Sleep. Eat. Train. Repeat.

I love looking at the clever and cute shirts that people make for races... the saying above was one of my favorites. There were also the girls in pink tank tops with "I'd rather be drinking champagne" written on the backs. I think my two favorites where the girls dressed as Batman and Superman, complete with capes!

Saturday morning I was able to sleep in a little since we weren't heading to the city until later that afternoon. Of course my body wouldn't let me sleep in too long :( I got up, finished packing, ate some leftover Thai food and just hung out. A little before 2:00 I made a quick trip to Long's to pick up gatorade, water and bananas and then headed out to Claudia and Rocky's. I was going with them to the Pasta Party and then to Rocky's parent's house to spend the night. We got to SF about an hour before we were supposed to meet the team for pictures prior to the pasta party so we walked around the mall a little bit.

At 4:00 we met with the rest of the East Bay team outside the Moscone center for some group pictures. At 5:30 the doors of the Moscone Center opened up and we were among the first in the door. TNT Pasta Parties are a fun experience, especially for these big races. The first thing we heard when we walked in the door was the cheering. Hundreds of TNT staff and coaches were lined up, many dressed in crazy purple and green outfits, yelling, cheering, clapping and just making a whole lotta noise as we walked down the stairs into the room where the pasta party was. And man was this a HUGE room! I think it was the biggest pasta party that I've even been to... tables and tables of food (the usual so so salad, pasta, veggies and bread...healthy, but not that exciting) and then more tables for the 8,000 plus people attending the pasta party.

After filling up we got seated, ate our food (got kicked out of our table... urg, don't get me started) and then the program begin. First up we heard from John "The Penguin" Bingham who shared his humorous insight into the racing experience. I've heard him speak at each of the Nike Pasta Parties I've been to, and his speach is the same each time, but I still crack up :D After John, we heard from Joan Benoit, the marathoner who won the gold the first year they had the women's marathon in the Olympics. She was less funny than John but still had some very inspirational things to say. The last speaker was Amy Barlett, a recent cancer patient and survivor! Hers was a very inspiring story... I think we all teared up when she emotionally told us that she is now a Survivor!

After the Pasta Party coached gathered everyone around and we sang Happy Birthday to Cole, who would be 5 today. It was very emotional and more than a few of us got teary eyed. We did a big group hug and you could feel the sadness we had for those who weren't there to share this with us--especially Cole and Brenda, the nervousness about the race but also the excitement we felt to just DO THE DAMN THING, as coach likes to say :D

After we finally left the pasta party, Claudia, Rocky and I headed out to his parent's house in Daly City. The had nicely offered to put us up for the night so we'd have a shorter trek to the start line the next day. We spent the rest of the evening chatting with his parents, laying out everything for the next morning and decorating our shirts. At 10:00 we were off to bed so we'd be ready to get up early the next morning...

...Race Day report coming tomorrow!