My alarm went off this morning, and I just felt too tired to get up and run or go to the gym. Normally, I don’t let that happen, and I feel really guilty about it now. My miles should be fine this week since we are going long on Saturday, but still, I know I need that day of running in there. I’ll do better next time.
For Sunday, my plan was to head to the speedway again to watch the practice session like last year. The rest of the gang wanted to do something else, but fortunately, they agreed to drop me off there and pick me up again in time to make it to the airport.
Last year was pretty constant action, but this time there were a lot of caution periods which took the cars off the track. I used the time to check out some of the race cars on display. In general, I was pretty thankful when I got to sit down, though, because my legs were pretty trashed from the race.
We made it to the airport without incident, but it turned out that the plane Jay, Richard, and I were supposed to catch had some kind of problem and did not arrive. They had to send a new plane. We were worried about making our connecting flight in St Louis, and we started coming up with all these scenarios like if we could just get to Dallas then we could drive in, etc. There were a lot of people waiting on our flight, and we were all standing in line to talk to the person at the counter. We did hear that our connecting flight to Austin was delayed, too, though, so that was nice. When we finally got up there, we found out that the reason our connecting flight was delayed was that we were supposed to be on the same plane for both flights! What luck! Well, we all had to go celebrate that one with a beer, and by the end of that, the plane had finally shown up. So that all worked out in the end. We did end up having to switch planes in St Louis, but so did the flight crew, so we made it back to Austin without further incident. Now it’s time to catch up on some rest, I think.
I’m finally back in town, and I’m catching up on my entries for the last few days now.
I didn’t have to wake up nearly as early to catch my flight as I usually do to work out, so I got to “sleep in” to start my weekend. Feeling pretty well rested, I still made it down to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Since this was vacation, I grabbed some breakfast tacos. I had just finished those when Jay showed up. We were on the same flight out. Frank and Richard were not going up until the next day.
The time at the airport was pretty uneventful, and we took off on time. I had planned to sleep on the flights, but Jay introduced me to the Sudoku puzzle, and that kept me awake and busy the whole way. During our stop in Dallas, it became apparent to me that if you walk around carrying a guitar case, all kinds of people will want to talk to you about music. Maybe I should try that sometime.
Our flight out of Dallas was a little bit late, so we ended up in Indianapolis about the same time as Jeff and Andy did. We all piled into a rental car, found our way to the hotel, and got checked in. We picked up our packets at the expo and then had one of the first pizza meals of the trip.
I had a break from running today and spent a litle time on the other side of the production. I joined a pretty good-sized crew this morning to stick notices on houses along the marathon course, basically telling people that a whole bunch of runners were going to be blocking their driveways in a couple weeks. There were lots of us, and it really didn’t take much time at all. It was actually pretty neat to be out there, and the weather could not have been better.
I was looking for all the “Marathon coming — expect delays” signs when we most of the course yesterday, but I did not see them. Either they weren’t there yet, or I just missed them all. Today they were out in force, though, and that the signal to me that it’s just about time. Two weeks and counting…
I woke up this morning feeling really sick. I was very dizzy and dehydrated. Things have improved a little bit during the day, but right now I don’t even plan to set my alarm to get up and run in the morning. At least my legs are getting some rest out of the deal.
The rest of the plan for Sunday in Indianapolis was to take advantage of the passes the race gave us to go watch the first day of Indy car practice for the 500. That was pretty incredible. They directed us to the infield, and we started out just watching from there. The cars were making lap speeds around 190 mph when we got there, and they got up as high as 220. I love the sounds those things make as they go by. There is nothing on TV that comes even close to what it feels like to be standing so close to them. After a while, we walked to the “main” area of the stands over by the pit stalls. From there, we could see the crews up close as they got the cars ready to go.
I took some pictures. When I get a chance I will find some of the better ones and post them.
Getting back home was quite an ordeal. There was some awful weather in Texas. My flight to Houston was not allowed to take off for quite a while since the Houston airport was not accepting any inbound flights. Once we finally got going, the flight was fine, and I slept the whole way. Then, I got to sit in the plane for an hour while waiting for a gate to clear. Once Houston started accepting incoming flights, things had gotten pretty backed up. Fortunately that meant that my connecting flight was delayed, too. Unfortunately, it was delayed even more than I needed it to be. The plane had been late getting there (for the same reason mine was), and I ended up staying in Houston about another hour even though I got there about an hour after my flight was supposed to leave.
Finally, early Monday morning, I landed in Austin, collected my luggage (fortunately it was on the same place I was), and headed home.
After a satisfying pizza and beer lunch, I was expecting to pretty much lounge around the afternoon after the race, but the others had different plans. First, we had to get Frank back to the airport so he could get home later that day. The surprising part came after that. Jay’s friends and I ended up on a short hike around a nature preserve! That was probably good for me, but I swear my legs were really annoyed at me.
We were planning to have an early dinner at this restaurant, and after driving a bit we parked at a shopping center. I figured the place was in the shopping center, but after checking out a bread store and a local running store, we started walking again. Okay, no problem. I figured the place must be right up the road. We walked for quite a while, and then I noticed we had made a loop! They tricked me. If I had known that was just a little stroll I would have just stopped and waited. My legs were really, really tired, and all I wanted to do was sit down. It turned out that the restaurant was just across the street from where we had parked. Oh well, at least I got to sit down again and enjoy some good food!
After dinner, the others were planning to go out again, but I decided to stay in and finally start my resting!
It’s Monday now, and I’m finally back home and settled in and posting all the entries for this past weekend. I’m filing each one under the day it’s about, though, for easy indexing.
Hmmm. A day without any structured exercise. What will they think of next? I woke up in a little panic since I had apparently been having a dream that I missed my flight. Fortunately, I was up in plenty of time, and I made it down to the airport where I enjoyed a couple breakfast tacos before continuing. The first leg of the trip was to Houston, and that only takes about half an hour once you get started. I managed to fall asleep as soon as I sat down on the plane. I had a brief walk to switch planes and then it was off to Indy. I slept most of the way there, too. I remember waking up as we were getting close and wondering if I would be able to see the race track from the plane. Heh! I knew it was big, but seeing it from above and “in context” really made it stand out. There was no way not to see it.
I was the first of the crew to arrive. I was waiting for Frank, Jay, and Jay’s two friends from North Carolina, Jeff and Andy. I grabbed a quick snack and browsed the gift shops. They had one that was just filled with stuff from the race track. Soon everyone else arrived and we hopped in the rental car to head to our hotel.
I had never been to Indianapolis before, so it was nice to get to walk around downtown that evening. We had pizza for dinner, and I called it a night shortly after that.
I finally have everything packed to leave in the morning for Indy. It should be a fun weekend and a great race!
That pain I’ve had in my left leg for the past few weeks decided to flare up today to the point that it hurt just to walk. Fortunately I had a massage scheduled for this afternoon so I got to get it worked on. It’s much better after the massage, but this is really freaking me out. Hopefully it will continue to get better between now and Sunday. If anyone has any miracle cures now is the time to step up!