Richmond Marathon (Pre-race)

What's a girl to do when she has been cleared by the cardiologist to run a marathon 2 days prior and her husband has the next day off? (I know, I still owe you what the cardiologist said... )

I decided, that I would text Ginny to see if she had a couch free and drive down on Thursday night instead of Friday morning. With Friday being Veterans, Hubs was off and it would save on time to go after traffic. Made sense to me... but might have been a better idea to leave in daylight.

That being said, I made the trip to Richmond in record time and snuggled into a cozy 3rd floor sanatorium to rest up for a morning run on the course.

By 5:30, G and I were on our way to meet Tonia to run part of the course. Originally, we had thought we would run it after Bob arrived into town, but timing would be close, so I opted to get it in (instead of skip it) so I could be ready to help Bob as needed.

I felt like the 3.5 miles sucked. I could tell that I had not run for a week and that my lungs were NOT use to running in the cold weather already. Running with Ginny and Tonia was AWESOME. Running the course and seeing where we would be finishing and starting really did help me tremendously. Conversation flowed and it was like we had known each other for years. I must admit that I was sucking wind with these ladies, so I let them do a lot of the talking. And yes ladies and gentlemen... G and T looked as adorable as ever in matching skirt outfits (without even planning it).

After the run, Ginny and I went back to her house and did a little coloring to my hair. (Let me take a moment to just say how adorable Ginny's kids are. Seriously, would steal them!) Afterwards, we met the "posse" for bagels and I was able to meet some incredible women! WOW! To be surrounded by such awesome moms/women and to see how excited they all were to run. Good times!

I spent more time with Ginny's family and then we picked Bob up and drove the course. Time did not allow for us to drive the entire course, but Ginny told us the first part we skipped would be ok (more on that later). It was good to finally catch Bob and to see that he was excited yet ready. We drove the course and got all of the pointers. Ginny told us where the hills were, where the sun would be, and more importantly, where the WIND would be. This proved to be invaluable. Ginny was awesome and I was getting more nervous. Bob seemed to be chill (which bothered me a little. ;-))

Me and Bob at the Expo

We headed to the expo and that is when I realized that Bob and I were only 2 numbers apart. 6388 and 6390. Talk about mojo! ;-) We met Tonia and her girls who are MAJORLY adorable! The expo could have been better, but we made the best of it.

Me, Ginny, and Pam

After the expo we headed to a little Italian place just outside of the city... and when G made our reservation it was for 28 - yeah... we are EPIC like that. First to arrive was Pam with her friend Michelle and adorable 10 year old Jaden. Pam came into town to "watch" Jaden while Michelle ran her first half (she had done marathons before). Pam was exactly like she is in her blog but for some reason her southern accent threw me....I don't really know why... she is from Tenn.

The rest of the seats started to fill and we all chatted with excitement. It was good times. I believe most of us were anxious, ready to knock out what the next day had in store for us... so a little before 7pm, we said our goodbyes, wished each other the best race and retired to our "quarters" for the night.

One last picture of the group before we headed out: