…annnnd the blooper reel (26.2-style)

Oh look — *another* marathon-inspired blog post over here. I know, I know — you’re all shocked by this, hmm? 😉
(and this one is kinda long, sorry – lots of blooper stories to share!)

But seriously — enough with the tears up in here. While I’ve LOVED sharing our very emotional, very amazing marathon journey with you guys here, today it’s time for a few giggles. It’s about time, right?

With that, I bring you….the BLOOPER REEL, 26.2-style. Let’s dive right in, shall we? 

Remember how I told you all that Friday was a day filled with anxiety and emotion as we prepped for Chicago and made our way to the airport that afternoon?  Well, for any of you Type A-ers out there, you KNOW how stressful and anxious packing can be. I mean I had a TYPED-UP list of things to bring with me on this trip — broken down into nice neat little categories: race morning, post-race, Friday night outfit, Saturday night outfit, etc. etc. etc., you get the idea.

I even had a separate category just for snacks and fuel.
(can you see where this is heading folks?)

…I forgot to pack our Healthy Bites.

The ONE item I so painstakingly planned ahead for, packing up nice and neatly in teeny tiny little ziploc bags in the freezer – three for me, three for Scott. Yet, they never made it out of the freezer and into my carry-on bag with our giant bag of snacks and other race day goodies (bandaids and body glide, anyone?). As soon as I realized it in the airport, my heart dropped, and I immediately felt like crying…and throwing up. Those Healthy Bites were made with such love and care by the ever fabulous, ever beautiful #runsherpa queen Lindsay. She made them ESPECIALLY for our race and they meant the world to me. The world.

Yet I forgot them. I was SO sad.
…and MAD at myself for forgetting the most important thing aside from our sneakers on race day!

Immediately, I started to panic. My sis tried to help keep me calm. Scott just looked at me, unsure of what to say really. And I was just a mess. I emailed Lindsay to get some ideas on what else to pack once we arrived in Chi town (cut-up larabars? lunabars? something ‘real’ was what I wanted, not just our honey stingers and gummy bears). Lindsay responded almost immediately (because she’s awesome) and one of the first things she said after giving me some backup options, was this: “what hotel are you staying at?” I knew what her intent was. She was going to spend an arm and a leg to overnight replacement Healthy Bites to our hotel. I did NOT want to put her out that way, particularly because this was entirely my fault. And yes, I was being stubborn.

Little did I know that she wasn’t going to take “no” for an answer. Behind the scenes, fellow #runsherpas Heather and my sis were scheming. I was even texting with Heather about it and she played dumb to what was really going on behind the scenes (so sneaky!!). As it turns out, my sis was SO worried about how I’d reacted to my forgotten Healthy Bites that she HAD to fix it. With Lindsay’s help at Healthy Bites headquarters (hehe) in Austin, Jo and Heather (and Lindsay) split the cost of shipping the bites up to Chicago in time for the race.

I have NO idea what this cost them but I’m sure it was a small fortune.
…and that gesture by the three of them? Meant the absolute world to me. 

What started as a GIANT blooper on my part turned into the most beautiful act of kindness I’ve ever seen.
…love you ladies!! ❤ #gratitude

(editor’s note: check out the awesome “Fueled by Healthy Bites” badge on the right side of this blog post — how awesome is that?? Healthy Bites FTW!)

And in other blooper reel moments? Let’s discuss:

• In my haste to bring my stuff downstairs to load into the in-laws car for the ride to the airport, I slipped and fell down 3-4 stairs. Like, really? I NEVER fall down the stairs (I do fall *up* them from time to time, though…). I was so annoyed I started to cry. Um hi, anxious much?
• Again in a haste, we left to grab some lunch before our ride arrived to bring us to the airport. We stupidly decided to try a new place neither of us had ever been to before. And because we thought we ‘knew where it was,’ we didn’t bother with GPS. Annnnnnd we promptly got lost. In the freakin’ city we LIVE in. Who does that?? Cue more tears (I was hangry, I have an excuse…kinda).
• At the airport, we get through security with relative ease. Line wasn’t very long, leaving us with plenty of time to grab a drink at the airport bar with Jo and M who were already at the airport. We hastily grabbed our shoes, our carry-on bags and our toiletries…or we tried to grab our toiletries but the security guard grabbed them and started inspecting them. Shaking the bag at me, she chided me for using a *gallon* sized ziploc instead of the approved *quart* sized bag. How many times have I used those damn gallon sized bags and never once been stopped? But THAT DAY, of all days? And I’m being harassed by the security agent. I had to choose my battles — tossing some of my products so they’d fit into the smaller quart sized bag instead. (or she offered that I could “check” these items instead…um hi, who would ever do that for TWO items??). I was *so* annoyed in fact that she left me speechless. Scott must’ve breathed a sigh of relief at that one…he’s seen me throw a tantrum in public before, it’s not pretty. LOL
• During the race, Scott and I had our eyes peeled for friends and family we knew would be cheering us on. I guess our eyes were a little bit TOO excited to see our name on one of the signs as we passed by one spectator in particular. Scott *swore* it said “Sutera” on it somewhere and yelled “babe, that’s for us!” thinking it was a blog reader or someone who was holding the sign. No, no — it was for another runner with the last name “Suter.” The lady looked at us when Scott got all excited and said something to the effect of “this isn’t for you.” LOL gee thanks 😉
• Annnd last but not least: I booked our hotel room in Chicago SO long ago (Um, I booked them in FEBRUARY) that I forgot that our room had a king-sized bed. It wouldn’t have mattered if Jo and M hadn’t decided later on to join us in Chicago and I offered to share our room with them to save some money. Buuut I forgot that tiny detail until a week before the race. A wee bit late for making room change requests. Soooo king bed for #teamsutera and tiny rollaway TWIN bed for Jo and M. Fail, fail, FAIL. (good thing they have a sense of humor…)

The moral of this story? While there were plenty of tears this weekend — tears of joy and tears of utter exhaustion and pride — there were also plenty of laughs to go around. Because that’s how #teamsutera rolls 😉