Hubby packed the car and we grabbed the cats. It had rained Friday night, pretty badly too around here and the steps were wet. I put my foot on a step and slipped. I remember feeling my foot go out from under me and then nothing until I looked to my right. There I saw my sweet Higgy in his carrier looking at me through the air slots asking me, "what just happened Mommy?" He seemed ok, a little confused, but ok. I on the other hand. Oh heavens did the back of my right leg hurt. I hit it on one of the steps when I landed. Oh, and my right ankle. That hurt too.
I headed inside to change pants because the leaves and dirt on the step rubbed off on my pant leg. Lovely. When I changed pants I saw a nice raw rug burn type injury on the back of my right thigh. Wow. That was not intentional. I forgot to check my ankle in my rush to get to the car. Yea. It was somewhat painful.
We got the cats to the sitter and headed off to AC. What struck me most were the trees on the way down. Peak color season! Gorgeous! I love the Mid-Atlantic in the fall.
We arrived in AC and checked into our hotel. We chose Showboat based on proximity to the start line (1.2 miles) and the price. The price was one of the best of the race hotels or any other hotel as I checked Orbitz to find the best deal. I'll be honest, we thought Showboat would be kinda a dump. We hadn't stayed their before, but it always seemed as if no one we knew stayed there. But, it was so bright and colorful. The check-in staff were very friendly. I was happy we picked Showboat.
We dumped our stuff in the room and headed to Bally's where the Expo was. One of the security guards told us how to get to the 6th floor and off we went! We walked in and things were clearly marked. I walked to the check in table to get my bib. I was 1605.
Then she turned away. I had to ask where to go next. They had everyone get their chips checked to make sure they worked. Nice touch. The lady at that station then directed me to women's t-shirt table for my shirt and bag.
I grabbed my bag and shirt (long sleeve, very nice!), then headed over to the event merchandise table. Since the event shirt was long sleeve I wanted a short sleeve shirt to wear in the summer. When I asked about it, I was told they had no short sleeve shirts in medium. Actually, they had no women's shirts in medium at all. Also, no large's. Ummmm...huh? I know we got to the expo about 4:00 p.m. on the second day (it was open until 8:00 p.m.), but still. Statistically more women run half marathons than men and the half is bigger than the marathon. I was pissed.
We then went into the Expo itself and it was small. Way smaller than I anticipated. We wandered through rather quickly as it seemed vendors who were scheduled to be there had packed up. I was hoping to see BeeCause Charms, but they were not there even though the race people said they would be there. I don't know what happened there, but I was disappointed.
After the Expo, we headed over to the Continental, which is one of our favorite restaurants. We enjoyed a yummy drink before heading to dinner.
Yum!
We hit up Gallagher's Burger Bar at Resorts and had a yummy burger. I know everyone goes the pasta route before a race, but I'll be honest. I hadn't been good about getting in protein this past week. I figured between the beer I had at dinner, the roll, and the fries I would be covered on the carbs front. We had a great server and the meal was delicious! I would recommend this place. If we hadn't been there for the race I would have hung at the bar too.
And because it's night before the race, I wanted dessert. The dessert menu at Gallagher's didn't impress me so we wandered off. We got back to Showboat and decided to stop at Crossroads at the House of Blues. We read the menu outside and they had a Key Lime Pie. Sold! We got a seat and our waitress came over...wearing the 10k medal! Go Donna! She is 58 and this was her second race, her first being the 10k last year. She told us all about her race and said she would be volunteering at the Water Basin the next day. I told her I would look out for her.
After dessert (which was delicious!), we headed back to the room to get settled. I got all my running stuff out. I like pulling it all out so come race morning I don't have to think.
Got all my stuff together and headed to bed. I'm a night owl so going to bed early for these races always causes me problems. I lie there for a while waiting for sleep, then kinda freak out that I won't be able to sleep at all. LOL! I did fall asleep. Eventually...
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