Awesome. That's the word I would use to describe this weekend. It was also the adjective of which I made frequent use on Sunday after finishing the half. If you can't tell already I had a really good race. I went bowling Friday with a bunch of friends which was really fun, although I managed to go the entire night without one strike. I usually get one, but this night was not going to be one of those nights. I got tons of sleep that night and didn't wake up until 9 on Saturday, which is very late for me since I normally get up at around 5 for a track workout.

I've discovered that getting a good night of sleep the night before a race is nigh impossible, so I use the night before the night before to get my sleep.

I made some breakfast and went to look for some shoes for the presentation I'm giving this week. As I was walking through Macy's I wandered through the cologne department. I was also immediately bombarded with two women asking would you like to try our colognes? I ended up leaving with no shoes or shirt but five pieces of nicely scented cardboard and a very aromatic wrist.

I did some grocery shopping(I love samples) and then packed for Big Sur. I had just enough time to look up directions before heading out the door. We had all planned to meet at 2:30, but I was running late. I showed up a couple of minutes behind schedule but no biggie since no one was in any real rush. I sort of spaced out on the ride down to Monterey and don't remember much of anything. I know there were a few conversations here and there. I think I mentioned along the way that I wanted to get a frozen banana and some fudge. One girl in the car excitedly agreed with my suggestion. I'd never actually had a frozen banana before that weekend, so I thought I'd try to get one.

We arrived in Monterey after getting directions from another person who was running the race. We really came prepared because we didn't know where the expo was located nor where our hotel was located, but we managed to figure everything out eventually. After parking we headed into the hotel that was hosting the expo. Me and another fellow walked around a bit after picking up our bib numbers and then we met up with the two girls with whom we drove up and walked around the expo a bit more. The next stop was dinner.

We stopped by this one Italian place, but they weren't open, so we walked down the street to another place that I remembered seeing on the drive into downtown. We were in luck as it was open and serving. It seemed like it took forever for our waitress to get our order, but she explained that she was the only person serving and was waiting for the others to show up. Still that didn't explain why it took so long for our food to come out. The food was okay but really greasy but that didn't stop me from eating a lot. I had lasagna, ravioli, minestrone soup, and garlic bread. I liked the soup.

Following dinner we stopped by Starbucks and then Walgreens for a few odds and ends. We then went in search of the frozen bananas. Luckily we had gotten directions from someone in the restaurant, so we weren't blindly searching for the phallicly(?) shaped chocolate and nut covered sweet treat.

Okay I'll end part I right here. I'll gear up for part II mañana.

This entry was posted on 11.08.2005 at 09:12. You can skip to the end and leave a response.