Sunday, August 26, 2007

GRR Day 0: Amazingly, La Crosse is not submerged.

In an amazing improvement from last year, all of our team managed to make it to the start of the race.

Shaun, Laurie, John, Kori, Kimberly, and I picked up the rental van in Ames and caravaned out to La Crosse, including a drive-by runner pick up in Rochester MN, where we opened up the van door without stopping and tested Tim's running abilities by making him catch us and jump in. I mean, we didn't know this guy - we had to make sure he could hang with our team. Okay, not really, but our random "side of the road runner pickup" amused the other van.

We got to La Crosse and Al, Audrey, and Nisha were all merrily awaiting us at the hotel and we immediately headed out to dinner where we randomly had seated ourselves around the table alternating Van 1/Van 2/Van 1/Van 2, etc, which is good because you spend more than enough time with your vanmates on these things. I think during dinner that Laurie, Audrey, and I might possibly have frightened Nisha with our tales from the blogosphere (or at the very least she just thinks we are huge nerds :-)).Clockwise from front: Me, Laurie, Kimberly, John, Kori, Shaun, Tim, Al, Nisha, Audrey

Then we went out for yummy ice cream to satisfy a team milkshake craving that had been a-brewing since Iowa. And in a move that hasn't been seen since I was approximately 5, my ice cream fell off my cone.

Definitiely smooth.

5 comments:

Al Dimond said...

I also had an ice cream mishap, at the Grand Ole Creamery in St. Paul after most of y'all had started back Amesward. My waffle cone, despite getting the OK from the staff of one of the nation's top ten ice cream parlors (rated by MSN somethingorother), collapsed while I was eating it. I made an über-smooth catch of most of the remaining two scoops plus the part of the cone still attached to them with my left hand. Nisha and Audrey can verify this. It was the best catch I'd ever made in my life (jumping over the bike rack after catching that Frisbee near Allen Hall doesn't count as a catching activity).

Audrey said...

I'll vouch for the catch. It was purely reflexive and I don't think Al even knew what happened until after he was already gripping cold mint chocolate chip.

And there are very few people who you can talk to about running blog mania who actually know what and who you're talking about!! This is the first time I've ever been in the same place with two other running bloggers!

Unknown said...

Arrrrggghhhh! I hate when the ice cream leaps off the cone!

Kori said...

I love ice cream!

Shaun said...

That would've been a terrible loss of mint chocolate. It's a good thing Al still has excellent reflexes even after two days of lots of running, little sleep, and a touch of dehydration. I'm assuming the dehydration bit since our bodies can only absorb water so fast.