Indiana! State #15!!! Can you believe it? I feel like 15 is a stellar number. Like, maybe I will actually be able to complete this 50 States Challenge... I mean, I'm already to 15, right?
Right...
This was a road trip marathon with Britt. Always a fun time, especially the drive there! And this was kind of a big deal because our rockstar friend Brittney had just had major (unexpected) surgery 8 weeks prior. But when Britt commits to something, she follows through. So Carmel Indiana, here we come!
According to our road trip tradition, we found the cutest road side diner. This one claimed to specialize in foot-high pies. Score.
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| Very excited for chicken & dumplings. |
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| I always order grilled cheese. |
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| Does it look a foot high? It tasted amazing. |
And, can you believe our luck? Not only was the world's biggest golf tee on our route...
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| World's Largest Golf Tee! |
But so was the World's largest rocking chair! Same city and everything!
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| Britt struggles with selfies. |
We made it into Carmel, picked up our packets, checked into our hotel, and found a hoppin' pizza joint in Carmel's adorable downtown. We always eat pizza the night before. I don't have pictures for some reason. I believe there may have been lots of driving around looking for bagels. Who forgets a bagel?
The next morning was race day. The Carmel Marathon was a decent size, not huge but definitely not small. We went in with no other goal than to finish and check off another state. Did I mention that Britt just had major surgery?
The race was fun, the day was hot. It was very much like any small town race. I hadn't trained specifically for this race as I'd been focusing on the Rock the Parkway Half the week before. So my long runs were not nearly long enough, but long enough to allow me to finish... but not without a struggle.
Around mile 22 I started fading... Britt stuck with me and we took some extra walk breaks... did I mention that she just had major surgery and was slowing down for me? We ended up finishing just under 4 hours.
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| Britt asked if she could hold my hand as we finished. Kind of a big deal. |
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| What's that time say? 3:54? Not sure our actual time. |
We went through the snack line (they had donuts!!!) and got a post-race adjustment by some chiropractors. Then we went in search of the beer garden.
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| I'm wearing flip flops... and might be half-drunk. |
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| We love post-race beer! And matching. |
I'm pretty sure our intent was to walk the mile and a half back to the hotel, shower, rest up, and then hit the town. But then we realized that downtown (and all it's bars) were way closer than that. So we headed that way.
Carmel has a trail system that goes straight through it's downtown and along various other parts of town. It runs by all kinds of fun restaurants and coffee shops. They call it the caffeine trail because there are so many places along it to stop for coffee. Obvs we were excited to do this the day after the race. But it turns out that if you follow the caffeine trail during a sunny afternoon, it makes for an excellent pub crawl.
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| Cheers! This was our best idea ever. EVER! |
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Here are some silly roller-bladers on the beer caffeine trail. |
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| Stopped for lunch... and more beer. Still haven't showered. |
Carmel also has these adorable statues of old-timey people throughout the downtown area. We met several.
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| What's in those bags ma'am? |
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| More beer... more patios... still no showers. |
After we'd had our fill of beer, we walked back to our hotel. It was a couple of miles away which may sound like torture, but the more walking you do after a marathon, the quicker your legs recover. It's science.
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| Me and another statue... this may have been Friday night based on my attire. |
We had dinner at a ho-hum place that was not downtown and were so sad we didn't go back to our old stomping grounds. If you are ever in Carmel, please just go downtown and stay there. Say hello to the statues for me.
Sunday morning and we were up and ready for coffee! Seriously, this town has a caffeine trail. How do we not live there?!?!
First stop was a cute little coffee shop that doubles as a bar at night.
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| We love coffee! |
Then I think we went somewhere named Big Billy's... that's not the name, but I can't remember it. The food was delish and they gave us a seat on the patio!
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| Coffee and sunshine!!! |
Before leaving we stopped at the famous Square Donut Shop. From what I can tell they were just regular donuts in a square shape. But we bought em!
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| Donuts aren't square! They are round! |
This race was so special. I love love love when we get to road-trip and be goofy and just see where the weekend takes us. I'm so so proud of Britt for completing this race, and for pushing me at the end! I'm incredibly lucky to have found a friend who will drive 9 hours to run a marathon with me and also insist we stop to see the world's largest golf tee. :)
