DreamBig 2012 - #11 Minnesota

STATE #11 - Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota
Monster Dash
Finishers: 6,029

October 26, 2012
Cooper and I both flew in late last night to MSP - him from Milwaukee and me from NYC. I had been working really hard all week because we had a nonstop weekend ahead of us that involved needing TWO different Halloween costumes. This involved running all over Brooklyn and the lower east side looking for materials for my projects. I think I went to American Apparel like 6 times and created an arts and crafts table at my work desk full of felt and googlie eyes. 

Not my smartest use of money...but still a good one. 

I called this work.

We were staying at the Aloft in downtown Minneapolis and got an early start as we had a lot of errands to run to finish weekend prep. We got breakfast at a super cute restaurant called Blackbird Cafe before heading to Mall of America to shop til we dropped. And by that I mean to hit up some costume store to find 80s windbreakers (I still wear the one I bought on frequent occasions as my triathlon race warm ups). 

From the mall we made our way to the race expo to pick up our race swag. It was kind of cool because we got like jackets and headbands and stuff. The only thing I was thrilled about was that nothing was Minneapolis specific. Because the company putting on the race were not unique to MN, they just had blanket items (medals and jackets) that weren't branded for the specific location. Smart on their part in terms of mass ordering but not as unique - life will go on.

We took a few pics and then went back to the hotel for a little to see if our friend Cate and her husband Jeremy would be able to meet us for dinner. Things didn't link up so we went and got a quick dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory and then went home to put the finishing touches on our outfits. 

October 27, 2012
Race morning! It took a lot longer than normal to get dressed because I had so many elements to my costume to figure out. It was also freezing outside so I was trying to layer without jeopardizing the validity of my attire. We made our way over to St. Paul to the race start once dressed and met up with Cate and Jeremy to wish them luck and take some pics. 

Cate!!!

But how funny?

This was Cooper's first half marathon so I was super excited for this milestone and just praying his poor knees would hold up. Still freezing, we made our way to the start with the rest of the crew. The race was sort of a big triangle.

We started and ran about 4.5 miles west towards the Mighty Mississippi. Despite being cold, it was a true fall morning with leaves changing on the trees and crunching under our feet. Cooper and I were getting a lot of compliments about how cute our outfits were.

We were making good time and took the first turn at the 4.5 mile mark and then followed the river for the rest of the race. The great thing about that was following the river we were essentially running slightly downhill the whole time. At about Mile 6, Cooper had to stop for the portapotty line and Cate and Jeremy ran passed exchanging cheers.

We got back on the road and continued following the river which made a northeastern turn around Mile 8. I was feeling pretty good but by Mile 10 Cooper started having knee pains so we just chilled and entertained ourself looking at all of the costumed folks running by. It's amazing what some people can run in. 

I tried to help the situation by saying we only had a 5K left to go and that it was all downhill from here -- wrong. Mile 11 was a long uphill climb towards the end of the race. We had a good finish despite the pain and made our way back to the hotel to change and race to the airport for round two.

Post race

OFFICAL RACE PIC - 11 states down, 39 more to go! #DREAMBIG

We had a quick lunch on the plane from Minneapolis to Chicago where we met up with a bunch of Cooper's friends from Milwaukee. We had booked a suite downtown and had everyone over once we got in town to pregame before round 2 of the days fun and costumes. From firefighter and dalmatian to 80s workout team, we rallied hard and joined the crew bar hopping out in Wrigleyville. 

A very quick, nonstop weekend but a ton of fun!

11 states down, 39 more to go!
#DREAMBIG