Minneapolis, Minnesota United States Twin Cities in Motion 35F / 2C Sunny

Total Time = 5h 49m 44s Overall Rank = 8614/8779 Age Group = 30-34 Age Group Rank = 3597/3685

I arrived at my parents’ house in Wisconsin on Thursday night. I planned on taking a small vacation and also do a race. This would also be my son’s first organized race. Friday was a day of rest for us. It was so nice to be back in my childhood home. It was so cozy. I lounged lazily in a comfy chair with a glass of red wine in hand. The dog was stretched out in front of the fire while my son was tucked comfortably in my mother’s arms. It was a picture perfect setting, perfect Americana.

That night my mother and I cooked a homemade meal, and I mean truly homemade. The bread was made all by hand, the noodles were also made by hand and rolled out. Soon the house was filled with the wonderful smells of home cooking. My son played with the dog outside and his laughter filtered though the house. At that point in time my life was perfect, I had no cares, no worries, I was so happy.

My friend of 26 years came over for dinner with her girl. Her daughter and my son played happily in the living room as the adults discussed logistics for the next few days. The end of the night came to quickly and soon were tucked snuggly in bed.

Saturday morning rose bright and cold. It was just 35 degrees and windy. It was going to be a cold one for my son’s first race. After a 40 minute drive into St. Paul we made our way to the state capital to the race area. Of course St Paul is like any other large city which means that constructions is a constant. We ended parking almost a half mile way.

My poor boy soon got cold and I of course wanted him to be comfortable for his first race. So with one quick movement I had him in my arms then settled on my shoulders. Now it is important to remember that he has recently gone through another growth spurt. Within one block I was feeling all 43 pounds of his weight wiggling on top of my shoulders.

The thin long sleeve running shirt and wind pants soon proved to be not even close to keeping me warm. I was shivering almost uncontrollably while trying to balance my kid. I could not get to the heated tent fast enough! I dropped my son and mom off at the kids’ activity tent while I got my boy registered for his race and got his number and shirt.

All this was done much sooner than I had expected leaving us with almost three hours to spare. For two of the hours we played in the activities tent as my boy collected free prizes and various toys from the different vendor. With one more hour till race time my body ached from the shivering. I had managed to make sure my kid was warmly dressed and so was my mom but with the wind blowing though the tent I really didn’t feel the heat. I tried to stay in the center of the tent and around people using their body to block the wind.

Fifteen minutes to race time we made out way out to the race course. He would be racing 50 yards on grass. My mom went to the finish line and I accompanied him to the start. There out in the open the shivering really set in. Being in the 5 year old group he would be the last group to go. Soon the cold and the strong biting northern wind sucked the heat right out of my body. Within seconds I was shivering so badly I must have looked like I was having a seizure on my feet. No matter how much I tried to move and keep my arms tucked close to my core I could not stop shivering. When the wind came in gusts I though for sure my shivering would take me right off my feet. All my muscles ached from the constant and rapid contractions of shivering I felt exhausted.

When it came time for the 5 year olds to run Toby stepped up to the line and was roaring to go. The start horn sounded; before I knew it he was halfway down the field. His long lanky legs were covering an impressive amount of ground with each stride. The parents simply walked behind the kids allowing them to run freely. The crowd cheered them on just as they would do in the adult races. All to soon it was over. He tore across the finish line with a HUGE smile on his face stretching from ear to ear. A race official give him his first official race metal and he as beaming with pride. When he saw me he practically jumped into the arms yelling “I did it Mommy, I did it!”

I was so proud of my boy! He ran so fast and smoothly he seemed to be a natural runner and he loved it too. We made our way back to the car with my shivering almost out of control. Thankfully I didn’t have to carry my boy on the way back, I don’t think my muscles could have handled it.
I was soon warm in the car and on we were on our way to the marathon expo to get my race packet. While walking around the expo I noticed that a huge knot was forming in the muscles that encompass my left shoulder. I soon was unable to move my head without pain, if I rotated my neck to much the knot would pinch a nerve that caused so much pain that I was almost taken off my feet. This was not good, running not being able to move my shoulders and neck freely would hinder me severely. My only hope was that a night of relaxing would loosen the knot enough to allow me to run the next day.

After a few hours spent walking around at the science center which was next door we headed back to my moms place for another wonderful home made meal and to carb load. It was to bed early for me but as usual I had a hard time sleeping. I seem to always have trouble getting to sleep a night before a race. The knot and pinched nerve in my neck and shoulder had not let up making the night that much worse for me. Finally drifted off to sleep listening to the crackling of the fire and the breathing of my son.


Sunday morning was just as cold as the morning before. It was a cold 33 degrees and the wind had not let up. I stuck to my usual pre race routine. After a hot shower I got dressed in tight running shorts, a long sleeve gray base layer and a blue running singlet. For traveling to the pick up area I also donned a pair of warm pants that I slid over my shorts. Quickly mixed a bottle of ZYM and loaded up with two gel packs and two chew packs.

For this race we parked near the finish line close to the state capital then were bussed to the start line near the Metodome. The lot parking was charging $10, of course I’m far to cheep to pay cash so after a few minutes of driving around I found a spot on the street. I’m convinced that I was just plain lucky to find a spot only one block from the lot parking. Don’t really know how so many other people had driving past that spot and not taken it.

After standing in line for the bus the warmth of the bus was welcome. My seat mate and I got to talking and we found that we had a lot in common. She had a large tube of Bio Freeze with her that she allowed me access to in an attempt to resolve the knot in my muscles. The cooling sensation instantly made the muscles feel great and for the first time in almost 24 hours I was able to freely move and relax. We chatted for the short ride while I ate my usual race breakfast of a Cliff Bar and 12 oz V8.

Spent close to an hour just walking around inside the Metrodome. I had my sweat bag that was given to everyone with me as well. A sweat bag is a bag that is given to the athletes that they can put what ever they want to have available to them at the finish line. I quickly got shed my pants so my legs could get use to having the warm air on them before I braved the cold weather. Got my timing chip in place and the race belt and fluids in place.

I was a little worried about doing the bad drop, I’ve seen everything from total chaos to perfect organization. My worries were soon laid to rest. The drop area was roped off with multiple rows of large bins with clearly marked number ranges on them that correlated with the bib numbers. As I approached the area a volunteer took my bag making a note of my run number. She quickly deposited it in the correct bin and that was the end of the process. I was outside for less than five minutes to complete the entire process. I high tailed it back into the warmth of the Metodome.

Made my way into the restroom being extremely thankful that I didn’t have to deal with dirty nasty Port-A-Potties that I normally have to contend with. I was not, however, expecting to get sick while in there. Really don’t know why I got sick so suddenly, it hit hard and I felt miserable. Oddly enough after being sick I felt great. It’s like I was fine then BAM sick, then fine again. No clue what that was all about but I was happy it was over so fast.

The call for race start in 15 minutes was made suddenly there was a mad dash for the door. It struck me funny that everyone else had the same idea as me, to stay warm and dry as long as possible. What was really stupid though is that with four sets of doors and a little over eight thousand runner’s only one door in each set was unlocked. It defied logic to have only four doors open for eight thousand plus people to get through.

Finally got through and was met with a blinding sun and temps that had warmed up to all of 38 degrees. Getting into the correct start corral was another adventure. I was slotted to be in corral two and they did not have numbers on them. I just guess and was pleased to learn that I managed to find the right one on the first try. Must have been luck.

We heard the start gun go off for the wheelers then a few minutes later the gun sounded for corral one. I had to laugh as I watched people shed their outer layer. It looked like shirt missiles being shot into the air. From all over the crowd shirts, gloves, and hats of various sizes, colors, textures, and places were launched into the air on a one way ticket to the side lines.

From there volunteers picked them up to be washed and donated to the local homeless shelter. It’s a fun way to give back to the local community. I for one was not willing to part with any of my gear so I kept it all firmly attached to my body.