Part of the VIP package included their bRUNch - 5k Shakeout Run and Brunch. Not only VIP people were invited, but it was open to anyone that bought a ticket.
In case you missed previous posts from the MCM weekend:
We were to meet next to the Awakening Statue which is in the National Harbor right next to the hotel. It was a few minute walk from the hotel and we ended up just following people that looked like they were ready to go out for a run.
It was cold Saturday morning. Like in the 40's. We bundled up cause we knew there would be a bit of standing around. And there was. I got to see the Awakening Statue which I was wanting to see for a while. I've seen it in different movies and thought it was so cool how just part of his body was above the sand. Like he was slipping into quick sand or something like that.
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| Not a great picture, but you can see a foot and leg and arm. His face is all the way at the other end. |
They had a few announcements and let us know where to meet for the brunch after the run. He said that it wouldn't start for an hour or so, so we knew we could take our time getting through the 3 miles. We started off at a good clip. We followed the water around and headed toward the Woodrow Wilson Bridge that leads from Maryland into Virginia.
For the first mile we really didn't take any walking breaks. I knew I was going out too fast to keep up that pace. About 3/4 of a mile in they had a table set up with bottles of water. Too soon, but on the way back was perfect timing. We saw that we would have to go over the bridge, so that meant a pretty steep climb. I knew we were going to walk up that.
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| The trail continued around the circular a couple of times to get to the top. |
We saw that on the other side of the bridge was a pedestrian path. We were to go out a little bit and then turn around. We ran down the other side of the bridge and then got a high five from the police officer
and once we started back up the ramp we basically walked the rest of the
way.
There really were some beautiful views out to the water. I didn't mind the path next to the cars on the bridge, but I could see why it would be a little nerve racking. I just stayed away from the water side with my fear of heights and I was good. The path was very wide, so I didn't have a problem doing that.
We were not there to prove anything to anyone, we were there to have fun and get blood flowing to our legs the day before the marathon. I was glad that Candace was up for that cause it was fun just walking and chatting at a very beautiful trail.
At the very end we decided to run in the last few hundred feet. There weren't very many people left as they probably all headed in to the hotel for the Brunch. We knew we timed things perfectly so we wouldn't have to wait around.
I ran upstairs to change out of my shoes and put on my sandals. I'm not one for wanting to put extra miles on my running shoes, or wear shoes if I didn't have to. When I got to the conference room where the Brunch was I saw that it was set up with many round tables for people to eat at and a few different buffet areas to get food. I found Candace and went to get food for myself. I went through and got some bacon and thought that maybe they were already out of eggs. I grabbed some oatmeal and fruit and would come back to get the eggs if they brought more out. The thing is that they didn't have eggs at all. I thought that was so very weird. What's a brunch without eggs? The bacon, oatmeal, and fruit were good though.
Bart Yasso was the guest speaker and man was he funny. If you ever have a chance to listen to him speak at an expo or something do it. He has done so many things, mostly so many races that I am totally jealous. I can only dream of having that kind of life to be able to travel and experience half as many things as he has.
Remember, go out and vote today! They say it doesn't matter who, as long as you do, but this year it really kinda does matter. :)
Continue reading about the MCM weekend
here.
