I landed at the airport in minneapolis
after a day of flying and layovers...my friend mel met me at the
airport, i met mel through rugby in korea...she is a grad student at
the university of minnesota, she has been in minneapolis for only a
short time this time around...we took public transport into the city,
getting off at the mall of america...it was the second time i'd been
to the mall (the first visit was only a week after the place opened,
during a family visit, decades ago) and i needed food...a giant mall
has several food courts:)
back onto the bus, we got to the house
where mel is living, and went to bed...
the next morning we had to be up
early...it was easier for me, since my body was still on west coast
time, but it still felt early...while i'd been planning the visit to
mel, she suggested signing up and running a race called a rugged
maniac...it's one of the races that have become popular, like a tough
mudder...a running race, with obstacles: crawling through mud,
climbing over walls, going through cold water, etc...she'd been
working out, i hadn't, but figured, hey, why not? Mel's friend erin
came to pick us up, she was signed up for the race too...we'd all
decided to wear white clothing for the race, knowing full well it
wasn't going to be white when we finished the race...
i think it was about an hour to get to
the race? I'm not exactly sure, i kept dozing off in the car...erin's
car is a bit of a hoopty:)
the race was organized well...a large
field had been turned into a parking area, people were parking in
nice, neat, lines...we changed our shoes, grabbed our race
registration confirmations, and found the tent where we could pick up
our race numbers...that was easy enough...the only downfall of the organization was the lack of a bag check...i sortof understand, since it was a messy race, but it would've been more convenient to have a bag check...
the race had been organized to start in
waves...when you sign up for the race, you also sign up for your
start time...as we arrived, some people were already
finishing...since i knew i hadn't worked out anytime recently, i was
nervous to see them, of course they were covered in mud, and i had no
real idea what was in store for me...
anywho, we got into the chute during
our assigned time, the gun went off again, and off we went...the
first bit of the course was flat, then we went up a hill...not easy
for me, i was huffing and puffing...the rest of the race is a bit of
a blur, some of the obstacles were more difficult than others...
i can
climb over nearly anything as long as there is a place to put my
feet, and only one of the obstacles was completely flat...i have
relatively little upper arm strength, so i had a really hard time
pulling myself up the rope of that flat wall...this was the awesome
thing about this race, people helped each other up that
obstacle...someone (a complete stranger) helped me up, and when i got
to the top, i turned around and did the same for the person behind
me...my favourite obstacle was the slip and slide, i would've been
happy to do that one again:)...the very last obstacle was a fire line
not too far from the finish line...it wasn't big at all, but you had
to jump over it to get to the finish line...i jumped as high as i
could while running...
as i said earlier, the race was well
organized, they had a shower area for people to get a little bit
cleaned up...of course, it was outside, and cold, so it wasn't
exactly cozy...but it was still a good thing, as we were able to
strip off our outer clothes, dry off with towels we'd brought, then
do a deck change (swimming days coming back to me:) into clean, dry
clothes...
we stopped in town for lunch, i think
all of us had pizza and ice cream...i convinced erin and mel to check
out a bakery i'd seen (i always see the bakeries in any town) and i
bought a few items...
the drive back to minneapolis was
uneventful, i think i dozed off again...my body didn't hurt yet, but
i knew it would, soon enough...that night, one of mel's housemates (a
married couple she's known for years) made veggie lasagna for
dinner...and by veggie lasagna, i mean VEGGIE...there was no pasta,
only layers of vegetables, sliced thinly...YUM...dessert was good
too...
i slept early, and hard...the next day,
after breakfast we took the bus into the city centre, mel knew i
would want to explore a bit...other people on the bus complained to
the driver that there needed to be more buses, as this one was too
crowded and he couldn't keep stopping to take on more
passengers...mel and i looked at each other and grinned, remembering
many bus rides in seoul when we'd been squished like sardines, this
bus felt roomy and empty in comparison...we wandered around, taking
photos (mel has a way better camera than i do, and loves taking
photos as much as i do) of places like st anthony's falls, a
sculpture park, a stone bridge, and uptown...
my friend lynne lives in rochester, MN,
and as soon as i mentioned i would be in minneapolis for a few days,
she wanted to get together...we figured out a time and place to meet,
she met up with mel and i at a place called calhoun lake...i met
lynne when i was in uni, we've been friends ever since...the last
time lynne and i had seen each other, we'd been in auckland, new
zealand...(during that visit, we'd run the auckland marathon)...it
was fun to have mel and lynne meet each other...they're awesome, from
different parts of my life...anywho...
we found a thai place for dinner, then
went to find one of mel's housemates at a bar...it turned out he was
ready to leave the bar, so all three of us went to find the other
housemate where she worked as a manager at a
microwbrewery/restaurant...it was yummy...i couldn't resist ordering
a dessert, and a smoothie type of drink...(my sweet tooth is going to
be my downfall, i know)...being connected to mel, and therefore the
on duty manager, i got free refills on my drink:)
at one point we looked out the window
of the restaurant and saw another girl mel and i knew from rugby in
korea...we went running out and yelled at mary...random, and
awesome...:)
as the restaurant was closing, mel and
her housemate got hungry for food they wouldn't have at home...(the
veggie lasagna cook is VERY healthy, fast food is NOT approved)...we
drove to a drive thru, then back to the restaurant to pick up the
manager on duty...at that point, it was the middle of the night, i
was super exhausted...i think we went home at that point, and lynne
drove home to rochester?
The next day mel and i took the bus out
to where erin works, and picked up erin's car...she let us use the
car for the day to drive to stillwater, MN...it's a touristy, old
school town...fun to walk around, browse through a couple stores, eat
a a yummy diner, buy saltwater taffy, etc...and take photos, of
course...some of the scenes were super cute...
we drove back to minneapolis, onto the
st paul campus of the university of minnesota...mel had class that
night...we'd thought about the timing, and figured out i could go
swimming while she was in class...she showed me the building in which
the pool was located, so i pretended to be her, and used the
university rec facilities...(i should mention that mel used to be a
swimmer, just like me)...i thought i would hop in, and swim a bunch,
like i used to, way back when...let's just say that didn't work out
so well...
i hopped in the water, started
swimming, and felt like i was drowning the whole time...back in the
day, a normal warmup to a regular practice was about 1500yds...with
another 3500yds of practice and cool down...this day i barely made it
1700 yds, before i knew i had to get out...either way, i was happy to
be in the water, but a bit embarassed about how far (or rather, how short a distance) i'd swum...
mel met me in the library after class,
we drove back to her house...the next morning we were up early, and
she drove me to the aiport...the minneapolis/st paul airport is not
huge, and pretty efficient...woo hoo...
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