Kentucky - The Wife's Perspective

Ah, double marathon weekend! As with so many of his ideas, I thought my husband was insane when he suggested we knock 2 marathons out in one weekend. Who runs 2 marathons in a single weekend? That guy does! And apparently he's not the only one. All I can say is that I'm seriously in awe of anyone who has the endurance to run back to back marathons.

We had originally intended to make this a motorcycle trip (I just got my very own Harley late last season and have been dying to take it somewhere cool), but between the rain/flooding the South had been having, trying to schedule our vacation days to get in all the other planned marathons and our adoption of a yellow lab puppy, we figured it would be best and fastest to take the car.

While my husband was checking in at the expo, we were approached by a gentleman who asked if one of us was spectating. That'd be me! He then introduced himself and said that he was a local who had run the Derby Marathon a number of times and the increasing size and complexity of the race had driven him to put together a spectators' map/guide, which he then offered me. My Chicago sensibilities told me that this had to be some kind of a trick -- like the homeless people in Chicago who "hand" you a flier or newspaper and then demand payment -- because no one does something so nice and helpful out of the goodness of their heart. Well, in the South, apparently they do! His guide was extremely helpful, as it contained not only suggested viewing areas and a map, but also indicated where the best spots were to view the course when the Mini Marathoners weren't on it (helpful for the spectator, since it means smaller crowds and less congestion. For example, he told me to skip the Downs because it would be a nightmare). It was a life saver.

But first, I had to find the Interstate so I could start following the first set of directions. I knew where the Interstate was, of course, but it turns out that just about every single road heading in the direction I needed to go was closed, and I couldn't get to any street with an onramp that was open! I finally stopped and asked a traffic director where I should go, and while gesturing behind him he said "just keep going that way, and eventually head East a little bit." So I headed that way, only to somehow find myself in the middle of what looked to be the Projects on a one-way and dead-end street, and this after already looking for an on-ramp for quite a while. I pulled over and, I kid you not, cried for a minute. I was so frustrated and could not figure out where to go! In the end I just kept driving around until I finally found an open on-ramp and I was on my way!

I stationed myself at the entrance of Iroquois Park, which let me easily catch my husband on his way in, and then again on his way out around 5 miles later. I was hoping to catch up with Dan, a biker friend we had made the night before who was there to support his friend Corey (I love making biker friends), but Dan ended up at the other end of Iroquois Park, so we missed each other. I also missed Corey's entrance to the park, because I was too busy looking for Mike's exit! I had hoped to catch him to cheer him on but instead I headed to the finish line. After a parking fiasco, I barely made it to my station to see my husband as he triumphantly headed to the finish. I had hoped to stay there to see Corey, but the chute was like a mile long and my husband couldn't figure out how to get through it and back to where I was so I had to abandon my post and go find him. Reunited, we headed out of the finish area (though it looked like they were going to have a good band and great party) back to the hotel to shower, check out and meet Dan and Corey for a celebratory beer, after which we had to head straight out to the Cincinnati expo...