It was an A1A weekend

I arrived in Ft. Lauderdale with just 30 minutes to spare before the race expo closed. Thanks to #2 son C., we were delayed at least an hour leaving Winter Park, because he was out a wee too late the night before and very late to work at the museum. I tossed gravel at his window while his mother subbed for him until he had showered and moseyed over.

After a 3.5 hour drive we checked in at the A1A Marathon expo and got the registration info. We visited with Michelle who was swamped with Bondi Band customers the entire time we waited to talk to her. We took a few photos and helped her pack up the booth (very quick and easy to pack up Bondi Bands!)

We checked into the Riverside Hotel on Las Olas Blvd. in downtown Ft. Lauderdale and were fortunate to get a corner room (two windows, one facing the pool) on the fourth floor. We freshened up and headed out to find the perfect pre-race repast. A few blocks east we found a fantastic restaurant where we had sidewalk seating and great pasta dishes to choose from. I tried a non-traditional dinner to die for: grlled Canadian wild salmon over smashed potatoes and asparagus spears (protein, carbs, omega 3, veggies!). Ahhh! I had a glass of sauvignon blanc with dinner and homemade triple layer carrot cake for dessert.

I watched Miracle on Ice Saturday night on the telly until 11. It is one of my favorite movies and inspirational for someone about to run a marathon thinking he can do something he's never done before (time-wise). The flick ended at 11 which was a little later than I wished but I stayed awake anyway.

Sunday afternoon we sat by the hotel pool for two plus hours basking in the sun. We ordered poolside room service but it never came so we headed down Las Olas again and ate at Bongos where I had a cheeseburger and Mrs. T. had something else yummy.

We went to bed early and I mean early. I was asleep by 6 p.m. and didn't get up until 8 a.m. this morning. We dressed and packed then went down the street again to the Floridian, a 24 hour local place that had the most delicious hash benedict breakfast. Food tasted really good today.

We checked out of the Riverside and I decided to show Mrs. T the race course along A1A. 10 miles north of Ft. Lauderdale we were in Pompano Beach and at the turn around. Along the way I stopped to snap a picture of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, a beautiful little small scale hideaway of beach and pier that struck me as anice place to spend some time reflecting on all the good things in life.

Since we were already on A1A I kept driving along the coast through Deerfield Beach, Delray Beach, Palm Beach, Juno Beach, Hutchinson Island, etc., all the way to Ft. Pierce where we had a delicious lunch at 4 p.m. in the Tiki Bar & Restaurant next to all the yachts in their slips.

Enough of that meandering for three hours, we hopped on I-95 and made it home by 6:15 p.m. to meet my sister inbound from Rhode Island. She's in and out with us through Wednesday doing business all over the state.

Running? Oh yeah. I ran the A1A Marathon. It was hot. It was memorable. It was supposed to be a record-breaking miracle on asphalt. It wasn't, by any stretch. More on that later; unless you can pry it out of Runner Susan or Jeanne who called to hear how it went.