Pre-Grandma's Marathon: Travel, Family, Expo

While this is not the exciting stuff, I figured I'd start at the beginning...sorry for the length, but I want to remember it all. Feel free to skip it if you are so inclined - you won't hurt my feelings.

My last post was Wednesday, which proved to be a chaotic mess of packing and finishing up everything that needed to be done before leaving my poor hubs in charge for the next 4 days. Because of a snafu with my daughter's new cell phone (just let me reiterate that for a minute...my DAUGHTER'S new CELL PHONE. Ugh. My husband caved - it's all his fault.) an emergency extra shopping trip was necessary, and I didn't make it out the door until 8:30pm for the drive to my parents' house in Wisconsin (they live about 90 minutes from me).

That was the scariest drive ever. Pouring down rain, pitch black, and my night vision sucks on a good day. It was white knuckles all the way. Flat out SUCKED. But I made it intact, sat down and had a beer with my Dad, and was in bed fairly early. We were up and out the door the next morning by 7 or so, for the trip to Minnesota.

The drive was blissfully uneventful. We made it to my Mom's apartment (she works in MN during the week) by lunch time, had a sandwich, and the 3 of us headed to see my Grandmother. It was a short tough visit. We chatted with my aunt who has been doing the bulk of the day-to-day care until she woke up from a nap. She came out for a bit, but kept nodding off while we were visiting and then startling awake again. She kept drawing up her knees and looking uncomfortable. It was tough to see her like that. After a bit, she decided to go lie down again (I was proud of her for saying that - she tends to be a people pleaser even if it isn't in her best interest). We all gave her hugs and I told her I loved her. She wished me well on my race. And then we left. I didn't cry until hugging my aunt on the way out. But it was tough, even if it was less than a half hour. I was SO SO thankful to have the chance to see her. It meant and means a lot to me to have had that time with her.

Back to the cities we went. It was a gorgeous day so we decided a walk was in order. Mom's apartment is within walking distance of Long Lake, which has a nice trail around it. Mom bailed after a mile or so, but my Dad and I decided to walk all the way around. He estimated that it was 3 or 4 miles, but I'd bet it was closer to 5 or 6. It felt good to stretch out after all that driving - my legs thanked me for it. After that it was dinner and chatting and I headed to bed early. I slept like a ROCK Thursday night - I was beat.

Friday morning came and we were on the road by 7:30 headed to Duluth. We were going to do some visiting before checking into the hotel. We toured Mom's work (the company originated in Duluth, and it's gotten huge since I'd seen it last) saw my parent's old place (and a TIMBER WOLF - too cool) and had lunch with my cousins. Then Mom headed down to the hotel (we drove separate - she stayed to work this week) and Dad and I headed to one of my favorite places growing up, Enger Tower. It was REALLY foggy, but had started to burn off, and we took a couple pictures.

My Daddy

After wandering around (without climbing all the stairs to the top) we headed down to meet my Mom at the hotel. She'd upgraded us to 2 suites (I HAD A SUITE TO MYSELF!) next to each other at the Holiday Inn, an old hotel, but nice, and more importantly, within walking distance to EVERYTHING. I didn't move my car once until we left on Sunday.

After getting our stuff up to the rooms, Mom and I went down to the expo, while my Dad took a little snooze. I was disappointed with the expo though. It was probably my own fault - we should've gone there MUCH earlier in the day. To say it was packed was an understatement. And the exhibits were crowded together. I felt claustrophobic in there. So I didn't even shop. We picked up my packet and my sister's (even though she wasn't running) and I sat down to watch Dick Beardsley speak. He was amazing! I was glad I stuck around to hear him tell the story of his first Grandma's race (he still holds the course record) and of his "Duel In The Sun" with Alberto Salazar. He is a phenomenal speaker.

Then it was back to our hotel to eat dinner (I had a grilled chicken sandwich and a few fries)  and obsess over the weather. They were predicting rain, rain, and more rain. With some thunderstorms thrown in for good measure. And a high of 48 degrees. A far cry from the 65 and sunny they were saying earlier in the week. I was sure glad I threw in everything I could think of as far as running clothes when I packed on Wednesday.

I headed to my own room early. I attached my chip to my shoe, sorted my stuff, still undecided on what to wear. Hit the store quick for a bottle of milk for my cereal in the morning. Checked in with my family. Set my alarm for 4:20. Read through the race instructions one last time. I was surprisingly NOT stressed out. I was ready.