September | 2016 | Tigger Mania

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One of my favorite things about traveling to races is the opportunity to meet old friends, people I have know online for years and get to actually meet them IRL! It’s such a treat to finally be able to sit down and chat, share a meal and get to know the person and give them a hug.

Can’t beat it!

Last year when I ran the Berlin Marathon, I thought I had died and gone to heaven because I had the privilege of meeting so many people. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that this year would surpass last year~but it did!!!

Backtrack to last year:

I had made a friend on a site called MyFitnessPal. He and I had actually trained for our first marathons at the same time. We had shared the great runs and the not so great runs on the site and encouraged each other throughout our training.

When I had been accepted to run Berlin, he told me that a friend of his (a cousin actually) had been accepted, too! He introduced us on FB and we agreed to meet in the corrals before the race.

There were 45,000 runners at Berlin last year so I’m betting you can figure out we did NOT see each other last year.

This year, we both were accepted into Berlin again! We messaged each other a few weeks ahead of the race this year. We decided that we were NOT going to miss each other this time. He lives in the UK and I’m in the USA. What were the odds that we would be in the same race in a completely different country again? Nope! We decided we would meet for dinner before the race.

We made plans to meet at Hard Rock Berlin.

We had such a lovely time! His wife was traveling with him and I loved her! What a fun lady!!! My sister was traveling with me this year. We had a blast! I’m so glad we made plans and were able to meet up.

It was late-ish when my sister and I got back to the hotel. We went up to our room. As soon as we entered the room, the FB messenger on my laptop pinged. I looked and it was another friend from the UK! He and his wife were staying in the same hotel as my sister and I.

“We’re down at the bar. Do you want to head down and have a drink?” he asked.

Of course I did! I had no idea if we’d have another chance to meet and I didn’t want to let the opportunity slip by.

I met he and his wife. We hit if off great! I babbled (ie: talked non-stop) and they tolerated this goofy American. LOL!!!

We made plans to do something the next day. He asked me to stop up at their room before I went to mine because he had brought something for my dog, Paxton.

My goofy dog LOVES to wear neckties! He had brought Paxton a brand new necktie!!! *Paxton was sooo excited when I gave it to him when I got home, too!* He was walking around the house with it in his mouth saying, “Look! I have a new necktie!”

The next day, the four of us went on a bus tour of Berlin. We were able to sit on the top level of a double decker bus. HUGE treat for this kid! Our tour guide was hysterical!!! I don’t think he was intending to be…he was actually a little on the grumpy side and frustrated with the traffic. He even dropped an “F” bomb. I laughed so hard! Poor guy.

That evening we were discussing pre-race fueling for race day morning and agreed that although our hotel had a terrific breakfast, they did not carry our preferred race day breakfast. Pretty soon he came back from a covert shopping trip with our breakfast! #BreakfastOfChampions

Another great thing that happened was getting to meet some of my fellow Abbott World Marathon Majors Ambassadors! What a treat that was!!! People don’t come any better than this!