Weekend in Atlanta – Blaine and Her Family

On Saturday, my oldest sister picked me up and we headed for a weekend in Atlanta.  She lives near Charlotte, NC. She was driving through Augusta anyway, so it made sense to ride together.  I think back around Thanksgiving we had discussed running the Hot Chocolate 5K/15K in Atlanta.  Her husband wound up booking us an Airbnb for the night, so we wouldn't have to leave EARLY Sunday morning to make it to the race.

My other sister and my mom met us in Atlanta.  They both live in the town I grew up in, which is about an hour south of Atlanta.  Also, in tow- my oldest sister brought her two oldest daughters and my other sister brought her daughter.  In case you didn't know, I have a kinda big family.  Both of my sisters are older than me.  They are both married with four kids each.  My oldest sister has 4 girls, and my other sister has 1 girl and 3 boys.

We got to Atlanta around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday to get to the Expo to get our race packets.  That was quite the adventure in itself.  I was trying to be the navigator, and we wound up on the opposite side of the Georgia World Congress Center.  But, it wasn't really my fault-- it was my sister's map on her phone!  We finally made it to the expo and got our stuff, then headed to find our Airbnb.

Another adventure there!  We rode around the block about 3 or 4 times before finally finding where we could park.  Then had to handle getting all the information to get into our condo.  By this point it was getting a little later and we were ready for dinner.  Instead of trying to drive around the city, we looked for a place we could walk to eat.  We decided on Ted's Montana Grill.  I'd been to one YEARS ago when I was in college, so I was excited to eat there again.  The Bison Burgers are phenomenal!

We got to the restaurant, and since it was a Saturday night and there were 7 of us, there was a little bit of a wait.  But we didn't mind.  Dinner was great!

My sisters LOVE ice cream and sweets and they wanted to find a place to get ice cream.  My mom and I were ready to get back to the condo and get warm! We wound up heading back to the condo and my sisters found Insomnia Cookies and discovered they would deliver.  So they placed an order for a dozen cookies and some ice cream.  I joked that I understood why it was called Insomnia Cookies... because it was pretty late by the time the order finally arrived.

As someone who usually goes to bed pretty early, I was exhausted.  We didn't get to bed until around 11:30 p.m.   The Hot Chocolate 5K/15K started at 7:30 a.m.  I always like to get up early enough to get my mind right and make sure I'm where I need to be well enough in advance.  I was awake around 5 a.m. and tried to quietly make my way around the condo to start getting ready.

We all layered up and headed toward Centennial Olympic Park around 6:45 a.m.  I was actually running the 15K while all of them were just doing the 5K.  Because I was in corral C, so we had to go our separate ways at that point.  Finally, I got started around 7:34 a.m.  I had 2 pairs of leggings, 2 shirts, my Hot Chocolate jacket and a windbreaker on.  Along with a hat, gloves and fleece face covering.  About a mile or 2 in, I was starting to regret the many layers! I got super warm.  But-- at the end, I was glad for those layers because I got cold again QUICK!

I managed to finish the race around 1 hour and 43 minutes.  My middle sister and her daughter waited for me near the finish line so we could go back to the condo together.  At the end of the race you get your medal, but you also get hot chocolate, chocolate fondue and some goodies to dip in the chocolate!  Definitely well earned after running 9.2 miles!

Overall, we had a great 24 hour trip!  It was cold, but we enjoyed each others companies, a lot of laughs and a fun run.  I snapped a few pictures from my weekend in Atlanta.  You can see those below! Check out this 5K race that I won't be doing!