Boilermaker Weekend: Part I

Hello, hello! I just got home from a fun weekend in upstate New York. It was quite a whirlwind trip!

Bright and early on Saturday morning, Mal, Murphy, and I hit the road to drive to my friend Matt’s parents’ house. His family runs the Boilermaker 15k every year and they kindly hosted us for the weekend at their house.

The first stop of our road trip was (obviously) at Marylou’s. Murphy even got himself a little treat there. Doesn’t the photo of him look like he’s ordering something from the drive-thru? “One Milk Bone, please!”

Mal and I haven’t taken a road trip in a long time, so we were pretty pumped for this one. We packed lots of snacks and rocked out to the David Guetta station on Pandora for most the drive.

Murphy chilled in the backseat and rocked his “Boots” eyes.

Do you see the resemblance to Puss In Boots? I think Murphy has mastered the eyes.

Lunch

Mal and I hit up a rest stop along the Mass Pike for lunch. Unfortunately, it didn’t have too many food options, so we made do with what was available and opted for McDonald’s.

I hadn’t eaten at McDonald’s in ages, so I ordered the Bacon Ranch salad and hoped for the best.

And, you know what, it was disgusting. I ate most of it because I was hungry, but, man, it was not good. The lettuce and tomatoes were fresh, but the chicken and bacon were pretty nasty. Blah. I should have known better.

After lunch, I snacked on some dry roasted almonds and some cherries that I packed from home.

A few hours later, we arrived at the expo for the Boilermaker.

It was held at Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica.

The expo was organized really well with lots of signage, which made picking up our bibs and goody bags quick and painless. Instead of a t-shirt, we got pint glasses in our goody bags. Clearly, the Boilermaker is my type of race!

Mal and I were in and out of the expo in 10 minutes.

Mal and I planned to meet Matt at the expo, so we chilled outside with Murphy and ate a snack while we waited. I enjoyed a Ginger Beer (non-alcoholic) from Saranac while Mal ate a pineapple Chobani. Murphy drank some water and looked cute.

When Mal picked up his bib, the race volunteer said to him: “You must be fast with a number like that.” Apparently, the Boilermaker assigns bib numbers based on the times you submit online. Mal is a speed demon, so his number was really low.

We met Matt and his family at the expo and then headed to his parents’ house.

Dinner

While dinner was being cooked, we relaxed outside and munched on some appetizers, including a delicious sausage bread that Matt’s mom baked. (I’ll try to track down the recipe for you guys. I want it too!)

I also drank a couple of Blackberry Wheats.

How fun are these wine glasses that Matt’s mom made for the Boilermaker!?

Adorable, right?

Upstate New York is so beautiful!

We enjoyed a big ol’ pasta dinner the night before the race. Carb load, baby!

I loaded my plate with pasta, meatballs, and salad with homemade balsamic vinaigrette. The greens for the salad were fresh from the garden. So delish!

After dinner, Mal housed a bunch of cookies, which, surprisingly, ended up being key to his success on race day. I had a bite of one of his Moon Pie cookies.

Murphy was really jealous of Mo’s piece of rawhide. Sadly, Murphy is not allow to have it anymore, so if you look closely, you can see the biggest pug pout ever on his face. Haha!

After dinner, we hung out for awhile and hydrated. I ended up drinking a ton of water and peeing a zillion times throughout the night, which was kind of annoying, but definitely necessary after barely drinking any water on the drive to New York and then downing a couple of beers. We all headed to bed a little after 10:30 because we needed to wake up early for the Boilermaker.

Part II coming next!

Tagged as: Blackberry Wheat, Boilermaker, David Guetta, Marylou's Coffee, McDonald's, Puss In Boots, race expo, road trip