Country Music Half Marathon: Get me to the race on time!

So Thursday dawned a little too bright and a little too early after the concert Wed night. Of course 5:23 am is ALWAYS a little too early. But, everything was starting to get more exciting because the CMM weekend was almost here!

I walked down to the expo at lunch to get my # and check out all the booths. I was way too excited to wait and get mine when Barb and Mike got here, and besides I could be the "cool kid" and be all - "oh yeah, the free peanut butter is over there!". I was able to walk right up and get my number and once I made my way through all the hideous items with the race logo on it I started running into runners I knew everywhere! I saw David, J and lots of other local runners who also work downtown. I loaded up on free Smuckers jelly and the same items Publix has at EVERY race (the little bag, massager, wrist holder thingie and chip clip). All in all there really wasn't a lot of freebies, but the Elite brand races really don't load you up. I had wanted to try Accelerade but they weren't sampling flavors they were actually going to have at the race. Retarded.

Thurs night we got ready for the Jayhawks and Friday I was basically useless at work. I checked their blogs all day watching their progress and high tailed it out of work at noon to await their arrival! I did spend most of the morning trying to get reservations at Italian restaurants which was nearly impossible. Right around 1 there was a rat-a-tat-tat and they were here!! Yay!! Of course Pippin immediately started his 48-hour tyrade on Phog. The boys played while we hung out. Brent got back from having his hair done and Barb's mom and dad even stopped in. They are the most hilarious globe-trotting support crew ever. I think it's totally awesome that they will travel all over to spray Barb in the mouth with Bio-Freeze. My parents have never seen me run and basically have no interest in it.

We headed over to the expo and of course got stuck in the miserable expo traffic. We parked (for free! - please note there is a trend of free parking in this series of race reports, for all you super sleuths) at my office and walked a couple blocks over to the expo. After picking up their numbers and barely convincing Mike that the guitar shirts were way overpriced and he should just seriously wait to get one on 2nd Avenue we headed towards the Italian joint we had reservations at. We had a horrible waitress who was basically uninterested in our need for carbs. Some people just SHOULD NOT work in food service. Regardless we got our carbs on, picked up some race day muffins and settled in for the night while Pippin harassed Phog a few more times before passing out.
















Race morning was super early and it was ON. The boys made sure I dropped no crumbs. Brent had already mapped out the best way for us to go in order to avoid road closures and we ended up as part of the caravan of city buses full of runners headed to Centennial Park. (Since the race starts and finishes at 2 separate spots you have to ride buses from the finish to the start.) We were able to get a spot behind the park on the street (free!) pretty easily and walked towards the start line. Yay!!! Sooooo much easier than waiting in line for buses and commuting in from the 'burbs!! We hung around the News2 broadcasters and right when they went on air for the 6:50 weather update Barb and I cleverly walked right behind the broadcaster, waved for the cameras, and gave each other high-5's. And of course I have it all on TiVo. =) Miraculously we even ran into David pre-race, which is pretty impossible with that many people around. Some final good luck wishes were shared and we split up for our respective corrals. Brent had handled logistics perfectly and gotten us to the race stress free, Barb was yak free (yeah!!) and now I was on my own.....

Pre-race buses:








The Parthenon at Centennial Park:








Porta-potty lines-ugh!!!








News2 Weather guy Justin Brousse - way cuter in person!! He should do his hair like that every day. And there I am in the corner as Barb and I made our TV debut together.








Barb and Mike - TOO cute!!