My Incomparably Awesome Weekend, Part 1

We throw around the world "awesome" a lot.  Seems like anything even reasonably cool gets labelled as "awesome" these days.  "Awesome" has replaced "cool" as the word of choice.  But very few things that we call awesome are actually of a caliber that they truly inspire awe - the definition of the word.

This weekend was awesome.  So awesome, in fact, that it is going to take 2 posts just to tell you of all of the awesomeness that took place.  So without further adieu...

Part 1:

I took Friday off from work to give us plenty of time to drive.  We left early, everything packed, nothing forgotten (one of our most successful vacation endeavors EVER).  ETA:  3 pm.  Actual arrival:  5:30 pm.  We sat in a traffic jam for over 2 hours at one point, but luckily we had already gotten gas, and kept each other entertained by making fun of the other people around us in their cars.  The campgrounds that we stayed at - The Holiday Trav-L Park - is very cool.  Little cottage sites, camper hookup sites, tent sites, 4 pools, and best of all, a private parking lot near the boardwalk that gave us access to the beach without worrying about finding or paying for parking.  I, my wife Kim, and her mother Anita stayed in the cottage, while her aunt Sharron, uncle Eric, cousin Kayleigh, and grandma Dorris stayed in Eric's camper.

Our Home for The Weekend

 

Saturday morning came much too soon in the flat, hard beds in the cottage.  We cooked up breakfast on an electric griddle - pancakes, bacon, scrapple, and eggs.  If I weren't an engineer, I'd make a pretty decent fry cook.

After breakfast, expo time!  Kim, Anita, and I headed to the Health Expo to pick up my race packet and check out all of the booths.  Samples of every supplement, energy bar, and sports drink imaginable, sign-up information for marathons all over the country, stacks and stacks of running shoes and gear on sale...every runner's dream, right?  Except that isn't me.  I don't supplement.  I don't buy equipment when I don't need it.  I don't get sucked into things with high pressure sales tactics.  The free samples, however, were excellent.  I tried one of EVERYTHING, and two if they were really good.  The highlight of the expo (for me) was Jim Ryun speaking on the main stage.  It was pretty surreal standing there listening to Jim Ryun tell stories about his racing past.  If you don't know who Jim Ryun is, go ahead and turn in your running shoes, and buy an elliptical.  It was definitely an awesome experience.

Cheesy Pictures, Not My Idea

After the expo, we headed back to the campsite and spent the afternoon relaxing.  We made full use of the pools, cooked some fish and onion rings, and just generally did nothing.  That evening Eric and I rode bikes up to the beach to hear ZZ Top play.  We didn't have tickets, so we watched from the boardwalk behind the stage, but we could still see the band and hear everything.  It was an awesome concert, the only thing that could have been better would have been some pictures (sorry, I dropped the ball on that one).

When we got back from the concert, we went to play bingo at the campground pavilion.  Not really my thing, but I went along anyway, you never know when you'll win some money.  I didn't.  But Kayleigh and Dorris both won some, so it wasn't a complete bust.  Afterward, a few of us went to IHOP for a small, late meal.  I had a race coming up the next day, after all, and our late lunch was wearing thin. 

4:45 came MUCH too early Sunday morning.  The cottage beds were very hard (did I mention that already?), so I didn't sleep great, but I was as ready as I could be.  Standard race-day routine, commence!  We arrived at the parking lot near the boardwalk around 5:45, since the main road would be closed at 6 for the race.  The lot was about a mile from the starting line, so I headed off at a leisurely stroll while the rest of the gang headed to course to find their spot to spectate from.

Number, Check, Shoes, Check, Good to Go!

About 20 minutes before the starting gun, I began my warm up.  Just a long jog along one of the streets through the convention center parking lots, followed by some faster paced running to make sure I was good and ready.  Halfway through I looked over at a runner who was doing some drills for his warm up, a very familiar face - RYAN HALL!  (if you don't know who that is, please refrain from speaking to me again until you find out)   I got to warm up for a half marathon with Ryan Hall!  OK, so maybe I was just warming up "beside" Ryan Hall, but honestly, what's the difference?  This time it really hurt not having a camera with me.


This seems like the perfect place to end Part 1.  Tune in tomorrow for the thrilling conclusion in Part 2!