Lots of highlights from the weekend!
This was the weekend we were in Atlanta for the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials and the Publix Atlanta Half Marathon, so this will be an extra long post. I have a separate post about the trials and will post about my race tomorrow (updated: read here).
Friday
- Trying Wahlburgers for the first time. Yum! And our waitress was so nice.
- Seeing Jordan Hasay and Paula Radcliffe walking outside of the host hotel in Atlanta. GAH! I way geeked out when I saw them.
- A chance encounter with Meb at the expo! He signed my bib, and I dorkily told him my legs were still shaking from seeing Jordan and Paula. Ha. I asked him where he’d be at the race and he told me he was firing the start gun and would be at the finish.
- Seeing the field of “track and field” demonstrations at the race expo.
- Getting an Atlanta 2020 Marathon Trials shirt at the Brooks pop-up store.
- A random person stopping us and asking if Xaarlin and I were wearing hats made by Aliphine. Yes, yes we are! The person had a lot of Hoka stuff on – maybe she’s part of the NAZ Elite team? Update: Xaarlin found her – it was Alison Désir.
- Having a few drinks with Steven, Xaarlin, and L, then going out for Chinese food after. Good conversation, and good food and drinks!
Saturday
- The HOKA NAZ Elite shakeout run. What a huge group of people (over 400!)! I was in the back by myself for a while, then made new friends (Denise and Christina) and ran with them.
- Getting an Atlanta Starbucks mug.
- Trying a Publix sub. Yum!
- Spectating the 2020 Olympics Marathon trials! GAH! I’m still excited about it and so glad we decided to go.
- Aliphine winning the trials!
- Doing some touristy things with Steven – riding the Ferris wheel and going to The World of Coca-Cola.
- Talking to Steven about how nice everyone is and remembering, oh yeah, southern hospitality.
- Trying Viva la Vegan. Super yum! The fried taco roll was my favorite.
Sunday
- RANDOMLY MEETING ALIPHINE AFTER HOPING WE WOULD ALL WEEKEND! She’s so sweet and nice and we had a fun conversation I’ll recap in my race report.
- Running the half! I got to color in Georgia in on my races map.
- Steven surprising me by coming to the race finish (I had told him to sleep in!).
- Xaarlin telling me the race photos were free and already available. Woot!
- Going on a long walk with Steven. Although, ouch my feet. (I got over 42,000 steps for the day).
- Meeting Xaarlin, L, and their friend Moses at Torched Hop.
- Going on another long walk with Steven and checking out Centennial Park and the CNN Center. And not wearing my coat for part of the walk!
- Steven making a smashed penny (he collects them).
- Seeing the cats when we got home!
- Our bed! Our bathroom door that closes (the hotel had a barn door for the bathroom – such a bad idea)! Our quiet neighborhood!
Lowlights
- The World of Coca-Cola. There were neat exhibits, and fun speakers/hosts, but they seem to like to put a bunch of people in a crowded room and make them stand really close together, and I was NOT in the mood for that. We got out of there early because we were over it.
- The wait at Viva la Vegan. We got there at 5:47 and there was a line out the door. We ordered shortly after 6:00 and got our food around 7:20. There wasn’t anywhere to wait comfortably, and my feet were sore after being on them all day. Was the food good? Yes, very! Worth over an hour wait? No. They need to get it together. At least it gave me time to write my trials post on my phone though!
- So. Many. People. Almost everyone was super polite but I was over big crowds by Saturday afternoon.
- Awkward Lyft rides.
- Rude TSA folks.
- The noise from the street at the hotel.
- The weekend being over.
I loved seeing your photos from Atlanta on Instagram. It sounds like it was a fun trip! I’ve been seeing more and more hotels with those barn doors for the bathroom and I agree, that’s a really weird design choice. I guess it saves room though.
Thank you! I am glad you did! It was a really fun trip. I am so glad we got to go.
The barn door thing is SO ODD. You could see through the cracks and hear everything! I will have to remember to look for that the next time I pick a hotel room, ha ha ha.
Gahhhhhhh this seriously sounds like the most amazing weekend ever! I have so many things to comment on that I need to make a list.
1. HOW COOL to see Jordan Hasay and Paula Radcliffe “in the wild”. I would’ve flipped.
2. HOW COOL that you had a chance encounter with Meb! Love him. Such a nice guy.
3. How did you know about Aliphine? I remember you mentioning the crochet hats before, but that was the first time I had ever heard of her, so to have her win the Trials was obviously a bit of a surprise to me.
4. I stayed at a hotel a couple of months ago that had a barn door for the bathroom, and I was concerned that it wouldn’t be sufficient for what a bathroom needs. They did an incredible job on the design, though! It was soft close (you know, like the features they have on drawers or cabinets sometimes so you can’t slam them shut), and it was totally sealed at the top, so it was perfectly private. I was very impressed – I expected more like what you had when I first saw it!
It was!
Gah, I got such a buzz from seeing them walk by! I wanted to yell good luck or something but didn’t want to disrupt them!
Meb is the best! I am glad he was randomly there signing bibs (at the pace signup table) and that we saw him.
I started following Aliphine after she placed second at the Peachtree race in 2018. I heard about her on a podcast 🙂 Do you follow the NAZ Elite team at all? Did you know Steph and Kellyn? (Also, I am super in to this, so I follow a lot of them)
That sounds WAY better than how ours was! Ha, ours had visible gaps and didn’t seal (obviously) and made lots of noise. They need to learn from your place!
It sounds like such a great weekend overall – I’m so pleased for you!!! We stayed at a hotel in Santa Fe that had the bathroom barn door, wtf was that?!?
Thank you! It really was!
Was your door as horrible as ours? LOL.
It was absolutely a great weekend! You did so many fun things!
We did! And I am glad we could do some non-running things that Steven wanted to do as well!
OMG the most exciting part of this recap for me is that you got to have a Pub sub! I was going to ask if you did. They are my kryptonite. Haha. I get them at least a few times a week!
I remember going to that Coca-Cola museum with my mom many years ago and was also underwhelmed. Meh.
Hooray for such a fun weekend! (But mostly hooray for having a Pub sub and loving it. Hehe.)
I have heard about Pub subs from lots of FL people (Xaarlin is from there) and was so excited to try it! It was delish! Is the service usually so slow? We were the only ones in line and each sub took about 5-7 mins. LOL. (We weren’t in a hurry). I saw a sign on the course that said “Do it for the pub sub!” Ha.
Yeah, I really wanted us to do some touristy stuff and so many people recommended the Coca-Cola place and I would not. Ha.