So Close To Hartford

October 10th (Thursday): Cereal for breakfast. Leftovers for lunch at work. Finished off the rest of the yogurt container. Brought my personal spatula spoon along with all the goods (granola, Clif Bar, and a fruit strip) to dip in my yogurt. Home to chill on the couch. Out at 6:50pm for 5 miles total (4 miles of running plus some strides in the parking lot). Smooth run and feeling good.

Big ole dinner to fuel up for Saturday. FaceTimed with my sister Kate and then with my Dad. My dad had recommended watching Breaking Away for a motivational movie. I decided to park it on the couch with my dinner and find it on Netflix. Awesome movie. I recommend it highly (and the movie is from 1979, I know, right?). It has Dennis Quad and Daniel Stern (the taller robber from Home Alone, Wet Bandits) in it. A good laugh and got me in the right mindset.

Bed at a decent hour. Some laundry done for the weekend of racing and traveling.

 Pasta, BBQ chicken, and broccoli.

October 11th (Friday): 6:15am wakeup? Huh? Yeah, I couldn't fall back asleep. Could of been the nerves. Not sure. Stayed in bed for a while before arising to attack the morning. Bowl of cereal was the first course for breakfast as I entered the kitchen. Oat bran was the second course of the morning at around 9am. Finished it off with a hefty omelet. Cleaned the house, organized my room, did the dishes, finished doing my laundry, big breakfast items, and packed up the bags for the weekend.

 Clean room. Clear mind.

 Broccoli omelet.

Left at 2:15ish from Ballston Lake. Prepared Goup and I each a chicken and avocado wrap for the road trip. Picked up a fellow NEF athlete in Albany before heading down to Hartford. Smooth ride. Arrived at 4pm. Expo from 4-5:30ish. Lots of free snacks and a great deal at running store vendor. A pair of shorts and a couple singlets. Carefully picked out the keepers and purchased them. Dropped off a couple people at the elite dinner. Back to the hotel to change up for a shakeout.

 Cool.

Easy run at 6pm. Just shy of 3 miles (20+). Might of been a more epic experience than last year. I had my bright yellow Nike Lunarfly 4's on my feet trotting down the street sidewalks of downtown Hartford with Goup. Passed a guy walking towards us and he commented along the lines of, "Ooo, those are so crisp." I am luckily down with the lingo (Crisp's definition = fresh, dope, swagger) and knew it was a good thing (not an insult). Smiled, thanked him with a head nod and continued on our way.

Back to the hotel to stretch, shower and head over to the elite meeting. Fairly short meeting. Dropped off the water bottles, picked up our swag (all white NEF pullover, uhhhh yeahhh), and down to the hotel restaurant for some mad grub. Exact same dinner as last year for Hartford. Tomato, basil, and mozzarella. Homemade guacamole with chips. Grilled Tuscany chicken sandwich. Devoured all of it. Goup helped on the appetizers. Dinner with some ARE guys (Kevin Treadway, Nick Webster, Jaime Julia) and Matty P (plus the fiancé). Back to the hotel room after some jokes were exchanged to relax the mind. Prepared the gear for the following morning before crashing for the night.

A good sign. All the way from San Fran!