Livestrong Part 1.....

The LiveStrong Challenge is always an emotional event for me.  We started last year participating in this annual event and I’m so proud that Cayla and Newbie and Della continued the tradition with me this year.  It is such a great mid year event for us to see each other, as we live fairly far away from each other and typically only see each other at this event and our annual girls weekend in March.

*Saturday morning as the sun was rising over Austin*

(L to R - Della, Cayla, Me, Newbie)

Friday was our day of service at work and Cayla had to work the volleyball game at her school…which meant we weren’t getting out of town until late.  I met her in Ft. Worth and headed out around 8:30.  Please remember that the ALCS Game 6 was on (first pitch was 7:07) and had we not had a 6:30am wake up call on Saturday we may have considered watching the game and THEN driving to Austin; however… we headed out and programmed the radio to 105.3…the official Ranger radio station.

I was sending Cayla text updates as I listened driving to Ft. Worth, a normal 45 minute drive took an hour and 20 minutes.  UGH! But the game was on so I was fine….

I got to her school...she finished up her duties we loaded up and headed out in her Jeep Grand Cherokee….

As we were approaching Waco (Yes, the town where David Koresh became infamous for his Branch Dividian compound, Mount Carmel) we were loosing the Ranger game on the station…. You can ask Bill the one thing that annoys me more than slow drivers and people who stop in the right hand lane and DON’T turn is static on the radio….seriously it’s like nails on a chalkboard...

It was in between the 8^th and 9^th innings…we were up 6-1…. Fearful reminder of the game 1 (where the yanks scored 5 runs in the 8^th) had passed HOWEVER – it’s not over until it’s over…….. Cayla was driving like a bat out of HELL…literally we were rushing to the ONLY bar in Waco we knew of, George’s Bar.  Famous for their Big O’s (schooners of beer) and Live Texas Country music scene…we just knew the game would be on there.

We went 80mph, exited (at probably 65mph) cut through an abandoned Chevron (or something) and skidded to a screeching halt in a marked off parking space.  (No exaggeration).

Ran inside…and parked ourselves at the bar…just in time for the first out of the 9^th inning.  (THANK YOU NEFTALI!)….. We won! HOLY CRAP – we are going to the WORLD SERIES, THE FREAKIN’ WORLD SERIES!!!!!  I jumped up and down and proceeded to tweak my ankle and calf… FML…. I limped outside…happy as a clam.

We got back in the car…. and headed to Austin.  Arrived right before midnight and laid our sleepy heads to rest.

Saturday was pretty par for the course…we were up early, made it to the race site with no drama to speak of (if we only knew…….) and set out for our 5K start.  At about mile 1.25 I lost it.  Thank GOD Della was right there to comfort me.  I literally was sobbing, hysterically, hyperventilating … it was B.A.D.  People probably thought…that poor girl can’t even make it a mile and a half….. really???? The only good part was that Della and I were able to catch up over a teary next mile.  We finished it out running in a terrible time of like 38 minutes.  OUCH – that’s not good for the record books – thank goodness it wasn’t chip timed.

After the 5K we went over to the LiveStrong Expo…. The expo is held at the convention center in downtown.  We grabbed our t-shirts (which were too big…way too big – I ordered a medium and it is more like a L/XL) and then hit the swag booths.  I picked up a patch kit for my bike tires, a few koozies, some samples of my Honey Stinger Waffle (read review HERE), and other random things…. Then Cayla and I were stopped by a Nissan rep…she said that Levi Leipheimer was going to be signing autographs in 5 minutes.  I watched every second of the TDF this year… I feel like I am intimately involved with Levi….so we got in line.  We took THIS…

Then had him sign our bib numbers.  HOW COOL IS THAT????...wait though it only gets better….

After the expo we grabbed some lunch and headed back for a little rest at the hotel.  Cayla wanted to go to Mellow Johnny’s (Lance’s bike shop in Austin) and check it out so I woke up got half dressed and went with her.  We split up once we got inside…I was looking at cycling jersey’s when I overheard this woman say to her friend…

Random Woman: “Do you watch Grey’s” (wouldn’t any REAL friend know if you watched Grey’s? I guess that’s beside the point)

Random Woman’s Friend: “Yes – every now and then”

Random Woman: “McDreamy is over in the RadioShack area”

::insert jaw drop, mild screech from me here::

I immediately called Cayla and said:

Me: “where are you?!?!?!”

Cayla: “over by the Livestrong stuff”

Me: “Get to the RadioShack area stat…. McDreamy is here”

Cayla: “McDreamy?? Like Grey’s McDreamy?”

Me: in a high pitched quasi-16 yearold scream “YES!”…

We met at the RadioShack area…. And scooted our little booties in line for this photo op: our eyes met, he leaned in for a kiss…. Oh wait…that was in my dream…..

HELLO PATRICK J  Seriously…are you going to have a baby with Mere or what????? The people want to know!!!!!!!!!

He was SO nice…. We talked for a few minutes about the ride on Sunday – he was getting fit for and buying a new bike and was planning on riding the 45 mile course on Sunday.  (He was also honorary Livestrong captain on Sunday – but we missed him in his spandex glory *tear*)

PHOTO DISCLAIMER: I look like CRAP – I had just woken up, had a terrible headache and the bags beneath my eyes look equivalent to sand bags….. I usually look much cuter J

Sunday Report to follow later….with more pictures…