HAPPY 2018 GLOBAL RUNNING DAY EVERYONE!!
To celebrate the day, I thought it would be a great day to do my race recap from my whirlwind trip up to Cleveland to participate in the 2018 Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon Race Series this year! I’ll try to not drag it on and on, and get right to the point so you’re not bored because I know I sure wasn’t bored!
Most of you know I’m a hometown girl – I grew up in an Akron suburb but moved to the suburbs of Cleveland as soon as I graduated high school. Over the years, I’ve been able to retain most of my bearings downtown Cleveland, but with all the new buildings, roads and highway changes over the nearly 20 years I’ve lived here in Florida, I’m grateful for GPS these days!
I flew in on Thursday afternoon, just in time to head to my favorite tat girl, Haley, where I got a little lettering added to an existing anchor tattoo. Haley does amazing work and it was painless and quick, so we didn’t have a lot of time to chat. As an aside, Haley was slated to do the full marathon this year, but due to an injury, she changed her registration to the half. (**Spoiler alert: Injury and all, Haley rocked the half marathon this year finishing at 2:15 and change**)
Right after the tat visit, I headed over to my cousin’s house where I was spending the night. We had dinner and hung out a bit before bed. I woke up the next morning and made arrangements for the day. (Yes, it’s true, I mostly fly by the seat of my pants on these weekend excursions instead of making proper plans, which doesn’t always make it very fun. Some day I’ll examine this possible flaw.) So anyway, I met up with my childhood friend, Cheryl in my true hometown of Macedonia. We chatted for a bit, I had lobster mac and cheese since I was allegedly carb loading and all.
.(…and yes, I had a little blue color added to my hair in celebration of the marathon!!)
We finished lunch and Cheryl drove me out to my other cousin’s house where I parked my car, grabbed my dress and other necessities for the Cleveland Marathon VIP Reception at the Hyatt downtown (the former Arcade), and Cheryl and her daughter drove me downtown to the Race Expo. I was assigned to volunteer at the information desk with fellow race ambassador, Andrew. It didn’t seem like a job I was going to be very good at since (1) I was slightly bored, and (2) I really didn’t know all of the particulars of races themselves, and someone had stolen one of our course maps.
When the volunteer coordinator came looking for someone to help fold shirts, I thought that sounded easy so I volunteered. OH. MY. GOSH. I was SLAMMED from 3:30 until 6:15 pm folding shirts, stuffing swag bags, checking bibs, handing out packets and to be honest, I could barely find enough time to collect my own race bibs, shirts and bag! At one point, I texted Andrew and begged him to have his wonderful wife bring down my dress and other evening stuff because I couldn’t leave my station, and they very kindly brought my bag and dress to me.
Another fellow race ambassador, Eric, came by asking about the VIP Reception so I grabbed the opportunity to leave the Race Expo with him and we walked over to the Hyatt together. I rushed into the bathroom, changed clothes, freshened up and met my cousin for the Reception.
The VIP Reception flew by – I could barely talk to everyone and I haven’t seen them for a year so I was kind of bummed afterwards. My cousin and I headed to her house where I was up visiting for a little too long so the morning came way too early. When I woke up to head downtown for the 8K race, I was happy with the weather because it was so much cooler and no humidity. It actually seemed a little cold to me – maybe 55 or so – so I wore long sleeves. It is quite apparent that I’ve lived in Florida too long, because everyone I met up with had short sleeves or no sleeves!
I had decided I wasn’t going to try and break any records and I planned to walk this race so that I would have the legs to finish tomorrow’s half marathon but something got into me, and I found myself running a large portion of the race. My finish time was very respectable for me and I was happy with the race – the course, the markings, the route, and the FINISHER’S MEDAL of course!
After the race, I had to rush out to Mentor because I had a date with the most important guy in the world – my awesome grandson! When he got in the car, my grandson told me that I had a choice of three different things he’d like to do for the day: (1) the bookstore or library; (2) Toys R Us; or (3) the local park. I let him know that we would be doing ALL THREE of those things and if we had time, we would be doing even more.
We started out at Toys R Us where he found the perfect Lego set and a soft plush toy (not a stuffed animal, folks, because he is a boy and only girls get stuffed animals). I could tell it was going to be a long day, so I told him I needed some coffee My 7 year old grandson suggested I turn left where I would find Dunkin Donuts. We each grabbed a donut and a large cold brew for me. We then headed over to Barnes & Noble where the latest book in the Stick Dog series was obtained. After B&N was the movie theater where we watched a movie. After the movie, we headed over to the park. My grandson wanted to go to the park with the sled hill so we could run up and down the hill together. UGH. Since I only get to see him once a year, I found myself running up and down the sled hill with my grandson. We left the park (thankfully) and headed to Mentor Mall where we went to his favorite mall pizza place. I had baked ziti (again with the carb loading), and he had pizza. He brought his book in and I brought my e-book so we enjoyed a nice quiet dinner, followed by a small ice cream cone. By the time I dropped my grandson off, I was ready to crash and burn! LOL! I headed back to my cousin’s house in Macedonia where the Cavs game had just begun. I snuck into the guest room and put out “flat Debi” so I’d be ready for the race. With 4 minutes left of the Cavs game, I went to bed for the night.
Because this post has gotten so out of hand in length, and because tomorrow’s 5am boot camp comes very early tomorrow morning, ‘m going to do a separate post for the Cleveland Half Marathon and the remainder of Sunday’s events!!
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