I will start at the beginning of our trip. We left our house at 4:00 a.m. on Friday morning for the Cedar Rapids airport. Our flight left at 5:45. We had a very quick stop in Dallas and were in San Antonio TO our hotel by 10:00 a.m. Fortunately our rooms were ready and we were able to check in.
When we got into our room, we noticed the message light flashing on our phone. Strange. We called down and were told that there was a Fed-Ex package there for us. Hmmmm. The box was from my dear friends Renae and Cheryl and was filled with cheese/crackers/salami and apples and nuts and chocolate covered blueberries (the first to go) and a very wonderful note of encouragement! We ran in memory of Renae's mom, Barb and Cheryl's daughter, Lindsay, who were both very important people in our lives. Of course it made me cry!! Thank you, dear friends!
After a yummy lunch on the Riverwalk (more on that in my next post) Steve and I headed to the Alamadome to pick up our race packets and to go to the pre-race expo. There were tons of vendors set up with everything one might need or want for running or walking.
We had a good time at the expo and picked up some fun souvenir clothing items. (Gotta have that!!) Steve signed up for a course tour the next morning so he could get a feel for where we'd be running. They also gave a history of all the missions etc.. that we'd be passing during the race. Steve LOVES that kind of thing!!!
Saturday morning we got up early and met at Hemisfair Park for an all TNT pre-race training run that was sponsored by the Texas TNT chapter. Here are a few from our Iowa chapter that made it up and out of bed for the run.
After an inspiring talk from a TNT participant who is living with leukemia and will be walking the 1/2 marathon the next day, we did a short 2 mile run around the Alamadome and then met back up at the park for Panera bagels. Yum.
Another group shot of the Iowa group.. this time looking down at crazy Steve lying on the ground trying to get the Tower of the Americas in the picture. There is actually quite a funny story about this picture, but I would need Steve's permission to tell it, and I doubt he'd let me!
After a great day with the kids, Steve and I headed to the Grand Ballroom of the Marriott for the TNT pre-race pasta party. We met the Iowa team in the lobby and started hearing lots of noise and excitement coming from the floor above us. As we made our way up the excalator we found the source of the noise. All of the TNT support squad of coaches/mentors/etc.. from all of the different chapters were lined up cheering and clapping for us as we made our way into the ballroom. Wow!
It was quite the line of purple people! It was great to be with so many people who had been training for this race for a common purpose... to help find a cure for leukemia and lymphoma. It was very moving. After a delicious pasta meal, they had several speakers who continued to motivate and encourage us. What an awesome experience!!!
Afterwards, the Iowa team met for some last minute 'night-before' instructions and to take a group photo. What a great group of people! We feel blessed to have been a part of this! We then headed back to our rooms in the hopes of getting to bed early and getting a good nights sleep. Tomorrow was the BIG DAY!GO TEAM!!!
1 comment:
WOW! It all sounds wonderful. Congratulations! I'm so proud of you.
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