Run Keeley Run! — Patti Part Two

Race Day! The real reason for our trip is that Keeley was running her first marathon. The Twin Cities race is well known and considered to be the prettiest urban marathon in the country, and it lived up to the hype. A beautiful course through pretty neighborhoods, parks and around lakes. And fantastic spectator support. The marathon is on Sunday, but there is a 5K and 10K on Saturday, and a 10 mile race that starts an hour earlier on Sunday, so basically no overlapping at all with the marathon. Keeley was excited and nervous which is understandable, but she had done such a great job of training I had no doubt she would be fine. Our friend Deidre from KC came up for the weekend to see family and join us in cheering Keeley on which gave us a cheering section of 3 to support her. We had our signs and cowbell ready, and thanks to Matt a plan to get around the course and see her hopefully 4 times during the race to cheer her on and make sure she had what she needed. Not knowing the city proved to be a little challenging in getting around, but with Matt’s great ability to nanvigate and the use of Uber, buses, the metro and walk/running 6 miles we made it!

Keeley at miles 11 and 23. Strong and smiling the whole way!

Finisher!

She did it! 26.2 and not even breathing hard!

Thanks to Deidre for making the trip up and running around with us. Keeley said it made a big difference to her to have the support. She said the spectators were incredible! Entire neighborhoods out to show support and offer the runners whatever they needed. So proud of my daughter! Five months of training and dedication paying off.

They finished right in front of the capital in St Paul.

We took the metro back to Minneapolis and found a great spot for a late brunch. Just looked on Yelp for a recommendation close and the Mercury Dining and Rail was excellent.

We all went with an egg brunch option and all delicious.

Keeley got to pick what she wanted for the remainder of the day and after a shower and brief rest no surprise she picked breweries. First stop Finnegans.

Can you see that the beer taps are shamrocks? Love that!

We were relaxing at Finnegans and out of the corner of my eye I spotted them wheeling in the biggest pumpkin I had ever laid eyes on, so of course we asked for a closer look. They took us in the brewery room and my eyes had not played tricks on me. Check this out!

They are going to hollow it out, fill it with 7 barrels of beer and yeast and let it ferment. Then they will add cinnamon and some other spices and brew and serve. They said unlike a regular pumpkin these huge ones are almost hollow and probably only contain 30 seeds. That definitely made me feel like it was fall.

Town Hall Brewery was our last stop. Beer and dinner. I had the walleye tacos - a Minnesota favorite!

We had a great time in the Twin Cities. It was really so different than what I had expected. Not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t this awesome area with so much to do, so many great restaurants and so much natural beauty with all the lakes and parks. People couldn’t have been friendlier or nicer. I am already trying to figure out when I can go back. Not winter but I bet the summers are amazing.

Next up heading straight to Chicago for a few days and then BiG adventure coming very soon!