The past weekend was an extra long weekend for me as I had Friday off as well as the stat. Had early Thanksgiving dinner in Nanaimo on Friday and then rented a car on Saturday and drove down to Victoria after doing a quick 2 mile walk close to home. Checked into the hotel and then went to the Victoria Conference Centre to pick up my race package for the Royal Victoria Marathon's half marathon. Got a cool purplish long-sleeve New Balance Tempo shirt included with the registration. Walked around and checked out the booths at the expo and ended up buying a pair of Crocs sandals.

Met up with the Arthritis Society's acting special events coordinator and her family and we headed to the Empress which was attached to the conference centre. This was where the Carbo Gala Dinner was being held as well as the a New Balance Fashion/Hip-Hop Dance show. There were some interesting speeches and a motivational talk. We met up with the other JIMers (Joints in Motion team members) who were also doing the half marathon. The one from Victoria was running it but the other 3 (2 from Van and one from Cranbrook) were walkers.

I went to the car rental place and found out where to drop off the car and key as I would be there before they opened Sundy morning. Saw a sign on the counter about Airmiles. Hrrmph, I didn't know they were an Airmiles place. The guy said I could put my Airmiles number with the key when I dropped it off as he couldn't add Airmiles to the contract in the middle of it. He gave me a sticky to write the # on.

I drove around to check out where the half marathon would start. It was only a few blocks from the conference centre. Also the car rental place was across the street from the conference centre. I would need to drop it off before the race so I wouldn't have to find parking. Good planning if I must say so myself :) I topped up the gas in my car so I wouldn't have to do it in the morning. Hmm, after dinner it was raining out. Not a good sign I thought to myself :( Good thing I brought my water-resistant pants and jacket after all.

Back at the hotel I was using the computer in the lobby. Within a time span of about 10 minutes there was 1 phone call and 2 different people came in looking for a room. This was about 10:30 pm. I think all the accommodation in the whole city was booked up. I wonder if they ended up sleeping in their car? One woman was tall, lanky and lean. Looked like she could've been from Africa or somewhere as she was dark and spoke with an accent. Obviously a marathoner.

I called the front desk to ask what the light switch by my front door opened. I couldn't tell if that was a light fixture by the door and when I flipped it off and on nothing happened. Anyways the person didn't know as she said that not all the rooms have the same configuration and she wasn't sure. She said she had some spare light bulbs. I ended up using the bulb for one of the burnt-out light bulbs between the double beds. There were 2 tri-light lamps there but even with the new bulb only one lamp worked. My room didn't have much light as it was just that one lamp between the beds and one on the desk in the corne. Oh well, good thing I was only here one night. This hotel was an older one too.

When I booked online through Expedia they confirmed that I would have a kitchenette. Well, the front desk said that I should've called them directly to confirm as they didn't receive that request from Expedia. Plus she said that since they were booked full that she couldn't exchange my room either. Oh well, I didn't end up getting any yogurt since I didn't have a fridge. I put my baby carrots and soy milk in the ice container and filled it up with ice from the ice machine.

I didn't get much sleep Saturday night as I woke up about 2:45 am when nature called. I tossed and turned until 4:30 am and decided to get up since I couldn't fall back asleep. Considering I had less than 3 hours sleep I wondered how I would do in the half. I made my peanut butter, jam and banana sandwiches, rinsed off my pear, put my unsalted nuts, strawberries and other snacks together into my packsack. By the time I was about to leave it was 6am so I ate one of the sandwiches along with 2 deeelicious yummy Purdy's Hedgehogs and a soy milk. Note to self - eat this just before the full marathon too. I did my usual last look around the room to make sure I didn't forget anything. Good thing I did as I left my other jacket in the closet.

I went downstairs to check out. Another woman was checking out too. I was wearing my water-resistant pants, jacket and my cap. She had raccoon-like black stripes of make-up above her eyes. I told her it was raining. She looked at me in disbelief and said she had no idea. I guess some people don't look out the window. I was looking out the window a lot earlier hoping the rain would stop. Oh well I walked a long distance Sunday in the rain before so knew what it was like. She asked me if I knew where the start of the race was. Turns out she was doing the half too. I whipped out the map of the course I had printed out. I showed her where I parked the night before - as she was wondering where to park as well. Hmm, some people aren't very prepared as she had no idea where she was going. I told her I didn't need to worry about parking this morning and she assumed I was taking a cab. I told her I was dropping off my rental car just a few blocks from the start line. Heh heh heh.