Weekend Wrap-Up: Cupcakes, Beer, Laughs & Race Prep
/In case you have been under a rock, you may not know that this past weekend - on Sunday, September 7 to be exact - I attempted and completed my first Half Ironman. Now there will be a whole post detailing the ups and downs during the race itself. You can even read all about my freak out here while packing for the race.
But there was so much to the weekend before leaving at 1pm on Saturday to drive to Maine. So let's see what it was.
I woke up bright and early on Friday morning to face the scale. It was up 0.9 and I was perfectly okay with that. It was only my 2nd gain since recommitting on June 13.
After my weekly weigh-in, I bounded out of the house to get to the gym so I could knock out my final swim workout before meeting up with a special guest.
It was crazy completing the final swim workout of the training cycle. It was getting real.
I hopped on the train to head downtown and meet up with ...
KAT!!!!
It was so great to catch up with my friend Kat, who was in town from Florida for a photo shoot with Reebok.
We met up for brunch at Eastern Standard in Kenmore Square before checking out the Fenway Park area. It was her husband's first trip to Boston so I played tour guide since well I used to be a Fenway tour guide - so I had the credentials to act as one. ;) We just walked around the outside chatting and catching up.
Since it was Friday and we were in the area, we checked out Boston Beer Works so they could test some local brews.
And I had to join in. Like a good host would. Also known as carbo loading for my race. ;)
After sampling some delicious beer and making sure to check in to them on Untappd, it was time to find Kat a cupcake. She had Georgetown Cupcake on the brain so we took the walk over to Newbury St. Now I can't remember the last time I had a cupcake. I think it was at Suzi Storm's wedding in June 2013.
I figured I would pass on the cupcake ... until we stepped inside.
Oh deliciousness.
And Kat's excitement was catchy.
I opted for a Caramel Cheesecake cupcake for me and took a Red Velvet cupcake home for the wife. I know I am amazing. ;)
And it was worth every single Point (I marked it down at 7PPV).
We also opted to get the free cupcake of the day. What is that you ask? Well each day Georgetown Cupcake tweets out the secret flavor of the day cupcake, you see it, go into the store and name the cupcake by name and BOOM free cupcake (while supplies last).
Today's FREE (not-on-menu) flavor is #DCCupcakes CHOCOLATE GANACHE SURPRISE! Order it by name & it's FREE! 100/location, 1/customer! Enjoy!
It was smaller than their normal cupcake and still delicious (marked down as 5 PPV).
After beer, fun and cupcakes, it was time to walk Kat and her husband back to their hotel so they could head home to Florida. <<insert sad face>>
While I was sad to see her go, I was happy to spend a few hours with her during her whirlwind trip. Thank you interwebs for bringing Kat into my life. :)
Once home, it was time to knock out my second to last bike ride. I was not crying over that. ;)
My furry coaches did a great job keeping me focused.
The wife and I opted for a quiet night in to help stop some of my race nerves. We watched some Sherlock Holmes from the BBC while enjoying a great hoppy beer.
New Albanian Brewing Company Hoptimus
I totally chose this by the label and it was worth it!
On Saturday I woke up early to walk to my Weight Watchers meeting and keep a little normalcy before the day of packing and prep began.
While packing my stuff I had a minor HUGE freakout over the race. I may or may not have told the wife "A hug is welcome many times today" as I stood crying in the living room.
Ummm yeah. She did kindly remind me that I was the one that signed up for it. Yes yes I know.
I will say I felt better after crying out a lot of the nervousness. I also felt the control once everything was laid out and packed.
Once the gear was ready, it was time for my final 20-min bike ride to make sure everything on the bike was okay.
Now again I don't know a lot about biking so without a wheel falling off while biking I dubbed the bike - race ready!
The wife and I loaded up the car, left the pups with my dad and hit the road. Thankfully the hotel was just 80 minutes from our house in New Hampshire. I could tell we were getting close when all the cars around me had bikes attached to them. Fancy fancy bikes too. I was feeling unworthy of being in the area, but tried to push those thoughts out of my mind...
... until we got to bib pick-up.
Oh lord did I feel unworthy again. Tons of folks walking around with head-to-toe Ironman gear, etc. But I tried to remain in my own journey. The wife and I walked down to the water to check out where the swim would take place.
Nice and calm - just like I wanted. :) Since the buoys weren't in the water I had no idea how the swim would be set up, but the swim wasn't really a worry of mine. I felt confident there.
Then I turned around.
This is the hill that led from the swim to transition. Uh yeah. We got to run up that post swim. Uh yay!
We walked up it and I was happy to see it was rock free so running up with bare feet wouldn't be painful.
Once I saw where my bike would be racked, we headed back to the car to drive the bike course.
Oh friends why did I do that. The nerves skyrocketed as I saw the rolling hills. I didn't feel ready for it. I was feverishly texting my friends for support and to calm me down.
Poor wife of mine.
We did see this lovely rainbow, which I thought was a good sign.
After driving the full course, I was ready to get back to the hotel and relax as best as possible. We laid out and labeled all the gear. We enjoyed pizza and a little red wine for dinner. I was in bed at 9pm with Disney's The Princess And The Frog in the background.
With the alarm set for 4am and a wake-up called scheduled from the hotel for 4:15am, I did my best to shut my brain off. Can I tell you this was a tough tough job. Worry was flying. I tried to drone it all out.
The next day would be a memorable one...
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Do you have a go-to pre-race meal?
