Pre-Race Weekend Recap

Hello, friends!

I'm so sorry that I've been missing since Saturday morning, but I've been awfully busy. You know, those half marathons don't just run themselves. :)

As you know, I headed hOmaha this past weekend. My sister Erin and I left Friday after school and got home just in time for dinner: delicious gnocchi. We then chilled with the parents for a bit, and then I persuaded my dad to watch a movie with us -- and then promptly fell asleep about 30 minutes in.

After sleeping in for a bit on Saturday, my mom, my sister, and I headed to Lincoln for packet pickup and the race expo.

Weird photo, but oh well.

I absolutely LOVE race expos, but I wasn't really looking forward to this particular one because when I ran Lincoln in 2012, the expo was pretty darn lame. This year, it was much, much better. I bought two Bondi Bands (I buy one for each major race I run, so I bought one for Lincoln and one for this week's Market to Market) and a Run Nebraska tank top:

Source

I mean, you can never have enough t-shirts to show your state pride (especially when you live in a different state), right?

My sister also bought the three of us shoe charms:

Thanks, Bear!

After checking out absolutely everything at the expo, we headed to the Haymarket neighborhood for a bite to eat at Old Chicago and an ice cream cone at Ivanna Cone, the cutest little ice cream parlor. Side note: it's always a good idea to have an ice cream cone before a half marathon, especially when you haven't had dairy for about three months...

How cute was this message on the stairs leading up to the ice cream parlor?

Then, we headed to Aly's parents' house for some family time with Alex, Aly, and this little guy:

Look at the size of that hand! (I mean, I know there's the whole closer-to-the-camera thing,
but still: that's the hand of a big boy!

Is he a beautiful baby, or what?

I seriously don't think I could love Brody any more than I already do. And, I do have to say that I'm pretty sure he loves me right back. Now I just need to figure out a way to see him every few weeks so that he doesn't forget who I am...

When Brody went down for a nap, it was time for us to head back to Omaha. I spent a little time outside, soaking up the glorious sun:

Oh, how I wish I had a patio at my apartment. I would spend all summer like this.

After not too long, I decided to make sure everything was ready for The Big Day:

Clockwise from bottom left, I had two GUs, my Spibelt, my earbuds, my Garmin, my Brooks, my drugs (Ibuprofen and Immodium), two fruit chews, socks, Vaseline, the earrings and bracelet (miles to go before I sleep) I always wear, my hair tie, my new Bondi Band, my capris, my sports bra, and my running top with bib pinned and ready to go.

We had a fairly early dinner of spaghetti, salad, and bread:

Then my mom, my sister, and I crashed super early, as we had a 4:00 a.m. wake-up call.

Stay tuned 'til tomorrow for the actual race recap. :)