Midwest Airlines and DC Weekend

I have to say, Midwest Airlines is a great airline to fly. Even with that layover thing I didn’t know about, it was a wonderful airline to fly and I will be attempting to use them more often. Not only are they out of the smaller terminal at the airport so easier to get in and out of, it’s a very nice airline. On the flight out I had a connection through Milwaukee, their hub, and on the flight from Minneapolis to Milwaukee, about an hour gate to gate, they served fresh baked cookies for a snack!! Two gooey chocolate chip cookies…so yummy!! Then on the flight from Milwaukee to DC they served cookies again, along with a pretzel snack and your typical option of beverages. The seats were only 2 to a row on a 727 size I believe and they are nice big seats!! Almost as big as some of the first class flights on regular airlines!! On the way back we got cookies again, both legs, (so worth having two legs unless you are on a diet!!) and on the flight into Milwaukee the flight attendant on giving landing instructions also congratulated all the marathoners they had on board and everyone applauded us…so it was very cool and a wonderful experience flying. It was also easy in and out of DC National where my friend was just down the road shopping when I got in…my bags came off the plane really easily and I was out the door and in her car about 5 minutes later. We headed to her place in Northwest DC and decided to go for dinner at a little Italian Café not far from her place. We walked there and had a good dinner, then back to her place to sleep, where she had given me her bed so I could be sure to get a good nights sleep for the days up to my race which was very nice of her. My friend Connie, that I was visiting, is a friend I’ve known since college, probably about 1995 is when I met her as she was in her undergrad in political science with plans for her master’s and PhD to follow. She had even told me if after those two she didn’t have a job she’d get her law degree!! Anyway, she moved on to Indiana after her BS and then to DC for her PhD which she is in the process of getting still after a few setbacks. Connie is another like my friend Leesa that I can not have talked to for a long time, but we get together and catch up and it’s not like we’ve been apart. I love the hospitality she gave me (my last trip I was there for 10 days and she was fine with that too!!) and she has two fun kitties to play with now too.

Friday she had to go into the office for a bit, but I went with and from there we went to the race expo where I spent WAY too much money but I found some spectacular deals that I just could not pass up. Nice heavy weight pants, 2 long sleeved, wicking, under tops and shorts for $90 (the pants themselves were normally $80) I held myself off after that and avoided spending all the more that I could’ve and saved so I could get a finisher’s shirt (the competitors shirt was given out but you had to buy a finisher’s one at the finish line). Friday night we ended up just watching a movie and snacking. Saturday we went to a little market area where we got a good deal on some cool photos of the DC area and met some friends of mine for lunch who were also in town for the race. Then we relaxed again that evening, I got my stuff together and started mentally preparing myself for race day. It was predicted for windy conditions, a wind storm with gusts up to 60 MPH had been in effect on Saturday. Thankfully Sunday dawned with the storms gone, but still wind that came up later in the 10-20 MPH which was a bit of a factor, but not terrible. So I ran the race and after the race we met up with a friend of my friend’s and a friend of his and went out for a couple of drinks and food, then it was back to Connie’s to relax and to sleep again, I was exhausted as was she as she is maybe coming down with something. The next day we went for a late breakfast at IHOP and then it was off to the airport for my flight back. Not nearly enough time in some degrees but a good time. Also was exposed to some fantastic chocolate at a chocolate place in Union Station…and we had Canolli chips and dip for dessert Friday and Saturday…yummy.

That was the weekend!! OK, yes, I know, some of you are waiting for the race report, I’m typing this part up and will type up the race as best I can over the rest of the day. I have a lot of things I’m still contemplating and formulating to be sure I capture everything in it. Unfortunately I didn’t make my goal, but I did run what I know to a lot of people would be a very happy race time for them (in fact my roommate said she would retire and have her shoes bronzed if she could run under 4 hours, which the time was).