The answer - Great question! We need a volunteer! (and that would be me and a couple other folks)
The plan was to meet with the logistics director of the race Friday afternoon when we picked up our packets. I got there a little early thinking I'd want to spend some time at the expo. Well, the "expo" was about 10 tables and at least 3 were related to cycling and rafting. Our expo extravaganza took all of 5 minutes so we sat in the lobby to wait for Mark, our club president who reached out to the race folks on our behalf. Mark didn't realize how long it would take to get to Shepherdstown so he was a few minutes late.
By the time he arrived the logistics guy was called into an impromptu meeting with an unknown ending time. Super cool. Mark and I headed over to the area we wanted to put the tent to check it out, and we talked to some folks over there to get an idea of what space might be available to us. Then we headed over to the stadium to see if we could catch the logistics guy....who had just headed to the packet pick up area. So we headed BACK over there to track him down.
SUPER NICE guy. Honestly he couldn't have been more gracious and friendly. We were a last minute addition to everything he had going on and he just took it in stride. As long as it was ok with the venue owner, it was ok with him and we could do whatever we wanted - as long as any beer we drank was Yuengling since they were a sponsor. Yea!
Back to the venue AGAIN to leave our tent, tables, chairs etc. I had brought the cooler with the food and water and realized I didn't want to schlep it from my car to the tent in the morning so we decided if we went and bought ice, we could duct tape the coolers closed and (hopefully) keep any wildlife out of them.
Off to find a gas station. Praise the Lord for Sheetz! Beer, ice, and mac and cheese (for Ella) in one stop! And then of course, back to the venue to fill and tape the coolers.
I also wanted to do drive the course again to get another look at the hills. Ella and I left the house at 1ish thinking we'd be gone until *maybe* 3. We walked in the door after 5:30 and I was wiped out!
Not exactly the best way to spend the day before a tough race, but that's what happens when I open my big mouth. Thankfully Mark hung in there with me and was a HUGE help - or rather he did most of the work while I walked around trying to not to panic about my race.
1 comment:
Hey Tracy - sorry we didn't get to meet up too! After we finished, I wasn't exactly walking too good. We went over to Bavarian Inn, but basically got our glasses and took one loop to see what was there. I didn't see your tent and we were all pretty much ready to head home. There were more people than I anticipated too! I hope you had a great race too, sounds like this set up was quite an ordeal!
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