I had an amazingly fulfilling weekend abounding in enjoyable conversation, silly jokes, and encouragement. Typically, being around people all the time for a few days in a row emotionally drains me, but not when it’s the right people. It was a pleasure the entire weekend with great people – my great people!
FRIDAY!
Bobbi and Riyanti picked me up at 5:30 am on Friday, and Bobbi drove us to Duluth (thanks, Bobbi!!!). It’s been FOREVER since I’ve seen Riyanti, and Bobbi and I haven’t spent much time together recently either, so the trip flew by because we were gabbing the whole time. We only stopped twice and were in town by noon. Woo hoo! (And thanks for letting me crash your drive to Duluth, ladies!)
We met a college friend of mine, Jessica, at her office to pick up bleacher passes that she had for the race (for Bobbi, Riyanti, and their friends to use to spectate after they ran the half!). And we all went to Pizza Luce for lunch. Bobbi and I ate there when we road-tripped to Minneapolis a few years back and I thought she’d mentioned then that they were in Duluth, too. I was so happy they were. They have a ton of vegan options and my pizza was delicious!!!
I got “The Rustler” – “topped with mock duck, pineapple, banana peppers, red onion, cheddar and mozzarella on BBQ/red sauce.”
While we were getting ready to order, it started storming like crazy outside and the power flickered on and off a few times. Bobbi had warned me how nutso the weather is in Duluth (how rapidly it changes), but I had to experience it to understand it.
Me, Riyanti, Bobbi, and Jessica
It was nice to catch up with Jessica, and I appreciated that Bobbi and Riyanti were easy-going about the day’s schedule (when they didn’t have to be, and still had the expo to go to, and a 5K to run that night!).
We went to the expo and it was crazy-crowded like Bobbi warned me it would be. We ran in to the friends Bobbi and Riyanti were staying with, and chatted with them for a while. Then as we were walking to the expo, we walked by Kara Goucher and I impulsively said “Hey, Kara!” Gosh, what a dork. She said “hey” back. Face. Palm.
Bobbi, me, Rityani, Kelly, and Carly with “Grandma”!
I struggled with the crowds at the expo and felt my heart rate go up, and the blood drain out of my face. I just tried to stay out of people’s way!
Gina and her friends, Bob and Jessica (a different Jessica!), who I was staying with, were still around the expo, so when we were done, Bobbi and Riyanti dropped me off and I left with Gina and her crew to go back to the rental house.
Gina found a gorgeous house to rent in the woods, northeast of downtown (thank you, Gina, for coordinating all that!). It was calm and relaxing, and perfect for this weekend – we could “cook” (aka, heat up food), wash our stinky clothes, relax without hotel noise, and spread out. The house had a huge workshop outside and seemed to be on a few acres. Steven would have loved it!
I got to share a room with Gina! And Fred, the fish.
We spent the evening catching up and discussing race strategy. Then it was lights out for an early wake-up call!
SATURDAY!
On Saturday, the four of us ran the marathon! And they all had great races, yay!
Bobbi and her friends used the bleacher passes and were waiting for me to cross the finish, which I greatly appreciate, because they were cold, and I took longer than I thought I would. My tracker actually showed I stopped so Bobbi texted me during the race to make sure I was okay. I felt bad making her worry, but also appreciated her concern. (Yeah, lots of use of the word “appreciate” in this post – I think that was my word for the weekend!)
Bobbi and Riyanti also had stomach issues during their races, so I asked if they thought it was something we all ate on Friday – maybe Pizza Luce? They theorized it was the fiber in the Triscuits we had on the car ride up. That very well could be. Oops. Sigh. Triscuits are now known as “Trouble-Maker Triscuits” to us three.
Gina, Bob, Jessica and I made the long walk to the car after the race, and went straight back to our rental house to clean up and chill out. I loved hearing about everyone’s races, and appreciated how encouraging they were to me about mine. People had been telling me what I did was “badass,” which was nice, but it helped to share the disappointment with people who had run the same distance at the same race as me, and could understand exactly what I was saying about the race, and commiserate about their past marathon struggles. The marathon is a long distance and you never know what will happen on race day!
A side note: someone asked me if I thought about stopping earlier to get my knee looked at, instead of at mile 23 (when the fall happened at mile .25). I did. But every sign I passed for a medic said “Drop off or medical help” and I was worried I would drop out. Also, the stops were a bit off course and I didn’t want to add that much extra to my overall mileage. Ha. When I did finally stop, it wasn’t an official medic, it was the Navy volunteers. They, and the medics at the end, both told me they had way less people visiting than usual because the weather was so good. Yay! I’m glad it was and so many people had great races!!!
After we all cleaned up, we went out for an early dinner. Gina found a place in town that had some vegan options (fried avocado yasssss!!!)! Gina always takes care of me, and I appreciate it (there’s that word again!).
When we got back, we watched some of the Chris Mocko Show on YouTube, enjoyed ice cream we picked up after dinner, and later watched the Breaking Two documentary (so good!). We spent the evening chatting about the race and life, and I felt very in the moment and lucky to be spending time with caring, thoughtful people.
Me, Jessica, Bob, and Gina
During they evening, they all worked together to bandage up my knee (Jessica is a nurse, woot!) and all “signed” it. Ha!
SUNDAY!
I thought my body would let me sleep in on Sunday! Not so much – I was up shortly after 5:00. But that’s okay, because it meant I had more time to chat with Gina, Bob, and Jessica before we left.
Bobbi and Riyanti picked me up at 8:30 am, the same time Gina, Bob, and Jessica had to drive back to Minneapolis to catch their flight.
Bobbi, Riyanti and I had breakfast, then headed out at 10:00 am. And had a HELLA hard time getting out of Superior, Wisconsin. Sigh. The north section of the highway we needed to take through most of Wisconsin was being shut down for flash flooding (see article here) with no detour set up. We tried simple/close detours on our own, but the back roads were already flooded!
We came up with a longer detour route, and had to drive through two instances of low moving water to even do that. Eek. The detour we took ended up adding about an hour and a half on to our already long drive, and we weren’t thrilled, but made the best of it, and were happy to be together for it! Although, I would say I definitely got a bit slap happy. It was hot out (mid 90s) and every time we got out of the car, I felt sicker (with a headache). But I didn’t get sick (throw up) in the car, so that’s a win!
I enjoyed hearing about their races. They did the 5K/half marathon challenge and enjoyed it (minus the re-route at the end of the course due to construction), and had a good time staying with their friends! Bobbi and Riyanti were super sweet about my crap race and told me they were crying when they saw me run in holding hands with Bob, because they were so happy I was finishing with a good friend and not out there alone. I was extremely grateful for that, too.
Bobbi dropped me off at 6:45 pm! What a long day. And again, thanks to her for doing all the driving.
Steven had dinner ready to go and we ate and watched a bit of Mad Men then did our Sunday evening chores and went to bed. I tried to minimize the amount of times I had to go up and down the stairs, because that isn’t going so well (normal post-marathon quad soreness).
I was telling my college friend Jessica about my race on Saturday, and she said she understood why I enjoy running when I have such a good support group, and how cool that is. It really IS cool. And makes my heart happy. Despite the race not going so great, I still had an amazing weekend and am grateful I got to have all of those meaningful (and silly!) conversations!!!
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