| Map 1 | Map 2 |
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So, I changed clothes at the car and started driving. I didn't really see food options but I did buy a huge bag of popcorn and had liquids so that was it for a little while. Eventually I did stop to get food, gas and bathroom.
The hotel in Alabama was ok. The one in MS was much nicer. This was ok. Nothing wrong with it... I was going to wash my clothes but decided they weren't that wet/sweaty really so put them out near the AC.
Did my thing, showered, eventually went to sleep.
I gotta talk about the weather. Saturday was chilly for me. Started in the 40s. Was supposed to get to 50s, perhaps low 60s but initially cold. I wore long sleeves and light gloves. When I got to Alabama, it was in the 70s. Seriously?!? At midnight it was supposed to still be in the 70s. At 5am Sunday it was supposed to be in the 40s with 25 MPH winds. I cannot win...
I got up in the morning and it was cold. And it was windy. And it sucked.
Left the hotel and drove to the start. Again, I'm hoping I'm at the right spot. Once again, the port-a-pottie situation was silly. They had 5 outside and 2 stalls inside. Did my thing and took another little blue pill. This was my usual pre-emptive strike.
Some people did the 5K or the 10K the day before. Today it was either the halfs or fulls. I was cold. I wore long sleeves and tights. I went back to the car and put on a second long sleeve. I also opened up my chemical handwarmers. Yes - sometimes I do smart things...
I was freaking out a bit though. It was 40ish and the real feel was in the 30s. I am NOT dressed ok. Then I remembered that I have my NY winter jacket here and in it are my warm hat and face mask. I put them on as well. I DO NOT CARE HOW STUPID I LOOK!!! I gotta do the right thing for me...
Race started. It's windy. My quads are heavy but operating. We run. I hooked up with the 5 hour full guy and 2:35 half girl. There were some other people too. Bob was the 5 hour guy. Nice guy. In his 70s. Liked to tell limericks that people had to recite with him. Also, unlike Jamey who half way goes into a port-a-pottie and comes back yelling "2 pounds", he knows he will have to go into the port-a-bush and at the end might scream "# Poops PR". Oh boy.
We saw a huge hawk fly over us.
We ran. We walked. The 2:35 girl and 2 other females left us to pee behind some trees. We continued on. At 12.5 my quads had enough and needed more walking. It is what it is...
I met Keenan. Another accomplished Maniac. We worked together. He did a "heavy 50K" the day before in Arkansas I think. He thought it mean a little longer. Turned out to be a hilly 34 miler in the trails. We enjoyed working together. Running and walking. He also somehow thought that it was a 3 hour drive to Alabama. Turns out it was 6. Had a lot in common...
We started talking to a Maria, I think. It was good the 3 of us. She eventually left us though. Random funny story. I had to pee badly. I told him to let me know if someone is coming our way. They did. He yelled something like "someone is here" which only caused those people on the bikes to look even more to which they found me coming out of the trees. Backfired - I know.
While we were still with Maria, a HUGE Crane (or something) came down from the sky and flew to the water near us. It was awesome. Later a bunch of hawks overflew us too.
The course was very interesting. Some of it was Meh. Some of it was in parks and nice. Some of it was on wooden boardwalk type of bridges which I do NOT enjoy. The end was again Meh as we ran through an RV park. The thing that struck me about this course though was that it seemed very circular. We did loops here and there and saw the same aid station a few times in multiple directions.
Keenan shared that his name draws a lot of attention. The assumption is is that he is either black (nope) or Irish (nope again). Turns out that mom liked that name from a book. His twin sister has a "normal" name. Speaking of his sister, she dragged him for a 50K in Hawaii (trails) for her 50th. Trying to outdo her because she was running the majors, he did an Ironman, a feat he has no desire to ever do again. Also, he shared that multiple people often ask him upon hearing that he has a twin sister, if they are identical. He usually responds with "yes except for the junk downstairs". Nice!
Keenan and I had a good talk and we were both glad for each others company. Finally we were on our last mile. Huge stretch of that bridge system. Yuck. At about the last half a mile, my phone rang. Keenan asked if I was going to pick that up and I said "NO WAY". Not at this point. It will have to wait. Had a feeling it was Elizabeth all worried. I was right. After I finished and peed again and got a drink and was in the car, I called her. She was worried because I needed to finish time wise. Still, we did it and it counts and I don't care.
Anyway, the original plan was for me to drive an hour into Pensacola Florida, return the car and fly home arriving at 11:20 pm. You might ask why Florida and it's simple. I had 2 choices. I could either drive 1.5 hours into Alabama and pay more for a flight home or drive 1.0 hours to Florida and pay less for a flight. Straight math really. Well, then plans changed.
A huge "bomb blizzard" was barreling to the East Coast. The snow was supposed to come later but there were heavy winds. I was hoping that I would be able to land. They cancelled the flight. I rebooked several times but it wasn't happening. This all started Saturday night. Daughter was helping. I finally had to go to sleep. Well, here we are now and ALL flights are CANCELLED!
So, she booked me a hotel in Florida. I returned the car and took an Uber to the hotel. Showered and ate and did a laundry. Their laundry room was actually outdoors and I was cold but like a good NYer, I waited out there until clothes were done. I rested and chilled and finally was able to go back to NY on Tuesday morning. It was horrible watching the cameras and seeing wife/daughter fight with the snow to clear us out. Felt very guilty even though there was nothing I could do about it.
Tuesday early morning, I went to the airport. I flew (on time) West bound to Texas. There, I ate and relaxed only to see my flight to Virginia be delayed. We finally boarded an East bound flight to Virginia. I asked the flight attendant if they would hold the connection flight as the 40 minute layover now seemed like 10 minutes at best. He thought they would. He came back to me and said that there were 24 of us in the same boat and he was sure they would wait. We landed and as we were taxiing, the captain came on the PA and asked that if the passengers were terminating in Virginia to please let us go first. My seat mate asked if I was one of those people and I said yes and told me that he won't get in my way which I thanked him for. Well, as soon as the seat belt light went off, I jumped up, got my stuff and ran to the front. I was first in line and I got out of there and ran to the next gate. I got there just before boarding and managed to switch to a better seat. We boarded and the captain said that the last flight to NY, sat on the tarmac for an hour and we should prepare ourselves for that. Two minutes later, he got back on the PA and told us to forget his previous message and that in 5 minutes, we should be airborne. Yay.
We actually got to LGA early but then got held up on the plane for a while. Daughter tells me that we were on the plane waiting for the gate for about an hour. Bottom line is this: From NY, a flight to Europe takes 6 hours. To the beginning of Asia is 10 hours. I travelled for 10 hours, taking 3 planes and all I did was go from Florida to New York. Nuts. Who cares though. So glad to be back home.
This is a Back to Back Marathon weekend. It starts in Mississippi on Saturday and ends up in Alabama on Sunday. This is part 2. Part 1 is located here.
