A Family Reunion of sorts…later Friday night

After the mandatory athletes’ meeting immediately following dinner, I had made plans to meet up with the Kraft gang, so Vardo headed out for ice cream with the DSM crew and I headed out to find the Kraft-ies. Since none of them were at the dinner, I gave them the run-down of the whole biggest loser thing and got hugs and high-fives from them. After talking with Tom and Mary, friends of Sue and Michele’s, we went over to meet up with my parents, with whom we had made arrangements to go for coffee so my mom could finally meet Michele and Jeremy (my dad had met them at the Disney marathon in January) and so they could both meet Erin. After introductions and an exchange of mums from my mom to Sue and Michele, we said goodnight to Erin (who went back to the hotel to be with her husband and mom) and the rest of us headed to Starbucks after a quick stop in our rooms to drop off stuff.

As we sat outside along MLK and chatted, we had the interesting experience of witnessing the underwear run—apparently an IM tradition where athletes run through town in nothing but their underwear. I have to admit I did NOT feel left out in the slightest by not taking part in that event, although it was funny to watch. With the run providing some random entertainment, we talked, swatted mosquitoes, and had some decaf—I’m very glad that my parents had the chance to get to know Sue and Michele a little better, and Jeremy too—it’s odd to think that my parents really didn’t know these awesome people who have been such a big part of my life, but I feel like we started to remedy that with the Starbucks outing.

After walking back to the hotel, I said good night to my parents and the Kraft gang and headed back up to my room. Vardo had already returned from the ice cream outing and was getting ready for bed, so I took the time to open one of the cards from my mom that accompanied the mums that she gave both Vardo and me. Vardo had apparently received the same card from her and laughed when I opened it—it was a musical card that sang “I Will Survive”, which cracked me up and was a great way to wind down from the day. After talking for a bit, we both fell asleep—one more day to go before the big event…