)

On our walk back to the hotel, we stopped at a place that supposedly had ice cream (based on their very prominent sign). Alas, they did not. However, I glimpsed part of a cute display outside, so made my way around some merchandise to discover Sesame Street:

This then led to the discovery of a whole host of other similar displays that Mason Farms had in their outdoor area:

Finally, we got back to the hotel and chose to drive to the ice cream shop. Cute logo for the Freezerie, and good homemade ice cream.