Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Phoenix Marathon: Pre-Race

I thought, similar to last year, that I would break my posts for the Phoenix Marathon into three pieces - a pre-race, race, and post-race recap. Because, let's be real, I am a chatty Cathy and have a hard time editing myself... otherwise the post would take four days to write (and no one would finish reading it because they'd fall asleep in the meantime).

And just in case you want to check out last year's post about the PHX Weekend, here they are:
           *Phoenix Marathon - Pre Race*
           *Phoenix Marathon Race Recap*
           *Phoenix Marathon - Post Race*

So, here goes... Ryan and I left Friday morning around 5:30am. The #WeRunSocial Meet-Up was scheduled for 1pm at the Expo, so I figured that gave us plenty of time to get there... Well, as I should has assumed when I posted my Instagram picture before we left, things don't always go as planned...


Now I am in NO WAY throwing the hubby under the bus here, but he is on some medicine for his high blood pressure (hereditary, we try to eat healthy to keep it under control as well), and it makes him has to piddle a lot. We all joke about it because he normally has to stop before we even get on the freeway, so I knew the scheduled five and a half hour trip would probably take us a bit longer with the pit-stops during the drive.

At least we had some amazing views along the way!

We were actually cruising along at a decent rate, we made a couple stops, but I was proud of how well we were doing on time. I was actually thinking we would get into the Phoenix area close to about 11:30am, have time for lunch and maybe even peruse the Expo before the Meet-Up.

Come on, it was #NationalWearTheGibblersDay AND I was heading to AZ,
I HAD to stop on the expressway for a picture, right?! 

Shortly after we grabbed this picture Ryan asked how we were doing on gas. I told him we still had 138 miles till empty, so we were totally fine. He suggested we stop but I told him we'd stop in a bit. Well, apparently I forgot how sparse the gas stations (and life in general) can be out on the open road through parts of Arizona. And here is where the beginning of our adventure begins...

Ryan fell asleep and I realized it had been a while since we had seen the last full service exit. The notice went off on the car and it said I had 50 miles until empty. I started getting a little worried, but figured there had to be something coming soon. Well, when I was down to about 12 miles before running out I saw there was a rest stop coming up in about a mile. I got off at the rest stop and woke up the hubby...

           Ryan: "How are we doing on gas?"
           Carlee: "Uh... I made a mistake... I think we are going to run out..."
           Ryan: "What? You're joking, right?"
           Carlee: [holding back tears] "Ry, it says we have 9 miles till empty, but the numbers are dropping quickly 
                      and I really don't think we will make it. I swear I thought I would have seen gas in the last 50 miles."
           Ryan: [puts 'gas station' in his phone] "There is a station 7 miles from here. The only choice we have is to try 
                      and get as close as we can and then walk from there."

Yeah... NOT my best moment... Thankfully God provided and we BARELY made it (I mean, He can feed thousands out of a tiny G.I. Joe lunch box, why couldn't He give my Ford Focus a little boost?!). Like about a mile from the exit my car alerted that we had ZERO miles till empty, but somehow we made it there on fumes before the car shut off.

I really was sweating my balls off worrying that we were going to be stuck in the middle of no where having to run 20 miles to go find a gas station... Thankfully that did NOT happen!

Once we made it to the gas station and I stopped having a breakdown, I decided to put the Expo back into my maps to see how we were doing on time. OH CRAP! How did I forget that there was a one hour time change?! Maps forgot to alert me of this fact when we were leaving (it said we'd arrive around 11am), so now our 11:30am arrival time (due to our bathroom breaks and frantic gas stop) was actually a 12:30pm arrival time. The Meet-Up was scheduled for 1pm and I knew we needed to grab some food or else I would be running on fumes too.

We found an AMAZING sandwich stop with tons of veggie options (Ike's Place), so popped in and grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading over to the Meet-Up. I don't know if we were just super hungry or I was over-the-moon thankful that we didn't run out of gas or the sandwiches really were THAT good, but they were DELISH!

The only picture I took at lunch... The cool table
tops... Because once the sammies arrived we
inhaled them and were on the road again.

Around 1:08pm we pulled into the parking lot at the Expo. (Ryan said anything before 1:10pm was still technically on time, but I feel as though being early is on time, so was a little panicky again.) But AT LEAST WE MADE IT!


Thankfully things were just kicking off when we snuck in so we didn't miss a ton. There was actually a much bigger turnout than I was expecting. Saturday races always throw me off because that means you have to travel to them on a Friday, which is hard for working folks. Even so, we still had a great group show up and hang out!


The #WeRunSocial crew knows how to #KeepItTight!

Some of the PRO Compression Ambassadors!

It was a blast getting a chance to chat with so many friends (both new and old). If only we had more time... NEVER ENOUGH TIME! Ryan, Brian and I hung out at the booth for a while afterwards trying to sell some socks and let Suzanne have a little break, but soon enough it was time to head over and check into the hotel.

Time to do this thang!

Although I love the big get-together's, a couple of us decided that a small gathering would be best for the night before the race. A chill night at La Grande Orange Grocery was JUST what the doctor ordered. And, #RealTalk, even though the three of us were planning on spending a few hours together on the course the following morning, I can never get enough of my peeps!

These two next to me are ABSOLUTE ROCKSTARS!

Eventually we had to call it a night, seeing as we would be having an EARLY morning. (The Phoenix Marathon is a point-to-point race, so everyone parks near the finish and gets bused up to the start. The LAST bus leaves at 5:15am, but more on THAT tomorrow...) We parted ways and hit the hay, all to see each other in a few hours.

Alarm(s) SET! Now time to sleep!
[And don't judge me for having an alarm
specifically for Disneyland adventures ;)]

Do you prefer large get-together's or small shindigs?

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh man, what an adventure! I've run out of gas once in my life and I hope never again! :) At least it wasn't a race morning! ;)

ahotsouthernmess said...

my ex and I had two almost-run-outta-gas moments...one being in AZ too...be careful out there!

Kc said...

I love how big of a group showed up!! Next year, I'm there!!

Laura @ Sprint 2 the Table said...

I have SO been there in the desert. I was told to always drive on the to half of the tank, but of course I didn't listen on my first trek to Vegas. I was sweating balls! Glad you made it safely! :)

*krystyn* said...

How fun and what a great adventure - minus the almost running out of gas!!

Samantha said...

I am a big lover of small get togethers. I recently purchase a 2015 civic, and upgrade from my 2002 civic, and now it tells me my mileage left and such. I like living life on the edge so I have a feeling that one day I may come close to running out as well, even though I know I should be more responsible and less of a risk taker.

Olivia S said...
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