Kentucky Derby Festival miniMarathon Recap, Part One

On April 19, 2014, I ran the Kentucky Derby Festival miniMarathon in Louisville, KY.  I actually signed up hubby for the marathon for his birthday, and of course, I couldn't let him race alone!  This was also an overnight trip for hubby and I without the kids.  Don't get me wrong, I love traveling with our wonderful kids, but in over 16 years, we had only been away from the kids one night ever (this was our second).

We left home mid-morning Friday and drove to Louisville.  We had never visited Louisville before, but our hotel was easy to find.  We parked the car in the parking garage and went to check in.  Not knowing the city, I just decided to get a room at the host hotel, The Galt House.  When we arrived in the lobby, there was a line to check in, but it moved pretty quickly.  We only waited about 10 minutes to check in.  We dropped our bags off at our room, and headed right back out to the expo, a few blocks away at the convention center.

I was feeling very nervous about the race, as I was still having pain in my left foot, and I was truly concerned about my first DNF.  My last run had been the previous Saturday, and it didn't hurt nearly as much as it had the week before, but I was still having enough twinges of pain to cause concern.  I knew that if I didn't complete the race, it would really put a damper on this weekend.  At the expo, I picked up my bib and shirt, and just prayed that I would earn the right to wear the shirt.

Since I was so worried, I didn't buy anything at the expo, nor did I take any pictures.  I didn't want to get all excited and jinx it.  After the expo, we walked back towards the hotel and decided to catch an early dinner, before the restaurants got too busy.

We found the Bluegrass Brewing Company.  Very friendly staff and good food.  We sat near the bar and I distracted myself with tv and people watching.  Hubby got the fish tacos, and I got the margherita pizza.  Despite the t-shirts everyone was wearing proclaiming, Beer is Food, we didn't partake.  The pizza was okay, but I didn't eat much as I was stressed and nervous about the race.

We went back to the hotel and I rested my foot and watched tv for a while.  We had eaten so early, we decided to head back out to find some ice cream and check out the sunset over the river.

From the river we walked about a block from our hotel and found 2 Dips and a Shake.  Hubby got the cookie sundae, and I got the turtle sundae.

It was yummy.  Then we went back to our room and got our things ready for the race.  I even made my first flat runner (hubby thought it was hilarious when I dragged the chair over to the bed to take a picture!).

Since it was my first race as a Half Fanatic, I wanted to wear my new shirt.

I was praying that those beautiful new shoes would get me through 13.1 miles the next morning!

Look for Part Two tomorrow!