We packed up my Subie to head to Duluth on Thursday morning. We grabbed some coffee and were well on our way. As soon as we got to the SD/MN border it was discovered that I forgot my fan. PANIC. We were staying in the dorms, and the notes were pretty adamant about bringing a fan as the dorms didn't have AC, also I'm the lightest sleeper in the world, and it was college where I originally learned that I have to sleep with a fan on to drown out the noise of the rest of the universe. It was quickly decided that we had to turn back and get it... 30 minutes into our trip. In that 30 minute drive back home, we thought of several other necessary items that we had left behind as well. Gah!
We loaded back up and were back on our way. The trip flew by, we had a ho-hum lunch outside of the cities, ran into some annoying construction north of the cities, and played "guess if that car has runners going to grandma's or not". The drive there seemed to take no time at all.
We went straight to the expo when we arrived, as we had heard that Friday was insanity their, and wanting to avoid chaos at all costs. There were some cool vendors there, and somehow I managed to spend $0 there. What the heck??
From the expo we made our way to a delicious Indian food place. My stomach and taste buds were oh so happy.
Next stop: the dorms! We arrived at our digs for the weekend and promptly decided that we were meant to be college roomies, and that in an alternate universe, surely we would've been. Like the universe in which we're not 9 years apart. Whatever.
The next morning we got up, ran some errands, and then went out for a shake out run.
FYI Duluth is hilly AF. Holy cow. I had more elevation gain in 3 miles than I typically do in a long run in Sioux Falls. The shake out felt gooooood. Like really good. Like I'm surer excited to tear up the race course good.
After the run we got ready for lunch. And while Toni was in the bathroom making her hair look pretty, the world was ending outside our window. Like right out there, is supposed to be the Superior. Except you can't see it because the world has ended.
I desperately needed a beer at lunch, but also needed to hydrate but ALSO was tempted by the lavender infused lemonade. Mmmm happiness.
After lunch we made a very important run to the liquor store for some local beers to take home slash enjoy after the race. Luckily for me, we had a cute little dorm fridge in our room perfectly for beers.
And then in true Toni and Jeri race weekend fashion, we opted to take a little siesta after lunch. This tradition started in Twin Cities for the ten mile, and man I love a good nap. And there's no better excuse for one than an early wake up call the next day!
Luckily by the time we got up from our naps, it was basically time to go eat again. Lolz. We made our way downtown to Pizza Luce for some pizza and a salad. And a beer. obviously.
Then it was time to head back to the dorms and get ready for the race. Clothes laid out, gear bag packed and ready to go. And back to bed. Does it seem like all we did was eat and sleep? Because you'd be correct.
After the race, I had every intention of enjoying a shower beer. But then I forgot to bring my beer into the shower. Fail.
We got ready as quickly as we could, which wasn't super quick because we were still freezing from the race. We went back to the same lunch spot as the previous day, because there was so much delicious stuff on the menu that I couldn't have the day before the race, and I wanted it all after the race. Pretzels with beer cheese sauce? check. Nachos? check. Side of fries? check.
There may or may not have been another nap after lunch. Getting up at 4am and running for 2 hours will do that to you, I guess. We woke up and connected with some other SFWR gals that were also staying in the dorms and made our way back downtown for some drinks.
I very much appreciated the free shuttle from the dorms back to downtown.
We had some beverages at a bar that I felt super old at, and eventually made our way across the street where one my college friends was. We had a good long life catch up chat, and it was so good to see him. It's so fun to see someone after years and years apart and it's like it's been a day or two.
We drank all the beer that the brewery had (jk, I think) and around 9 realized we hadn't eaten dinner yet. Luckily a bunch of places delivered so we had pizza yet again. Mmm pizza.
Once we got back to the dorms, I gave myself some important legs up the wall time before bed. Ahh.
Sunday morning we made our way to a super cute cafe for breakfast before hitting the road. It was a long wait for a table but it was a perfectly sunny and nice morning to wait with a coffee in hand.
We were on our way out of town when Toni went rogue and pulled off the interstate stating that we *needed* pictures. And she was right. We were so cold after the race that we didn't take any solo finisher photos with our medals. Plus I still wanted to take my ice bath in the Superior!
It was a great race weekend! Can't wait for the next one!
