The Marathon weekend came so fast. I didn't feel ready, not where I wanted to be, but I was excited just knowing that no matter what happened, I would come home to Salt Lake as a 'Marathon Finisher'.
Friday, October 7th, 2011
We Have Arrived!!
The Sports and Fitness Expo
I was seriously so happy being at the expo just knowing that I was registered to complete the full marathon. Not to cheer Gabe on as he ran his 14th Marathon (crazy bastard) or to pick up my race packet for the Half Marathon (still amazing in my opinion), but to get my bib number, timing chip, and schedule for pain to come with my man and biggest cheerleader by my side.
There we are.....
# 3460 and # 3461
<3 side by side <3
I am sure I spent way too much time at the expo, but it was kind of a surreal experience for me,
and I wanted to just live in the excitement for as long as I could
.
.
Whenever Gabriel has ran an out of state marathon, we always liked to drive the route and see what he was up against. I decided there was no fucking way I wanted to spook myself anymore than I already was. My feelings were it was enough to see a map, and a breakdown of the miles, and best leave the rest unknown.
Gabriel has ran this particular marathon before, and there was a certain hill I remember driving up and thinking to myself, "Ha....good luck with that!!" One could only hope they changed the route ever so slightly to surpass that hill.....(no.such.luck.)
Later that night, we were lucky enough to get to meet Gabe's Uncle Marc, Aunt Becky, Cousin Scotty and his wife Lori for dinner. It was so awesome to get to see family while we were in town and catch up.
After dinner we went to the famous VooDoo Doughnuts.
They had a whole shelf of vegan options!! Of course they did, this is Portland, but still, I was excited. :)
I went with this guy.....It wasn't long before he was missing one of those cute little arms ;)
(It's the only part of him I ended up eating.......
I have a hard time over indulging in shit that was a past weakness.)
Saturday, October 8th, 2011
The Day Before the Marathon
This is the day I needed a constant distraction.
I was so excited, but so worried about the next day.
I needed to 'carb' up, which I am horrible at, and wanted to just have fun with Gabe
and be in the moment as we created this experience together.
Being Vegan in Portland is more than easy, it's AMAZING. With so many choices, and places to go, I had a hard time deciding which to start with. My friend Stephanie highly recommended Prasad, so we headed there first. They had oatmeal on the menu, and since it is what I have for breakfast pretty much every morning, I couldn't resist. God, it was fantastic. Figs, Currents, Pure Maple Syrup, Coconut Milk, Brazil Nuts and Fresh Fruit. I am going to be recreating this one at home many times in the future.
After breakfast, Gabe and I headed over to the Rose Gardens to play. The day was beautiful, so not to be cliche, we stopped to smell the roses.(ba-bum-bum-chhhhh) We seriously acted so goofy while there, like always, that the crowd of serious rose loving folks gave us more than one raised eyebrow. WIN!!
I think the picture of Gabe would have worked better if it looked
like the water was jetting out of his ass.
His very sad attempt and 'planking'.
He even text our daughter, Addie to get instructions.
FAIL!
Ahhhhh, we nub each other
A guy walked by us after I took this picture, and said it was so tender.
I agree.....shadows holding hands = tender.
After the Rose Garden we hit Blossoming Lotus, another vegan restaurant.
Seriously, poor Gabe, right?? I think this may be his first experience of running a marathon and not eating Krispie Creams and drinking Red Bulls before. He is a Saint to follow me on my foodie quest.
After lunch we went to the Grotto. Its a beautiful garden with a church and biblical statues all around.
We tried our best to behave, and only let a little silliness escape.
Like I said.....only a 'little' silliness escaped. :)
I was so excited, but so worried about the next day.
I needed to 'carb' up, which I am horrible at, and wanted to just have fun with Gabe
and be in the moment as we created this experience together.
Being Vegan in Portland is more than easy, it's AMAZING. With so many choices, and places to go, I had a hard time deciding which to start with. My friend Stephanie highly recommended Prasad, so we headed there first. They had oatmeal on the menu, and since it is what I have for breakfast pretty much every morning, I couldn't resist. God, it was fantastic. Figs, Currents, Pure Maple Syrup, Coconut Milk, Brazil Nuts and Fresh Fruit. I am going to be recreating this one at home many times in the future.
After breakfast, Gabe and I headed over to the Rose Gardens to play. The day was beautiful, so not to be cliche, we stopped to smell the roses.(ba-bum-bum-chhhhh) We seriously acted so goofy while there, like always, that the crowd of serious rose loving folks gave us more than one raised eyebrow. WIN!!
I think the picture of Gabe would have worked better if it looked
like the water was jetting out of his ass.
Seriously, where is Gabe's leg?? He is going to have to hop the whole 26.2 miles tomorrow.
His very sad attempt and 'planking'.
He even text our daughter, Addie to get instructions.
FAIL!
Ahhhhh, we nub each other
A guy walked by us after I took this picture, and said it was so tender.
I agree.....shadows holding hands = tender.
After the Rose Garden we hit Blossoming Lotus, another vegan restaurant.
Seriously, poor Gabe, right?? I think this may be his first experience of running a marathon and not eating Krispie Creams and drinking Red Bulls before. He is a Saint to follow me on my foodie quest.
I had the Raw Taco Salad, which was amazing, but I think a poor choice of a high carb meal. Lesson learned. I always have entree envy, and as soon as Gabe's bowl of Rice, Beans, and whatever else was in it was delivered, I immediately started having the pouty face. He offered to switch, but I let him have it. Not that mine was the least bit amazing, just like I said, not a lot of carbs. It's odd too, almost like I self sabotaged that, I mean, I eat carbs, believe me, but for some reason, I totally failed at carbo loading the day before the marathon. Will it bite me in the ass the next day?? We will see.......
After lunch we went to the Grotto. Its a beautiful garden with a church and biblical statues all around.
We tried our best to behave, and only let a little silliness escape.
Like I said.....only a 'little' silliness escaped. :)
We went home after a quick (are they ever really 'quick') trip to Whole Foods for some things to munch on, and get ready for the next day.
