My apologies in advance for writing this mammoth post. Feel free to skip it and head to the next one specifically about my race today. I just feel like I had a bunch of stuff to say and I know my mom will read it. Probably. Mom?
Saturday Tim and I drove to Atlanta after a few hours of work and managed to time it perfectly with the end of the St. Patrick's Day parade. Not my finest moment. Turns out parades and city traffic don't mix well. Aside from that last mile which took 45 minutes we were fine and arrived at the oh so swanky Days Inn in Downtown Atlanta. Just kidding, the hotel was pretty crappy but for $70 and a five minute walk to the start and finish I'll deal with it.
Because we were later than planned I basically sprinted to the expo - totally unnecessary. There was no line at packet pick up and no line when I went to the solutions desk (to switch from the full to the half). YES. That was my biggest fear about a race of this size and it was totally fine. Then I caught sight of the Cho-Mobile giving out free Greek yogurt:
Saturday Tim and I drove to Atlanta after a few hours of work and managed to time it perfectly with the end of the St. Patrick's Day parade. Not my finest moment. Turns out parades and city traffic don't mix well. Aside from that last mile which took 45 minutes we were fine and arrived at the oh so swanky Days Inn in Downtown Atlanta. Just kidding, the hotel was pretty crappy but for $70 and a five minute walk to the start and finish I'll deal with it.
Because we were later than planned I basically sprinted to the expo - totally unnecessary. There was no line at packet pick up and no line when I went to the solutions desk (to switch from the full to the half). YES. That was my biggest fear about a race of this size and it was totally fine. Then I caught sight of the Cho-Mobile giving out free Greek yogurt:
Heaven. I met up with Lindsay from Chobani who hooked me up with some yogurt to take home. Being the genius I am, I accepted a bagful and then realized we didn't have a fridge in the room. No problem - I just tossed them in the room's rubbish bin and kept topping it up with ice. Not letting my Cho go to waste.
Here's Lindsay and I with Julie who stopped by to say hi and ran the half today:
Tim and I met up with Suz and Allan and we headed over to the first restaurant outside of the convention center. My kind of people. None of this walking around saying, "no really, where do YOU want to go?"
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| I swear we didn't tell them to stand in a manly way. |
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| Me and Suz |
The restaurant we went to was TacoMac which (apparently) is known for having over 130 beers on tap. I had a sip of one. Happy St. Patrick's Day, indeed. While the guys were pondering the extensive beer list Suz and I were actually more exited about the big coke machine. Have you seen one of those before? It serves over 100 different types of soda and I was such a tourist. At least I asked the waitress politely if I was allowed to take photos. She laughed - which I took as a yes.
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| Bloggers in Action |
I ordered a pulled turkey burger with coleslaw and sweet potato fries. Next time - skip the burger and just order three orders of fries. They were amazing.
Post meal we walked around to find the start corrals. I get a little obsessive about being late to races so I wanted to know exactly how long it would take to walk. It was five minutes. I overestimated by roughly 30 minutes.
Any guesses what I did on St. Patrick's Day in Atlanta after the sun went down? If you guessed watched reruns of Jeopardy on the hotel television then you are as sad as I am and should try to get out more.
Do you show up to races with plenty of time to spare or 2 minutes before the start?
If it's me on my own then I basically help them set up, it's that early. Tim makes me wait and show up a reasonable time (usually so he can sleep in longer.)
Sweet potato fries or regular?
Stupid question. No contest. Remember those SAT vocab questions? Well, here's one for you:
Q: Sweet potato fries are to regular potato fries what champagne is to: ?
A: Boxed wine. Really, really old boxed wine.
Free CHO?! Sign me up!! I would have done anything to save it too :)
ReplyDeleteI always show up to races early. I have anxiety and HATE feeling rushed or even the least bit late for anything. It usually results in me standing there like an idiot for a long time in the cold.
I like all fries!! I really can't choose. Those sweet potato ones you had do look divine!
I'm an early bird as well. I stress about parking and traffic. Taco Mac is the best! You can join their BrewUversity club and get a free t-shirt after 10 or 12 beers. There is also a rumored "secret bar" called the Fred at one of their locations. Hubby has been with a friend. I don't drink beer like I did in college, I feel very bloated and puffy afterwards.
ReplyDeleteSweet potato fries 100%!! I'm not even a fan of the regular fries. I am super early to races, I have helped set up at a small race, I'm afraid of being late!! I don't think Jeopardy reruns are lame, I ADORE Jeopardy! Can't wait to read the race report.
ReplyDeleteThis was actually not too long at all - I think you are setting yourself up for failure with the title :)
ReplyDeleteWe had like an hour long "idk, where do you want to go?" thing going on last night and the worst part was my friends forgot to tell me we were going to dinner so I'd already eaten.
In Myrtle Beach we had to take two cars to the race because some of us (aka me) were so anal about getting there like an hour early and some of us (aka my husband) wanted to arrive less than ten seconds early.
Michelob Ultra.
Okay, so I am drooling over the Cho-mobile... still cannot buy it where I live! I want some so badly.
ReplyDeleteNice that you met Suz and Allan... love that.
And good race? Will have to stalk your DM account.
i would have done that race for the chobani yogurt alone, okay and to meet lindsay... and to have any excuse to brag after.
ReplyDeleteCongrats!
I show up everywhere with way too much time to spare. I am compulsively early.
ReplyDeleteOh sweet potato, definitely!!! I definitely like to show up early and get all kinds of nervous :)
ReplyDeleteawwww so jel you too met up!! Wish I had been there -- come to Seattle!! =)
ReplyDeleteSweet potatoes hands down! I even pay extra to swap them when I see a restaurant has them.
ReplyDeleteVanessa! It was so fantastic to FINALLY get to meet you, and Julie too! Thanks so much for stopping by the CHOmobile. Thank goodness for ice coolers...I had to do the same in my hotel room, too. Congratulations on the race, and hopefully we'll get the chance to hang out again, soon!
ReplyDeleteWe had such a great time at dinner! I'm so glad you guys liked Tacomac. I kinda felt bad just picking the first place we saw.
ReplyDelete