What a day. It started off very early. Like 5:45 early. Everyone except for Kimmy and me left around 6 this morning. I got a shower after mom and dad left, then Kimmy and I went to breakfast a little before 6:30. We both forgot that we were supposed to hurry (it was early and we were still tired), so we didn't end up leaving until 7. At this point I remembered that we were supposed to be parked around this time... oops!
Dad gave me some directions, but my GPS had me going a different way. And at 7 am... the GPS won. We got into Columbus alright and dad had given me a parking garage in which we could park. So when we got off the highway we pulled into a gas station so I could figure out where we were supposed to go. We ended up finding a parking garage, but it seemed very empty. Oh well, we just decided to park and get going. It took me a few minutes to figure out where to go, but eventually we were on our way. It seemed strange that there was nothing race related going on...
Yeah. It appears that there are multiple parking lots on Neil Avenue. Dad parked at the one on the south end near downtown. I... did not. I parked on the north side, by the hospital. So Kimmy and I had about a 4+ mile walk ahead of us. It was a lovely walk, but we were both very tired by the time we found mom... over an hour after the race had started. After we collected ourselves we went off to the 9th mile marker, where there were apparently a lot of people. This particular place was at an intersection where the runners were turning and the crowd of onlookers had formed a tunnel on the street through through which the runners were going. But the resident police force was less than amused by the cluster of people clogging the roads. So they made us get onto the sidewalk. I decided that this was unacceptable, so I found another spot closer to the race where we could stand. Eventually we did dad and Amber and Jessie. Go team! We also saw Meghan Comer. I didn't hear who she was watching, but I think it was her sister. Or some family member.
After that we went to the finish. Well. We headed to the finish. There is a lot going on at these races. So we started heading over in the direction of the finish, but there was a road to cross. Thankfully, the wonderful Natoinwide building had a skybridge for us to use, so we could go over the road. Eventually we found our way to the finish. We ran into the Church family after Alli had finished. And she was still alive, so we were quite pleased for this. Then we went off to find out party. Which we did end up doing.
Then things go complicated. Dad was very cold and needed to go back to the car. Jessie was going to go watch Richard finish the marathon. And I was parked in the middle of nowhere. So Jessie went to go find Richard and the rest of us went to Amber's car. The parking garage was very full of people, but when we eventually found her car we all piled in and headed back to where I had parked. Naturally the race was still going on and they were running on the only road that we could take to get to my parking garage. So... Amber got close, but eventually we realized there was no practical way of getting to the garage. So I got out and just ran the rest of the way. It was only a mile or so. But I did find it. And I guess that lot has free parking on the weekends! Yay! On the way back I had the lovely pleasure of trying to maneuver my way around the race... and through a crowd of runners... and all the mess. But eventually I found my family.
Amber and I were going to go pick up Jessie and Richard because they got a little lost, but we just gave them directions. That was probably for the best, since it was going to be hard for us to get a car downtown. Then we hung around in the Giant Eagle parking lot for a while. We got some food. Then we all went home.
When we got here... some people ate. Kimmy and I did homework. But pretty much the rest of the day was spent lounging around. Doing homework. Eating. That sort of thing.
And now...after a very long day... it is bed time. Good night!
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