Monday, October 17, 2011

Racing and grandma visit

Brian and I went down to Indianapolis on Friday night so we could run in a half marathon there early Saturday. His mom was nice enough to come up to Lafayette to watch Ellie while we were gone -- though I don't think she was too put out by the dedicated time with her granddaughter :)
We all had adventures, mostly good.
Brian and I got a great deal through Priceline and stayed at the Crown Plaza hotel in the historic train station in downtown Indy. When checking in we asked about getting a late check-out on Saturday, to ensure we'd have enough time for much-needed showers at the race. The lady said it would cost us $35 unless we signed up to become Priority members. When we found out that was free (well, except for signing over the right for endless emails from them) we went the "priority" route and then got out room upgraded for free, two drink tickets to the bar and access to a guest lounge with free snacks and drinks! Brian and I are pretty easily impressed, so we were ecstatic. Now that we're priority members we also like to think that we're kind of a big deal...

After a huge dinner out Friday night we ran a great race on Saturday morning. The weather was perfect (except for the wind heading in certain directions) and the course wound through Fort Harrison State Park where the fall colors were amazing. I went into the race with a goal of running under 2 hours and 15 minutes... but around mile 6 we realized we were on pace to break 2:10 if we stepped it up just a little. So we did and crossed the line just under 2:09. I was thrilled! (Though I apparently was also exhausted and emotional because I immediately burst into tears like I did after finishing my last pregnant race. I blame the hormones!)

(This photo was post-race, though I'm still smiling! Had to get a shot by the conductor statue because he was checking his watch... just like we did about a thousand times during the race.)

After the race I was hurting a bit more than I'd anticipated, so we canceled plans to stay in Indy the rest of the day and go to a dinner theater show that night. We'll reschedule! Instead we stopped at Trader Joes and then got home just after Ellie woke up from her nap. I was amazed at how much I missed our little girl even with being gone for just 24 hours.

On the Ellie/grandma end, the highlights of the weekend were time spent cuddling on the couch while watching Elmo, a trip out to the toy store and to get waffles at IHOP, bath time with extra splashing and TWO trips to the park. Brian's mom said Ellie did great in our absence, even though our gal got a little sad on Friday night when she realized mommy and daddy wouldn't be back before her bedtime. But I was so proud to hear that Ellie went down for nite-nite and Saturday's nap with very little struggle.
Everyone had a great weekend. Thanks again grandma Linda for the visit!

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