Well, it seems it’s been since November that I’ve actually made a post so here, I am, today in Corpus Christi, Texas making a post. I’m running a 5k Saturday morning sponsored Goodwill. A fun fact: the course is going to run me past my hotel.
Later this evening I’m seeing Ally the Piper. Here are some links for YouTube if you have not heard Ally’s music before.
And
Now let’s see what else I find to do before the concert at 6 PM. I have meet and greet tickets 😀.
But I guess in keeping in the tradition of how I do these blogs…
I arrived after sunset about 7:30 here in Corpus and I went to pick up the package for the race. It was in the back parking lot of the mall. After sunset it felt like I was up to no good meeting random people in a nearly empty parking lot to pick up items.
After collecting the race info I headed to the hotel to check in. There was some sort of art festival. Seems it happens the first Friday of every month. Learn more here. I wish I had known about it to prepare. There were so many cars, everywhere and I don’t like traffic especially at night on unfamiliar roads.
It was straight to the hotel and instead of going out find something to eat I decided to eat in the hotel restaurant.
So as you can see from the picture the meal was really good. Chicken and shrimp with penne pasta and it hinted that it’d be spicy and it was hit at just the right amount of heat. I really enjoyed it and I recommend it. Try it at the Holiday Inn downtown right by the Bay.
So I set it on fast forward for you…
It’s currently Saturday morning at about 6:50 trying to get myself all ready for the race here. It doesn’t start till 8:00; however, there will be vendors and booths that are going to open up from 7:00 to 7:45 before the race. The race officially starts at 8:00 with awards at 9:00. I’m probably not going to get any awards because there are lots of people here, but hey whatever, I’m justing want to try to beat my time. My goal for this year is to try to get a race under 35 minutes.
I’m very close. We’ll see if I can do it this round if not it’ll be one of the other ones coming up.
Checkout my 5K. If you notice me running backwards… I dropped my new race towel and had to go back and get it.
https://strava.app.link/SYaas2WHj1b
Didn’t run under 40 mins. I’m going to blame it on the wind. Yeah, that’s my story.
Now that the race is over and I’ve showered it’s time to think about breakfast. 🥰
Trying out Bien Mérité for breakfast. Google showed that parking was difficult and I have to agree. The parking lot was small and was full. Good sign that the food is good. Luckily there was parking in front of the out of business places nearby. Checking out the menu, I’m happy with the variety of choices. They have Smoked salmon eggs Benedict. 😋.
I have to describe the wait staff’s uniforms. Everyone is dressed in white shirts with a black tie that is more like a bow, black skits or pants. The men are wearing a black vest and a bow tie. It does fit with the French music that is playing over the café’s audio system and I guess the name gives it away too.
I ordered the honey lavender latte in a bear “mug”. As you can see below, they are recycling honey bottles. I wonder how much honey they use in their baked goods?
The eggs Benedict were very good. I’ll definitely return to try something else next time I’m here in Corpus Christi. Which will be in June for comic con.
I also had to get some cookies to go.
I’m now back in my hotel room and feeling the 5K run. All the endorphins are gone and I want to take a nap. So, I’m going to let my phone charge while I recharge.
It’s now a little after 4 PM and the sun decided to come out.
But I also got a notification from the Weather channel that thunderstorms are moving in the evening. Gladly, they don’t arrive until after the concert is over. (crossing my fingers)
Now it’s time to stand in line for the check in.
Had a great meet and greet with Ally. She fielded people’s questions and then Dom helped take pictures. I decided just to upload all of them here. Instagram will get the edits. As you can see, I don’t know where to put my hands for a good pose.
Now for the concert. Ally promised two new songs and two new covers from her upcoming album, out in September.
The concert was a wonderful 90 minutes of music and fun. Watching Ally play these songs on YouTube and other social media platforms limits you from seeing all the work that went into preparing for each individual song. Throughout the concert, she has to change the chanter on the bagpipes to match the key of the song, she sometimes plays the Irish pipes and other times she sings. In the beginning of the concert Ally doesn’t have to do too much tuning since she is playing variations of traditional tunes and songs she has written for the bagpipes, but when she starts the covers for songs from Metallica and the like, she is having to make adjustments to the chanter and drones live to get the bagpipes to play all the correct notes for a style of music they weren’t necessarily designed. This just shows that where there is a will there is a way.
I created a summary video from the short recordings from tonight’s concert. You can watch it here.
If you enjoyed the music go check out Ally’s website and maybe purchase some of the music.
I almost forgot the reason for the concert. The Ritz is a historical theater that needs renovations to be reopened. Ally was able to play in the theater before the concert. When she posts the video I will try to remember to link it here.
And with that I call it a night.
And I can see why I feel tired.
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