The Minnesota Marathon Weekend

I always love going up to Minnesota. I am a multitude of friends living up there and I was able to run across most of them. I flew up to Minnesota from the Appleton airport. Yes it would have been much cheaper to drive. But had things gone as planned and I actually ran the marathon, I had determined months ago that I wouldn’t want to drive after running a marathon. It was a 45 minute flight to Minneapolis, and it was a nearly empty flight. My bag was waiting for me when I got to baggage claim. It was only 1:00 Friday afternoon by the time I got into town and everyone was still working, so I had some time to kill. I hopped on the light rail and stopped by Krum’s condo and dropped off my bags. Then I jumped back on the light rail and headed for the Mall of America. I grabbed some Chinese in the food court and then went to see “Burn After Reading” in the mall theater. I will have to post a review of this movie. Borky and Bubs, I expect the same out of both of you. After the movie I eventually met up with Borky and Mrs. Borky. They had people over and we played some ping pong and Wii. The next morning I went and registered for the marathon, even though I wasn’t going to run it. Krum said he would run it using my timing chip and number. While registering I ran into Kaker, who was also running the race. After running a couple more errands and lunch we headed back to Borky’s for some more Wii. However, while we are at lunch this conversation came up. Let me know if you think I said anything that would make the waitress feel uncomfortable.

Mrs. Borky: “How did you sleep last night?”
Me: “I slept great. That bed in your guest bedroom is great. Where did you get it?”
Mrs. Borky: “I got it at the Lumbar Yard. It has an extra thick mattress pad and was designed to be a little stiff.”
Me: “Wow, maybe I should look into getting a new mattress because I slept great. How often are you suppose to get a new mattress?”
Borky: “It is like 10 years.”
Mrs. Borky : “No it is not, I think it is closer to 5 years.”
Along comes our waitress with our drink order.
Me: “Excuse me Samantha. How old is your mattress and do you know when you are suppose to get a new one?”
Samantha: “You know I have no idea. But I think mine is in pretty good shape.”
Now my inner monologue was telling me to say, “Well what do you say we go back and put some dents in that thing.”
But in reality, I said: “Thanks.”

Mrs. Borky later told me that what I said made her feel uncomfortable for the waitress. She also felt uncomfortable when I asked the waitress what she was going to be for Halloween, as that was another topic that we were talking about the second time the waitress came to the table.

Back to Saturday evening, K.O. and Trooper were having people over. I guess you could say that it was a dinner party. There were nine of us there, and at one point during dinner the conversation switched to talking about the election and the “bail out” situation. It was at that moment where I realized that this was my first adult “dinner party”. Dare I say that it was classy and maybe there was some culture in the air. After no more than a minute or two of political talk, I helped steer the conversation towards the stupid things we used to do in college, like when Browny drove is car over the pedestrian walking bridge. I stayed at K.O. and Trooper’s place Saturday night. The plan for Sunday morning was that the 3 of us were going to jump on the bikes and ride to different spots along the course and cheer on Kaker and Krum. As is so often the case when I come to town, one thing leads to another and it becomes a late night. I woke up at 6 in the morning, but didn’t her K.O. or Trooper moving about. Plus it was raining out so I went back to sleep. I woke up again at 9:30 in the morning. K.O. was a bit hungover and in the end we ended up not even going to see any of the race. But I am going to say that this is a good thing. Seeing the race would have just got me more depressed about not being able to run it. Friday afternoon while walking around, I got a slight stabbing pain in my knee where I had had it before. It was the first time in a week and a half that I had felt any pain in my knee at all. I found that very discouraging. And when I was picking up my registration packet, there was a definite buzz in the air of people anticipating the next day’s race. It really sucks to be around that energy and not be able to participate. I know that watching all of those runners go by would have just frustrated me even more. Krum and Kaker both ran and completed the race. It was first marathon that either of them completed. I have since talked to both of them and they both told me how it went and that it really wasn’t too bad, except for about 30 minutes of driving rain. The rest of Sunday I spent at Krum’s watching football and a couple movies. When I met up with Krum at his place he had the shirt and metal that they give out at the finish line. I told him to keep the metal, but that I essentially paid $105 for a shirt and I am taking that one home with me. My flight home was Monday morning. I can say that I absolutely love flying to Minneapolis for the weekend. There is no dreaded anticipation of a long drive home that would normally build up all weekend until it is time to hit the road. I always crash at Krum’s the night before I leave so no one has to drive me to the airport. I jump on the light rail, stop at the airport, check my bag, hop on my flight and I am home in less than an hour. Beautiful.

I thought I had learned something from this latest injury. I have been telling people that I am not going to attempt another marathon. I have said that the training is just too much. But in talking to Kaker and Krum, I might change my mind. Obviously I am going to attempt to keep myself in relatively good shape. Because the body is a temple and you have to take care of the temple. I am already planning on competing in a couple triathlons next year. Nothing crazy, just the regular sprint triathlons like the ones that I completed this past summer. Those usually don’t take too much out of you as far as training, and the race itself is usually right around an hour and a half. If I am feeling good, I will take on the Lake Country Half Marathon again. That was the race at the end of August that I got hurt on. But if I can recover here, and get through those races I have planned for next summer without injury, I might just give a marathon another shot.

Finally I want to thank a couple of people for the great weekend. Borky and Mrs. Borky, thanks for letting me crash at your place. Once I am back in my house in Milwaukee, I know I will be returning the favor to Borky a number of times. Thank you to K.O. and Trooper for allowing me to sleep at their place. They really rolled out the red carpet, made dinner, dessert, and pretty much let me set the guest list for dinner. You guys are welcome to my place anytime you are in Milwaukee and you had better make the trip at least once this next year. Krum, thank you for allowing me to sleep at your place. Now your place isn’t quite as clean as the others, but it is nice to know that I always have a place to crash at, or to drop my stuff off. Plus now that I know how to get in, I don’t need to bother you to be home when I come into town. Also thanks to Krum for getting me my t-shirt for finishing the marathon that I really didn't finish, but I did pay alot for that shirt. Liquid and Doug, thanks for coming out to meet me Friday night at Borky’s. Liquid, I am sorry I didn’t meet up with you guys Saturday night. But I knew I wasn’t getting a ride anywhere until after the football and baseball games. Plus, based on my conversations with you and Melissa, you guys sounded like you had had plenty to drink and were most likely not long for the night.