The Surprise!

     Well this weekend played host to a lot of races around the country, but one in particular I was wishing I was at, but instead I was at work.  The Indy Mini Marathon, the largest half marathon in the US with something like 35,000 registered participants and home to my Ragnar Sole Mates reunion was going on.  Around nine months or so ago Katie came up with a great idea to have a reunion for our Strangers to Sole Mates Ragnar team and thought that Indy would make a great spot for it.  Unfortunately five of the twelve were not able to make it, but for the seven of us that could planning moved forward.

     I registered, paid my $85 and booked my hotel while counting the days till I got to introduce Mandy to them and got to run one of my bucket list races.  For those that don't know, part of this race is run on the track of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and whether you are a race car fan or not, getting to do that is pretty darn cool.  Whether it was fate or karma, three months before the race the marketing staff at my work moved the dates of a very important three day event to the same weekend as the race.  Needless to say as a manager this required me to be in attendance for the event and cancel my vacation.  First I was pissed that I wasn’t going to be able to hang out with my friend then the idea of wasting money on the registration fee and missing out on the race quickly added to my frustrations.  I let my Sole Mates know that I was now the sixth member not able to attend.

     As the race drew closer I held out hope that I was going to somehow be able to go, I even waited to cancel my hotel reservation until two weeks ago.  It was around this time I thought I can’t run the race, but Indy isn’t that far for me and maybe I can figure out how to still at least see everyone for just a little bit.  From my work, Indy is about a two and a half hour trip, so looking at my schedule I thought I could shoot out of work Saturday, drive to Indy, visit with everyone and get back by eleven the next morning to work the third day.  I wanted it to be a surprise, but I also didn’t want to drive all the way there and have to figure out where they were all at, so I emailed Katie to let her know of my plans.  It was at that time she let me know that our teammate Hilary was now able to make the race and was flying in to surprise everyone as well!

     Saturday came and at first I was so bummed because I was seeing all the great pictures of all the fun they were all having on Facebook while I was working, but none the less I would be seeing them in a few short hours.  My boss was nice enough to allow me to slide out an hour early, so I texted Katie, hopped on my motorcycle and I was on my way.

     Once I arrived at the hotel, I texted Katie and she met me in the lobby to hatch our master plan.  She went back to the room like nothing happened, while I hung out in the bar with a friend of hers, her sister and sister-in-law who also came to run the race.  When the four of us went to the room the girls walked in first saying they just met this cool guy at the bar that also has run a Ragnar and thought he should come hang out with everyone.  I walked in the room and everyone freaked out!  Hugs, tears, and happy faces were all that you could see.  I was so happy to see everyone and carry on a conversation that didn’t involve typing.

     We hung out in the hotel room for maybe a half hour or so before we all headed down to the hotel bar to get some drinks and play a freaking hilarious game called Cards Against Humanity.  If you have never played or even heard of it and you are not easily offended, then you should really pick up this game.  Sometime around midnight we all started getting pretty tired and loopy and decided to call it a night.  With everyone having different flight times in the morning, we knew this would be the last chance all of us were together, so we took a group shot before heading to bed.

     I was up and showered by seven to hit up breakfast before I headed back to work, but breakfast didn't start till 7:30 so I hung out in the lobby with Nancy, a fellow Ragnarian and Bonnie.  The three of us had a very in depth conversation about our weight loss and our inspirations that got us there.  I am not gonna lie, there were some tears shed, but it just shows the passion for the hurdles we've had to overcome.  Once breakfast started, Bonnie, Nancy, Paige, Katie, Rik and myself sat down to eat and continue our pre-breakfast conversations.  You may remember Rik from this previous post (click here).  Rik is one of the Ragnar Relay - From Fat to Finish Line team co captains that inspired the documentary of the same name.  Rik, unknowingly, was a huge inspiration in my weight loss / running journey and thanks to Katie I was finally able to meet him a few months ago.  We have since become friends and have talked about running a marathon together, but our schedules just didn't mesh.  Until now!  We decided to run the Glass City Marathon, my hometown race, next spring!

     Well as they say I hate to eat and run, but I really had to hop on the bike and head back so I could make it to work on time.  So after this long winded post, I can sum it up with what I posted on Facebook:

Worked 8 long hours followed by a 187 mile ride to spend a few short hours with my Ragnar Sole Mates before getting up at 6:45am to ride 187 miles back so I could work another 6 hours. #totallyWorthIt