Race Report Part 1: Chillin' in Bavaria

Yup... it's going to be a two part race report. The weekend was too big for one report.  And I'm going to attempt to tell the story in pictures. As much as possible.

Let's start with the drive: 

Driving to Munich, Germany

I was driving my friend's car; it just made more sense. It was a fairly uneventful ride, except for traffic & construction.

When I got to my hotel room, I found a loft!

Best. Room. Ever.

I loved my room. Except for the ridiculously loud people I had to deal with two nights in a row. In fact, I ended up calling the front desk the night before the race because it was so loud. I don't think I was the only one who complained, though. The guy seemed to know exactly what I was talking about. Sunday night, however, was lovely & quiet & relaxing. In my loft.

Saturday morning, we headed to the Expo. It was being held in the Munich Olympic Park, so there was quite a bit of train travel into town. I love train travel... except when I forget hand sanitizer. Which I did.

On the train.

Then we had to find Olympic Stadium. The park is HUGE & we were on the completely wrong side. That meant walking through the entire thing to find it... with no signage to point the way. Even so, we stopped on the overpass for a photo op.

Olympic Stadium

Travel buddies!

When we finally got to the stadium, it was time to pick up race packets & do some Expo browsing.

Countdown car

Finally here!

I found myself!

Running, Bavarian style!

I got my race packet!

The Expo was crowded & wicked hot, so we headed in the main part of the city... & ate at the legendary Hofbrauhaus! We couldn't resist. Sure, it was crowded & loud ... & we barely found seats & the staff was incredibly rude... it was still the Hofbrauhaus!

First Weiss of the weekend!

Cheers to the runners!

I couldn't resist; I had to pull out my bib. I <3 personalization.

We did a bit of sightseeing, but wanted to get off our legs to make sure we were well-rested before the race. And then one of my travel partners put on this epic hat:

I'm sexy & I know it!

When I got back to my room after dinner, I laid out my race pack. The drop bag was huge, so I was able to bring a few extra things. We weren't sure about the weather... I was nervous about how cold it was supposed to be. But I decided on pink gear anyway. 

I went to bed, or at least tried to with the aforementioned noise going on. After my heartfelt plea to the front desk to stop the noise, I finally fell asleep. Since the race started at 1 PM, I wasn't worried because I knew I could sleep in a bit.

Next up... race day!