Maize & Blue - Epic

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Nostalgia strikes again:
Only with redeye flight, do I wish the flight was a tad bit longer. It didn't leave until 11pm which is way way past my bed time and didn't even fly for 5 hours. Especially after all week of pre-5am starts, I was passed out at the gate already. I remember my neck hurting and being cold but I must have slept decent. I was surprisingly awake at 4am PST.

Mingji picked me up at the airport and we were off to Ann Arbooor, woohoo! It had only been a year. With gray sky and chilly air, I didn't feel so distant to this place. Fuller Rd felt especially familiar from my solo run last year. Covering place on foot is so powerful.

We went to the League's Beanster for breakfast. League was my go-to study lounge - quiet and clean. Mingji took off to work and I stayed there to do my work. The sky still looked gray and leaves were waving outside the window. Mid 50s...that's cold, brrrr. Apparently, I was the only one who thought that because nobody's walking crunched up outside. What's more, most people were sporting short sleeves and even shorts 😱. Tough mid-westerners! I got to a good point in my work and it was time to move to my next spot - Espresso Royale. This iconic cafe sits at the prime spot of "T" section at North U & State St. Still standing strong and great as always...legit staff, tables looking over that "T"-section.

When I walked out of the League's main entrance, I felt strangely integrated in the crowd smoothly. Time trip moment!! I felt like I belonged there and I had a purpose there!! Calm down, calm down...a little freaked out. Suddenly I thought of Mingji leaving Ann Arbor soon. I probably won't come here any time soon. It made me really sentimentally sad 😞. But don't despair. Even I can go for a little retail therapy here in Ann Arbor. I had to get a football for tomorrow's autograph session at least. If the time didn't run out, I would have bought the entire store 😄.

Dinner? Chipati, duh . I had to go lunch size though. I had to ration it to leave room for the homemade ice cream, mmm. Although it was only 6pm PST, I was dead tired. I'm going to need this sleep to meet Team 134 tomorrow! Super excited!!

Starstruck with Team 134:
Wow...that was a great sleep. Gate was scheduled to open at 7am and door at 7:30am. Based on last year, action can start right at 7am. Mingji dropped me off at the south end of Crysler parking lot at 7am pronto. I was probably ~20th in line - pretty good. Line became longer very quickly. BUT! Players were nowhere in sight, boo!! At 7:30am, door opened. I went to the table with my last name initial, checked in and got my group assignment. Went through the last-minute donation table. Ok, where are the stars?? Nobody was really wondering around. Scanning through Oosterbahn Field, I spotted a long table with ~10 players. Is that it? Line was almost non-existent to believe it. In no time, I had 10 autographs from everyone I wanted; #47, #12, #28, #10, #77! Not so fast; there is a catch! We were tightly watched by the autograph polices!! At the beginning of the line, 2 polices were making sure we only had one item to be autographed. In the line, we were not to take pictures. Really? I was clicking away and Dileo asked if I wanted picture with him. Of course! Jake Ryan took that pic and he took one with Jake. Omg, I was in heaven!! And the autograph police came to intervene, booo x 1000! After that, I caught coaches who had zero line except for Coach Hoke & Mattison. Wth? Breakfast line was longer! Seriously?! Lame lame lame. No line, no picture for the solo participants!!

I had plenty of time to get over to the bleacher for the program to begin at 8:30am. After brief intro, we were divided into 16 teams and moved to Glick for stretch. From there, bang bang through the rotations. It involved tour of locker room and gym, O/D drills and x/o explanations. It's definitely a privilege to visit the locker room, always 😊. Gym is super intimidating with thick chains and heavy stones...beast... Rotations, to me, makes me respect the players. I mean I can't do those stuff! They make it look so easy. I think my fav is when we get to push around Dline guys, lol. We got to punch them, no padding. Probably not even itchy for them, haha. I was disappointed, though, that Jon Falk, the equipment manager, didn't talk this year. He gave the best insight IMO last year with teary eyes e_e. This year, we were repeatedly told to hydrate. Water was abundantly available. It's nice that they took our feedback to heart. They had snacks too. Nice, but vegan jerkey, really? At a football camp? When they were passed out to the players...it's probably not that hard to imagine their reactions...

We all gathered back to the bleachers in Glick for a workout demo (super intense!) by Morgan, Gordon and Furman Then we broke for lunch. Since players were sent out there just before us, we couldn't get ahead by deferring lunch, boo. Although I grabbed lunch but anxy. Gear try out booth was pretty empty. With a few stumbles upon coaches, I made it to the booth and scored #16 jersey, woohoo! Once again, it was a chore getting that thing on and off. I didn't really need to eat but since there were overhead time, blah. While the fundraiser awards were being given out, I opted to wonder around. Finally, I saw Taylor Lewan. I only got an autograph from that impersonal table and not the picture yet. Jake Ryan was also around and I went for the picture reinforcement . Strangely, nobody had real crazy line going...what's up?

Shortly after 2pm, we broke from lunch and moved to the big house. Can't beat running through that tunnel to the banner on the field! The team, the team, the team, it says. In the group picture of 500 ppl, I ended up at the top of "M". We'll see if I'll be able to spot myself later. Half of the crowd went to Q&A session. It was a nice up close and personal conference 😊. After ~20min of that, we went on to the field for the scrimmage. This year was flag football since, apparently, someone broke her nose. She came back this year. Coach Smith was asking her how her nose recovered last year 😊. Some ladies get really competitive, they get sincerely pissed off when you make mistake, eee!

Shifting gear - 26.2 miles!
Shortly before 4pm, I cut the scrimmage short and Mingji rushed me to Briarwood mall for Ann Arbor Marathon packet pick up. Just made it 5min before closing. Got my bib, shirt, all set! My autograph-filled football looked super awesome - the best $30 spent! But for now, I carefully put that aside and focus on the rough morning to come.

Since we were on the road, Mingji took me to Grand Traverse Pie Company. We found out yesterday that the University branch had closed down 😞. The next closest is a few freeway exits out at the edge of Ann Arbor. It makes the best pie list along with Achatz and I just had to try it out. I had Mountain Berry to go head-to-head with Achatz Four Berry. Verdict...Achatz wins hans down! GT is much more starchier, mushier, sweeter and crust lacked identity.

On to pre-race meal at Zingerman's! Apparently, I never quite had Ann Arbor oriented. It was actually a short walk from Mingji's. Zingerman's undergone yet another face lift...doing well, I see. Sandwich section was separated from the front deli section. Menu seems to have become simpler. No more Oprah sandwich. Although sandwich would have been the legit choice here, I had to go with a salad with tomorrow's race in mind. When my cobb salad came to one of the picnic tables in a large patio, it turned out to be a great choice 😊. Gorgonzola was creamy and bacon was not heavy. And crusty nutty sourdough bread end piece that came with it...perfect. Nicely stuffed and happy, we swung by Zingerman's on the Side. It's a coffee/desert version of the deli next door. I was pleasantly surprised to see their amazing chocolate collection. Some rare collections including Dandelion. I picked up a few that I'd never seen. They happily offered tasting of any bar too (^^)b.

I was ready to hit the sac at 9pm...already adjusted to EST early time.

Run the city:
4am alarm wasn't so rude considering it would have been 1am PST. Mingji was a trooper for giving me a ride at 5:30am. Start was between Pioneer high school and the big house. He took the "back road" but its connection to Main St was blocked off. We had nowhere to go and was faster for me to walk - little less than a mile. There was not much at the start line except for the balloon arch. I went over to the high school for bag check and portajohn (is it a Midwest thing?). I'm not sure if it was because of Boston, a gallon ziplock was provided for the bag check. It fits more than expected but nothing bulky. Luckily, the weather was great, hovering 60F, and I didn't need heavy jacket. I even put my throwaway in the bag for the next race 😊.

There must have been no more than 2000 runners. Evenly spaced pacers in right order was a good sign. I sported Tim Hardaway Jr jersey I just acquired yesterday 😄. My goal was 8:05 +/- 05 min/mile. I situated myself near the 3:35 pacer and went from there. The beginning 3 miles was rolling up through downtown. When we got to downhill on Geddes, I was on the higher end of my plan, right with 3:35 pace group. This course was rolling hill all day long. I anticipated up hills at mile 1-3, 8-12 & 17-18. But those were just the noticeable slopes. The rest was filled with up/down repeats 😞. I felt pretty good while the pace group was becoming smaller. Right by the hospital at mile 17, the course picked up the dirt trail into Nichols Arboretum. It was pretty. I enjoyed the brief moment on shaded and soft ground and the trail took a sharp turn upward! It was probably 0.5 mile but, boy, did that lose a lot of people. I was still able to take the hill strong. The trail dumped us near Markley, my freshman dorm, aw. BUT!! There was no complementing descent!! We climbed just to reach flatness, nooo! It didn't help that the 20-mile wall was right in my face. Here, the 3:35 pacer gained space between us 😞. Aw, don't leave me yet.

We still had to go do a loop at Briarwood mall...definitely not psyched. My pace was still steady...until! The loop around the mall was a gradual uphill. Combined with rolling road in and out of the mall, it was pure brutality. My pace suddenly dropped. No cramping. My body just had no juice! I had just about had it with more gradual uphill leading to the big house. Grrr, I'm walking it, screw it! Fine, but what would I think after this? This afternoon? On the return plane? When would I be in Ann Arbor again? When would I have the chance to run this? I had no answer to any of these questions so I continued running. My pace was sad but faster than running... The punishment of rolling hills continued until the very very end.

Finally, I took a breather at the finisher food area, collected myself and got my bag, got in touch with Mingji, and started walking to the Pizza House where a regular size (ginormous) chipati awaits. 0.6 mile walk...not bad. South U was dead at 11am except for the strugglers and course marshals. Regular chipati diameter covers the full length of a knife. If I were to indulge it, what's better than post marathon? It was soooo good. Surprisingly, I hit a wall, grrr. I couldn't get past top half...weak! I must have aged or something because I know I used to clear it.

There is hope yet. Usually, after a marathon, metabolism is high. I failed at chipati but I was more than ready for Achatz Michigan four berry pie and udon at Ajishin before my return flight. What an epic weekend. I couldn't have asked for a better wrap up of the trip than this!! Thank you Mingji and see you in Twin Cities 😄

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