I jinxed myself on Saturday night. I’m a graduate of Kansas State University, so when Kansas lost to Northern Iowa (yeah!), I told some folks I was with at a pasta dinner that if K-State won to make it to the Sweet 16, I could run a terrible race on Sunday and it would still be a great weekend. Well, Kansas State beat BYU to make it to the Sweet 16 and I ran a terrible race on Sunday. And it was a GREAT weekend! How ’bout them Wildcats!
I’m proud of my alma mater. After big wins, we always say, “It’s a great day to be a Wildcat!” Well, it’s a great day to be a Kansas State Wildcat! Of course, every day, win or lose, is a great day to be a Wildcat. Oh, and I’m not sorry about your brackets if you picked KU. I never would have told you to do that.
OK, on to the rest of my weekend.
First Things First: The Race
I had an epic bonk in my marathon. You can read about it here and experience the misery without actually feeling the pain I got to feel! Also, there was a brief article in the Virginia Pilot about what I’m doing today.
Take United Off My List Of Preferred Airlines
My weekend got off to a rocky start with my flight out to Virginia. My flight out of Los Angeles was delayed an hour, which was a bummer for two reasons. First, I could have spent more time at home. I left at 7:30 p.m., but I could have stayed and put the kids to bed. On top of that, though, my window to switch planes in Philadelphia dropped from 1:11 to 11 minutes. So, I pretty much knew I’d be close, but wouldn’t make it.
Delayed flights happen and there’s no way I was going to make it through a year without something like that happening. But it was what happened right before my flight that really got me steamed. They were making announcements that people in Zone 4 (the last boarding zone, which I was in) would probably need to check their carry-on suitcases because the flight was full.
I was in line, and I was the first person in Zone 4 through. When they let us through, they stopped me and told me I’d have to check my bag. On Delta last month, they made me check it right before I got onto the plane, but the overheads were truly full. Here, they were clearly doing this to me because I was in Zone 4.
I could tell that they had no clue what was really going on in the plane, because there was still a line to get on. They were guessing it might be full and I was getting a bum deal. When I asked them if it was full, they said it was going to be. But the man with the two bags scooted right by when I was asking talking to the lady.
I was pretty mad, and I yelled, “You’re letting HIM on with two bags and you won’t let me take one?” So they stopped him and checked his ticket. He was in Zone 4 and they made him check one. He got pretty angry and took his bag and slammed it on the ground and started yelling. They told him they weren’t going to let him on the plane since he was irate. He eventually calmed down and checked a bag. Meanwhile, dozens of people with other bags for the overhead in Zone 4 were cruising right by. Apparently, duffel bags are OK, but a bag the same size with little tiny wheels is not.
I was concerned about checking my bag, because they had no clue what flight I would be on since I was staring at a very real possibility of a missed flight. I was actually the very last person on the plane because I was sorting things out and much to my surprise, I counted six different spots in the overheads where my bag would have fit. I asked the flight attendant why they made me check my bag, and he just gave me a shrug with a dopey smile and said, “I don’t know. I’m sorry!”
I got to Philadelphia and wanted to make sure my bag was going to make it to Virginia. I missed my flight that would have gotten me to Norfolk at 8:35 a.m. and instead got on one that got me there at 10:40 a.m., which is what I had talked about with the woman in LA. But she scheduled it on a flight to Norfolk that arrived at 12:30 p.m. and put me on a flight to Washington D.C. through Chicago. Fortunately, I got my ticket and my bag fixed.
So, thanks, United. Thanks for nothing.
Scary Sight
I was asleep on my first flight, and I heard a lady saying “Sir! Sir!” So I wake up, look in the aisle, and there’s a man in the aisle on his knees looking woozy and he’s about two feet from my face. Waking up to this was extremely bizarre, to say the least. I’ve never been trained in how to react when there’s a woozy man on his knees in the aisle of an airplane staring at you as you wake up on a red-eye flight, so I didn’t know what to do.
All of a sudden, he tipped over sideways. I caught him from my seat, and then two male flight attendants rushed over to help. So he stands up, kind of wobbly, and then passes out and falls to the ground. I asked the flight attendants if there was anything I could do to help and I got no response. They asked him if he wanted oxygen or something to drink and he said no. So they got him to sit in his seat, which apparently was the seat in front of mine. Then he went to sleep.
I sat there for a couple of minutes observing, because I’m always a little suspicious on a plane. But everything seemed OK, so I went back to sleep. Weird.
At least while I was waiting in Philly, I got to start working on this blog.
There’s my plane, pulling away from the gate … I JUST missed it! Note: It was a JET!
There’s my new plane, with PROPELLERS!
I Really Exist!
I got to meet a nice man named Dwight Kane on Saturday at the expo. He’s been following along since last summer and we’ve communicated quite a bit. It’s kind of cool traveling around the country and meeting everybody. Dwight really exists! And so do I!
One of these guys ran a terrible race on Sunday. The other guy is Dwight … he got a PR!
I met this guy at the expo, too. I told him the picture was for my kids, but I think he was on to me.
Thank You, Peterson Family!
I stayed with an old college friend and her family over the weekend. She has two adorable little girls and a really nice husband and we did some young-family things, like playing with the kids, going to a park for a walk with the dog, etc. Of course, we also watched our Kansas State Wildcats advance to the Sweet 16, something Kansas couldn’t do!
Here’s a picture from the park. You just don’t see stuff like this where I live.
The only way you see something like this where I live is if somebody posts a picture taken in Virginia.
I was going to take a picture of a turtle I saw pop out of the water, but by the time I got my camera out, it was gone. Yeah, I was too slow for a turtle. I should have taken that as a sign about my race on Sunday.
On Sunday, Jill told me her dog Boomer really wanted to be in my blog, so here he is:
They got him when her husband, an officer in the Air Force (thank you for your service, Cory!) was stationed in Oklahoma. Boomer is named after “Boomer Sooner,” the University of Oklahoma’s fight song. As a K-State grad, that’s unacceptable and I was going to out her in here. BUT, they rescued him and that was already his name. So, that’s acceptable. He’s a pretty cool dog.
There you go, Jill. I posted the photo like I promised!
Thank You, Ryan Conrad!
A runner named Ryan Conrad put together a pasta dinner on Saturday night and I got to meet quite a few runners who were interested in Operation Jack. I do so much from my computer and interact with a lot of people, but it’s nice to meet people and talk to people. I spent about 2 1/2 hours there Saturday night and willingly sacrificed watching the first half of the Kansas State Wildcats’ win over BYU to advance to the Sweet 16, so that’s a pretty good indication that it was a nice time.
Ryan gave me a really nice card that really made my weekend. It’s pretty cool to be on my side of things. It’s tough and exhausting, but it’s certainly pretty rewarding at times. I’m still looking forward to 2011 big-time, though!
Oh, and of course, I was an idiot and left my camera in the car and forgot to take pictures. So you’ll just have to believe the dinner really happened.
Me and Ryan about 15 hours after dinner.
My Daughter Is Bad Luck!
I recorded this literally on my way out the door to the airport on Friday night. Yeah, that didn’t happen.
I Feel So Disloyal!
I TOTALLY cheated on In-N-Out yesterday, eating Five Guys. And I’m not gonna lie. It was good. Good, good, good. Here’s how good it was: It was re-heated and probably an hour or so old when I ate it, and it was good, good, good.
I’m having Five Guys again next Sunday (fresh this time) in Knoxville, and I think I’m going to have In-N-Out later that night when I get home to California. I’ll definitely report back to y’all on that one.
Yeah, this was CRAZY good.
OK, That’s Enough For Today
Sorry about the blog overload today. I wonder how many of you actually made it to the bottom. If you did, then you can see that I said thank you for making it to the bottom, and have a great Monday!
Katie Abdolhosseini says
OMG! That is awful how United treated you! I think the airlines have really lossed sight of who they are serving and take for granted that we really are at their mercy.
Boomer is adorable! And that video of Ava is pricesless! Have a great Monday!
Jill Peterson says
Boomer says thanks for the shout out and thanks for not blaming him for his dumb name. We loved having you here. We think what you are doing is really important and were honored to have played a tiny part in it. You are welcome anytime. Next time bring the fam! (and sorry about the reheated 5 guys… I should have timed that better!)
Dan Merker says
It WAS a great weekend! Couldn’t have gone any better. To make you feel better, and at the other end of the spectrum, I ran 26.2 fewer miles than you over the weekend, and indeed didn’t leave the house for 4 days to watch 48 basketball games.
It’s so nice to actually have a team to root FOR in the tournament, instead of just one to root AGAINST. It’s even better when both things happen in the same day!
I’ll be in Salt Lake this weekend cheering the Cats on to victory!
Keep up the great work with Operation Jack!
Kim Bouldin says
So sorry about the United mess!!
Have never had In-and-Out, but we love Five Guys!!
Keep up the great runs!
Kim
Kris Nicholas says
FYI – next time you are jonesin’ for a Five Guys burger, they have a location right off the 405 in Carson.