Our race was set for Saturday at noon so we left town Friday to drive about three hours over and down. After a brief visit with Leah’s sister, we continued on to the raggediest scariest most disgusting motel I’d ever had the misfortune to make a reservation at. Though the pictures and reviews online were good, this place was a dump and I’d sleep on the sidewalk before I’d sleep there so we abandoned that ship and moved on to a better hotel where our other team mates were staying. All’s well that ends well and we ended up with a place to sleep but yikes.

Drive by…shady as… (this is me not wanting to get out of the car)

Pictures taken through a room window:

Dirty Sheets

Raggedy Pool Slide

Rusted out broken lamp

Take a pass on this little gem of a motel, charming as it may be.

 

We ate pre-race dinner at Sonny’s and loaded up on food.  I don’t recommend adult beverages the night before this type of endurance race. Its not worth it. After our big meal we headed back to the hotel for an early night and attempted to get some good sleep.

The next morning my team met in the hotel breakfast bar for as much as we could eat. I had yogurt and fruit and chocolate Munchkins from the Dunkin Donuts next door to the hotel. I firmly believe the Munchkins were responsible for my strength and endurance at the race. Take my advice here – eat lots of carbs on race day. You will need them. I recommend Munchkins. Seriously.

We all piled up in one car and headed out to our race, which was about 45 minutes away. Traffic was light and parking was a breeze. In past races it was critical to leave really early due to traffic congestion and parking snarls but we didn’t experience any of that and were pretty early to the race. We sailed through the registration lines and then hung out until all our team made it to the event.

Walking up to the event. I’m excited and I’m scared.

The walk to the entrance.

“All Aboard The Pain Train” I changed my mind. Is it too late to leave?

The official entrance. The music was loud enough to make your teeth rattle. The energy was great. Everyone was jumping around ready to roll out. It was almost indescribable.

Event registration – we got our numbers and there is no turning back now.

And we are in. Ready to rock and roll. Or in this case wait. Bottom left and right respectively are both members of Team Muddy Cuffers. Hey Dave!!

Next up – getting ready to run.