Pre Race- North Country Trail Marathon

This weekend was practically perfect in every way (Like Mary Poppins practically perfect).

We left Thursday night and headed to Furian's place. The boys were off to Cinci first thing in the morning but I lounged for awhile and read some blogs while sipping a coffee and eating a fresh deli sandwich. Released a lot of emotion reading the IM Moo recaps. It is so incredible what these people did to get to that race and what they did that day, just amazing.

Around noon I headed up to meet Mouse and get on our way to pick up our race packets. After stopping for an oil change and getting hit on by the mechanic (I NEVER get hit on, this was bizarre, especially considering the mention of it being my husbands car, oh and the WEDDING ring on my finger, seriously do people have no shame?), I met up with Mouse at her place and we packed the car and got on our way.

We were both pretty jazzed for the weekend and we chatted the whole way up. We arrived at the race site around 7pm and got a water bottle and our numbers. I was under the impression that the long sleeved technical was only received upon finishing so we made a plan to finish the next morning, but we were surprised to receive the sweet technicals tees right off the bat, we decided we would still stick to the finishing plan the next day anways. We were there long enough to check out the finisher line and the trail head, and to get mooned, then we headed on our way to the cabin (note to the mountain biker who felt the need to show us all he had, maybe next time change inside your car, not in the front of the parking lot!).


Stopped at the grocery store for some pasta and coffee filters. Had to make a second trip because in all the distraction we forgot the coffee filters. Then we were on our way to our haven for the night. The cabin was awesome. Right on the lake and super comfy with lots of sleeping room.

We called Rae and Brent to let them know we were marking Pip as our emergency contact as we prepared our dinner, pasta and a beer, you gotta fill up on those carbs! We prepped all our stuff for the next day. I opted for the Wild Bill shirt and my fave Pearl Izumi shorts. Mouse went for the pink leopard print skirt and white tee. There was going to be a bag drop at 13.4 so we also prepped bags with whatever we thought we might need half way through. I threw in my second handheld filled with gatorade and carbo pro, some ibuprofen, and two gels. Mouse had an extra pair of shoes in case the new ones acted up as well as her cell so we could give my husband and Rae and Brent some "chip updates."


I topped off with a bottle of gatorade and carbo pro before heading to bed. I read a little and then it was lights out.

4:30 came quick (note the alarm was set for 5:30). Apparently I forgot to fill myself in on the laid back approach I was taking for this marathon. It was all about trails baby, and running like a training run. There was no need for the early wake up call and nerves. Alas my bod thought different and I finally gave in at 5:15 and got up and showered.

We got on our way about 6:15 and pumped up the Justin Timberlake and Queer Eye tunes to get us ready to go. The weather was gorgeous and we were all set for our first trail marathon.