My sister Andrea and I tend to have ideas that sound fun to us at the time of planning (get up at the butt crack of dawn for a quick runcation), but when your alarm blares at 3:10am on a Saturday morning you rethink your life choices.

(Pro tip: make sure you have a real id before traveling via airport…that’s a story for another time).

Well we did that this past weekend, caught a super early morning flight to Rochester, Minnesota so that we could check off another state.

I’ve never been to Rochester before, just picked it because it was a Sunday race (saves PTO), had a local airport (no car rental), and was on a weekend that had no sports scheduled for the kids (queue last minute baseball tournament). But with those being the only requirements, didn’t look into it much further.

We arrived mid morning since we left so early, and headed to packet pickup but it wasn’t open yet so we grabbed some lunch. Afterwards we got our race bibs and unfortunately no shirts due to some kind of shipping delay (they did promise they would get them to runners later). Fingers crossed that actually happens.

We spent the rest of the afternoon napping and relaxing. I know, wild.

Sunday we woke up early (again) and stepped out into the very brisk morning air for the Med City Half Marathon. I stupidly wasn’t as prepared clothing wise as I should have been with how many races I’ve done but I just didn’t think it would be that cold in May. Real feel was in the 30s and it was quite windy. I found a hotel close to the start line that we could huddle inside for warmth (we had been bussed to the start line) but I got us kicked out for loitering. So, we went outside and shivered. It was finally time to go, and Shape of You by Ed Sheeran kicked off the race, which is a favorite song of mine, and we got going.

I had been given the race bib number 1010 so I decided to go for a sub 2:10 half. A few weeks before at the OKC Memorial half marathon I ran 2:28, so it was a bit ambitious, but I know you can’t succeed if you don’t try. Plus my son had recently told me I was past my prime so I was particularly motivated to push myself. I went out with the 2:00 pacer as I tend to have more speed at the beginning of the race so wanted to get more out of my legs while they were fresh.

It was so cold that I didn’t check my watch until mile 9 when I finally took off my coverup. I realized I was doing well and actually had a serious shot of completing my goal.

For me at least, not matter how well trained I am, I always hit the pain cave towards the end. The last few miles hurt, but the 2:10 pacer was right behind me and I made it my mission to beat her. She didn’t realize we were racing, but we totally were.

I did beat her 🙂 official time was 2:09:01. Pretty solid effort.

After we were done and showered we headed out for some much needed food to a place called Hollandberry Pannekoeken. We heard from a local runner that it was THE place to go. I ordered not one, but two entrees (we read and we don’t judge) and it was amazing!

If you ever visit Rochester, I highly recommend this restaurant. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to pack, and then to explore before our flight. We walked a mile to a local brewery called Forager Brewery where I had the best fruited Berliner Weiss I’ve ever tasted. Gotta love a good side quest!

The menu was pretty impressive too, and if we hadn’t just eaten I would have ordered a slew of appetizers. They have a good chef there.

We had also wanted to tour The Mayo Clinic but it was closed to tours for the weekend. Looks impressive even under construction.

So with time running out, we headed to the airport.

Even though it was a super quick trip, I had the best time! Andrea is a great travel buddy, and we had so much fun. We didn’t make it home until early today (Monday morning), so I’m exhausted, but that seems to be my normal anyways.

Next up, Alaska in June! Five more states to go.