Baltimore Marathon 2012 Trip Recap

Baltimore Marathon 2012 Trip Recap---Race Recap to Follow!

Thursday, October 11, 2012
We headed up to Nashville at 5:20 a.m. (only 20 minutes behind schedule!) to pick up Monika, Rick's sister-in-law.  After that, it was a long day in the car.  We always like to pack a picnic lunch and eat and play at a park the first day we travel, since it saves money and burns some of the kids' energy.  Rick found a good one, the Warriors' Path Sate Park in Tennessee.  There was the strangest exhibit from The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.  Just look at the Mr. Tumnus statue below!  Finally, we reached the hotel near 9:00 p.m.  What a long day on the road!

Beautiful leaves along the way

Mr. Tumnus statue at the park

Great park with huge playground for the kids!

Friday, October 12, 2012 
I was going to get up and run 2 miles today, but Rick used today as another rest day so I decided to as well.  That made 2 rest days before the marathon.  We made it to the Expo at 10 a.m.  The kids had the best time walking around and getting free stuff!  It was a little annoying to have to walk through all of the vendors twice just to get our numbers and shirts.  They had them on opposite ends presumably so we'd have to go through twice.  Then we headed to the Port Discovery Children's Museum for hours of fun!  We love visiting different children's museums on each trip we make.  This one was great but way too crowded with field trips in the morning hours.

Our family at the finish area (near expo)

Port Discovery Children's Museum

We enjoyed visiting some of the tourist places around the Inner Harbor for the rest of the afternoon.  We went to the Top of the World and the Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse.  Ours kids found many things  in the city to be fascinating--the birds (pigeons and sea gulls), the boats, the street performers, riding in the fast elevator to get to the observation level, etc.

Going to the "Top of the World"

Great views of the city!  

We carbo-loaded at Noodles and Company with our good friends, Teddy and Angie, and their children.  It was a noisy, busy, and fun night, and it didn't leave me much time or energy to be concerned about the race.

My pesto and mushroom pasta dish

Saturday, October 23, 2012

I will do a recap of the race in my next entry, but here is a picture of us after we finished the race.

State #22 completed!

We headed back to the Inner Harbor for another afternoon of fun.  I wasn't sure how my legs would feel in the paddle boat, but they were fine!

Street performer with a huge crowd!

Dragon paddle boats

Flag in the harbor

Sunday, October 14, 2012

We headed home around 5:30 a.m. our time (they are an hour ahead), and we repeated the all-day car trip home.  We were all VERY glad to get home around 8:00 p.m. that night!

Here is my info from the race: