Saturday, June 30, 2012

I rocked...

Wowza, I am no longer a half marathon virgin! It has taken me quite a while to recover and even have the energy to try and recap ALL that happened last weekend. So, I am gonna break it down into two parts for your reading pleasure.  First up, Thursday thru Friday, the pre-race festivities, or as I like to call it, "The whole reason to do these big, expensive races!'

Thursday morning, or hours before I was to be free for two days, my boys decided to give me a nice sendoff. Peyton broke a couple of blackberry syrup jars in the laundry room while trying to climb a shelf and while I was cleaning up that mess, Brady decided to get in on the mix and play with his poop in the dining room. I COULD NOT have been more ready to leave. It was going to be my first time away from Riley at night, and I was doing it for two, but I felt she was ready ( or I was a nervous wreck, but desperate to go!)

Excited to be on the road!
Stacie pulled up to get me, and I think I may have sprinted to her car. It was time for an all ladies night at the Sarah and Dimity "Run Like a Mother" house party. Jesse and Jason would be meeting us up there the next day. I was excited for this event and it did not dissapoint! Sarah and Dimity, with the help of their hostess, put together a great shindig with food, prizes, and some great freebies! They are both such funny ladies and it was fun to put their voices to the words in their books. Of course, it was also fabulous to hang out with all my bloggy friends and meet a couple that I have been stalking for quite some time, Lesley and Tricia. 
Here is Lesley, Me, and Stacie
Stolen from Jill!

After the party, and a purchase or two, we followed Zoe back to her house where she graciously put us up for the night despite being in the middle of moving! It was fun to stay up late gabbing and playing with her cuttie patootie daughter, but eventually we all needed to hit the sack. And did we, it may have been 10:00 before Stacie and I got up! We quickly showered and cleaned up, got some sage advice from Zoe's dad (sex before race day, always!) and went out into the pouring rain to Expo it up. There was a very near miss on the freeway where we almost became very acquainted with the bumper in front of us, but we made it to the expo and quickly made our way inside.

I am always overwhelmed when I walk in there. So much to see (read BUY), try (buy), and sample (buy). We got our packets and race shirts, mine was a depressing medium. Apparently when I signed up, I thought for sure I would have lost the baby weight by now, haha got you sucker! But it better be gone by next year, because I signed up for a medium again! The plan was to take a lap, sans boys, to get a good feel for the place, and then do our shopping. Well, we were only about half through when they caught up with us. No offense, dudes, but you kind of bring an Expo down! Stacie and I did have a great time getting our samples and freebies. I tried everything I could, partly because I was starving, and partly because I knew it would be a good idea to fuel up for the next day. We had made it through most of the booths, including spinning for some awesome tuna prizes (Jesse did get a shirt), 

My new beau!

and then we parted ways for a bit so I could get KT taped, but met back up for the Bloggy Meet-up. It was very official this year, Mel was even on the Expo schedule. We heard some great advice from her and John Bingham, and then posed for our signature pic. Poor Jesse is always the only boy at these bloggy things!

My turn to pose with Tricia!

By this time I was getting hungry and tired, so we posed for a few pics, signed up for next years race, bought some insoles, and then headed for the hotel.

Yes, Jesse and I are fun, Stacie and Jason are not!

I got us a hotel early on that was walking distance to the start and finish since we didn't have any drivers. It was nice to be so close, so I invited Stacie and Jason to stay with us, in their own bed, and add to the fun. Even though the hotel was super nice, we were starving and had add to get food asap, so we jetted out and around the corner to The Cheesecake Factory. After an evil 20 min wait, we were at our table chowing down on a ton of bread, ok maybe just I ate a ton! I was so full from the bread and sweet potatoe fries that I coulodn't even eat my pasta, but still managed to order some cheesecake to go! That evening in the hotel was filled with naps, cheesecake, and way too many laughs to count. We were like giggly kids at a sleepover camp. I was almost crying at one point when Jason was serenading Stacie to sleep! Ah, pants on!  Maybe not the best nights sleep before a race, but I hadn't trained for this race, it was all about FUN for me, so the night was perfect! Up next, the actual race!

2 comments:

Christy @ My Dirt Road Anthem: A Runner's Blog said...

Sounds like a great time! I hope I get to go to a race with a big blogger meet up sometime.

Jill said...

So fun! Love your pictures and glad you already signed up for next year...we are so smart! Haha...love the picture "We are fun, they are not"...you crack me up.

Can't wait to read the rest! Great job on your firt half!