Sunday, August 16, 2009

WWR: The pre-game

So like usual, I am going to do this race report business in installments. Partly because I'm lazy, partly because the posts will get really long, and partly because it provides easy blog fodder so I don't have to think of other things to write.

So the good times began on Wednesday night when Allison and Ryan rolled into Ames. I graciously offered them my sweltering attic room while I crashed on the couch in the nice cool living room. Allison had been talking about Pokey Sticks upon the return to her alma mater town but then she totally wussed out and did not get them and now I have been thinking about Pokey Sticks for a week.

Mmm, pokey sticks.

We met Dede, Brady, and John at the car rental place. I give total props to Dede and Brady, who didn't know anyone on the team, but signed up to run anyway. Such brave souls!

Then began the driving. I got a GPS for my car right before the trip. We named her Phyllis.

To put it lightly, Phyllis was a bit... slow.

Seriously, I never want to see Lincoln Nebraska again. We saw it for about an hour, trying to find lunch. And ended up at Godfather's. Ridiculous!

(Phyllis got her ass returned as soon as we got back. Always go Garmin. End of story.)

Nebraska still takes forever. I'm surprised there aren't more suicides off the arch in Kearney. You get to Kearney and have been driving forever and you are STILL only halfway through Nebraska.

Despite our little setback, we still rolled into Fort Collins at 6:30 or so and met up with Jamie and Lauren, who were complete strangers until that day but had hours to chitchat while they were stuck in the hotel waiting for us.

The eight of us crowded into the mini-van and went to an Italian joint in FC for dinner. Weirdly, the same exact one we went to last time, and I didn't even mean to do it! We met up with Kelsey, Lindsay, and Marie who were CAMPING (crazy people). And then Shaun and Caroline rolled in from the airport halfway through.

Let me tell you - the fact that everyone was actually in the state of Colorado at dinner time, was a major improvement over last time already!

After a Target run, we all settled in for the night at the hotel. Our slow asses had a 6am start time, so we had to be up at 4:30, boo! Nothing like sleep deprivation to start a sleep deprived race!

Next up: This leg didn't look so hard when Jessica ran it!

11 comments:

frog said...

Why so few suicides at the Arch in Kearney?
"Try attracting speeding drivers to stop at a privately-owned, $64 million "log bridge" arching over busy I-80 -- when there's no exit off-ramp." (from that site you link to)

Just saying...

Caroline

lauren said...

sorry about the tom tom... i swear, ours works! as do the others that i've experienced. i'm going to blame nebraska. :)

montisse98 said...

Mmm, that pizza looks very well done -but where are the toppings?

Dave in Nebraska said...

You guys have to check out the Arch next time you cross NE...you wont be disappointed...you can actually radar the cars below! haha

Unknown said...

I see the pokey sticks, but don't quite understand. (I lead a sheltered life.) What's on 'em?

Jenny Davidson said...

I have never heard of pokey sticks, but I want 'em - they look delicious!

Danielle in Iowa in Ireland said...

In case anyone ever comes back to read this, Pokey Sticks are really just cheese sticks. They are like pizza, without the sauce, and then you dip them in sauce. That sounds much more awesome when drunk. (But I find them yummy while sober too :-)).

Danielle in Iowa in Ireland said...

Also, Lauren, I got a Magellan on the suggestion of the Best Buy dude. So it wasn't your fault :-) When I returned it, the other Best Buy employees were like "Why on earth did you get a Magellan?"

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

They are like pizza, without the sauce, and then you dip them in sauce. That sounds much more awesome when drunk.

How do you get a Pokey Stick drunk? And ... why?

O! Is that when they get more ... "pokey"?

Sister, I can't believe you had sex with a pizza before the big race!

And is that YOUR hairy arm in the pic with the Pokey sticks? If so ... are you sure your name isn't Daniel in Iowa?

Watch out! You probably p*ssed off all 7 full-time Nebraska residents with this post.

frog said...

"Why on earth did you get a Magellan?"
Wait, wasn't the original Magellan a guy who went sailing in parts of the world that had not yet been explored or mapped? Why would anyone name a GPS thingie after him?

Caroline

BrehD said...

So more background on the Pokey Sticks...They come from a pizza place named Gumby's(just like the old tv show with the logo and everything.) Pokey was Gumby's horse, so they continued with the TV show name theme. Gumby's is much more well known for Pokey Sticks than pizza. They are very popular because for school events or drunk nights, you can get them up to 24", which is huge. And they are cheap, used to be about 11-13 for a 24". You can also order them till about 3 in the morning most nights.