Fire and Marathon Weekend

Here is a rundown of last weekend:

Friday night: Bird came over to my house after work and we just chilled out.  She was trying to finish her book for book club and I just watched TV and surfed the web.  I also spent some time trying to sign Bird up for Mint.com. More on that in an upcoming post.

Saturday: I woke up really early and headed to meet T at his sister’s house.  From there we ran to McDonald’s and he bought breakfast.  Then we drove up to his parent’s farm where we spent the day building an enormous bonfire shaped like a pirate ship! After we finished the fire, we stopped off at his church because they were having an Apple Festival. I ended up bidding at the silent auction for an immersion blender for Bird.  And I won it!  For $3!  After the Apple Festival we headed home and I met up with Bird’s family for a big pasta dinner because they were going to run the Twin Cities Marathon the next day.

Sunday: I woke up early again and took Bird and her parents downtown to the starting line in Minneapolis.  I dropped them off and drove over and parked near the finish line in St. Paul.  T picked me up in St. Paul and then we drove back to Minneapolis to watch the race.  We parked near Mile 6 and waited for the runners.  It started to rain and then it just poured on us for the next hour.  Woof.  The poor runners looked kind of miserable and so did the spectators.  We tried to stay in good spirits and cheered on the runners.  Eventually, we saw Bird and her mom run by and we cheered them on as they passed but we didn’t see her dad.

T and I then met up with our friend, L, and the three of us drove to Mile 17 to watch and cheer again.  By this time, the rain had stopped and it was a much more enjoyable experience.  We got to see all three of them this time – Bird’s dad was approximately 20 minutes in front of her and her mom.  So we saw all of them and then we cheered on L’s roommate who was also running.  From Mile 17 we drove to downtown St. Paul where we looked for a coffee shop because we were wet and cold and looking to warm up.  We eventually found a Dunn Brothers and I treated T and L to coffee for $11.  We then hiked through downtown to the finish line at the State Capitol.  We waited there for a while and eventually we cheered really loud as Bird ran by and finished the race. About one minute later, her Mom finished, and then her dad finished a few minutes after that. L’s roommate came in about 10 minutes after him.  It was a really fun event.  The rest of Sunday consisted of relaxing.

And that was my weekend.  It was busy and I woke up early on both days, but it was worth it.  We’ll be burning the pirate ship bonfire this weekend and I can’t wait for that.  Also, I’ve been inspired by all the ambitious marathoners and I’m going to start the Couch to 5K plan.  I’m signing up for the Turkey Day 5k on Thanksgiving to hold myself accountable.