Asheville! F$#%!

Well, the trip to Asheville and Biltmore for the 15K was a complete success, if an "adventure", as Christa's family apparently likes to call all the things that go wrong during their vacation.

Christa and I actually had a really fun time and although we may have gotten frustrated, since nothing was really a big deal, we just laughed it all off. I introduced Christa to Jon and Patrick's game of the British 10pm-12am Cursing and Punctuation. It's really just a way to let off steam. We got to Biltmore and our hotel fine on Saturday and were right on time at 4:00 to check in. Then the fun started...

After going about 25 miles in the wrong direction to get to downtown Asheville, we turned around and went in the right direction and continued on our way. By this time, I was semi-hungry. We parked in downtown at 5 and decided to find a place to eat (keep in mind we have a big race the next day and need carbs). Well, the only decent place we can find is Mellow Mushroom, which for my lovely companion that cannot eat wheat, was completely out of the question. At this point, I am very hungry. So we drive out of downtown - which by the way is very hard to navigate - and get to Asheville Mall (after another 20 minutes). Christa really wants Outback Steakhouse, but we have no idea where one could be, but Ellen confirms that there is a Carrabba's nearby. I have the bright idea to call 411 to get the number of Carrabba's so we can get in right away when we get there. I call, they say.... there's a one-hour wait. Right, it's Saturday night at 6:00. S*%$. As the British would say.

Oh, there's more. We have to make several u-turns to get to the stupid restaurant that is completely invisible from the road and then finally decide to order out and wait for the food for 20 minutes and then chow down in our hotel room. By this time, I'm ravenous. I decide that it's a good idea to order an appetizer, a salad, and a huge pasta dish because I could eat a cow about now. It also seems a good idea that while waiting we should get dessert to bring back to the room. And Glory be! there's a Dairy Queen right up the road. Hah... we totally ate the entire Blizzard before we even got back to the restaurant - talk about spoiling your appetite. As we're driving past the Dairy Queen, we see a sign for Outback.

oh the IRONY!!!

Despite the fact that by the time we got back to the room, we had been driving for 3 hours, I had completely ruined my appetite, and I was facing a huge meal, it was amazingly delicious. It was one of those times when food just tastes so good simply because you had to work for it.

Needless to say, Megan, we missed you a lot.

So we got up on Sunday morning at 5:00 AM. That's right. The race started at 7:20 and we were encourage to get there early, so we were there about 1 hour and 50 minutes before the race actually started. But we got to see a sunrise over the Biltmore grounds and it was gorgeous. It is impossible to describe what it's like to run a race like that unless you've actually done it. By mile 7, I was ready to stop running. By mile 8, the only reason that I was still running was that I was on automatic pilot and my legs didn't know how to do anything else. The scenery was spectacular, we got to run right in front of the house and up two HUGE hills, and all around the grounds and gardens. It was the best run of my life. I achieved my goal of running about an 11 minute mile and ended up running for 1 hour and 40 minutes (and some seconds).

The rest of today I have spent doing absolutely nothing. My entire body has shut down and gone on strike after what I did to it this morning. At the end of the race I:
- drank 2 bottles of water
- ate 1 orange, 1 banana, and a whole bagel
- couldn't move once I sat down to stretch

That's a whole heck of a lot of food in about 20 minutes.

I am so glad that I pushed through the training, that I set this goal for myself, and that I not only ran the entire race, but I stuck to a pretty good time. Of course it could get better, but for someone that has never run that far in their life, it's pretty darn good. Christa and I saw some runners that were in such good shape and the ages ranged from younger than us to in their 60's. I was definitely passed by 2 guys in their 50's that were just chatting up a storm as I huffed and puffed up a hill. I totally want to be that fit when I'm older.

So the guy that I meet must now meet the additional requirement that he will want to run races with me and keep in shape for the rest of our lives. Because it is SO much easier to keep up with a regiment when you are doing it with someone else and have someone to run with.

Hmm, longest entry ever? You bet! Amazing life experience that will never leave me? Definitely.