Pre-Race Day’s
My marathon story begins last Thursday. In conjunction with the marathon weekend, I’m attending a military conference in Hampton, VA,about 30 mins away (I picked this marathon primarily because it was at the same time as the conference). A coworker and I drove down Thursday and got settled in. Friday began the entomology workshop and that day Jen and Connor drove down to meet me.
When the Fam got down, we headed into the race expo and grab my gear. I bought a new hat and the much needed energy beans/gels/etc. We headed back towards the hotel to find dinner. Stopping at a Mongolian BBQ restaurant. The food was great but service sucked. A complaint to the manager by Jen landed us a comped meal for her and Connor, so end the end it worked out fine.
The next day, I was presenting my bed bug work to the ento workshop. I was fairly nervous since it’s been awhile since I’ve given a formal talk but it went well, and I was nervous about the race. That evening the Fam and I hit up the obligatory pre-run pasta meal at Olive Garden. Afterwards it was a trip to the pharmacy for some Imodium as my nerves were causing some issues. We then headed back to the hotel and to bed.
Race Morning
The race day did not start well. I awoke at 5:00 and promptly hopped into the shower to get ready. Jen started packing up as they had to return home after the race. Jen abruptly opened the hotel door and screamed “Somebody broke into my car!” Sure enough, the lock was jimmied (sp?) and her coat, cash, and checkbook were stolen. Initially she thought her SS card and drivers license were too, but we found them in the floorboard. The must have coffee and donut breakfast was had, then off to the races. We got there, had a small traffic jam to contend with, then swiped a good spot in a parking garage. We said our goodbye’s and good luck’s and I headed towards the race.
The wind was harsh and the temperature horrid. I was seriously doubting my sanity in choosing this as my first marathon. I found the starting line and still had about an hour to kill. The much needed Port O’ Potty was used and I found myself huddling inside a hotel lobby along with a good many other runners. How in the hell would I be able to run 26.2 under these conditions?
A call from Jen brought her and Connor to meet me in the lobby as we waited for the race to start. The word went out, the race had been pushed back by 15 minutes. At the time we weren’t sure why, but found out later that the weather services were calling for the wind to die down shortly after 8, so they gave us a break. THANK YOU Shamrock Race Coordinators!
10 minutes before the new starting time and we did round two of the goodbye’s and good luck’s.
to be continued…
2 comments:
OMG! I didn't know Jen's car was broken into. That's terrible! Hope you guys canceled everything asap and they weren't able to use or withdraw anything. Although the SS card and DL were left in the floorboard, I would file a potential identity theft watch, or whatever they call it. Have them monitor her credit and put a hold on people running things without calling her. Just because they didn't take them doesn't mean they didn't take down the info. In fact, they may have purposefully left them to throw it off like they didn't.
I love that pic of you guys, btw. Too bad your girl (trying to stay confidential ;0) couldn't be in it.
Wow, you had an ordeal pre-race!
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