After I finished up with my last client on Friday morning, Bill and I took off for a long weekend in southwestern Virginia. We had places to go, people to see, and teams to cheer on…
First order of business was visiting my mom and enjoying the beauty of that part of the state…
Next up was not tripping over any of the five dogs belonging to my brother and nephew and their families who also happened to be visiting my mom. Moms two cats weren’t thrilled to see the dogs and we didn’t see them again until Sunday morning after the dogs all left. Hobbes hid between two rows of flowers in the garden, and Callie hid in a nearby barn. As soon as the dogs left, both cats cautiously returned to the breezeway to reclaim their territory!
L to R: Zoe, Bristow, Ginny, Layla, Jake
By late Sunday morning, Bill and I took off to meet Meagan for a run on the Dora Trail and the New River Trail.
My favorite part was running across the trestle bridge. Not sure which was better, the view or how great it felt on my joints!
While running across the bridge, Meagan heard someone call out…
And way down below we saw Bill. He’s still rehabbing his knee post-surgery so he was walking behind us. See him in a red shirt in the shade on the gravel trail?
Coming off of the trestle bridge, we headed back to our cars on the Dora Trial.
Just before we got into town, we stopped a couple of times to play with my GoPro…
Once back at the parking lot, we found some chairs in the shade of the old train station and had a very relaxing time just catching up.
After our run we headed on to our hotel, had dinner and hit the bed early. Monday was going to be a huge day!
Monday morning we walked around campus, and I stopped to kiss Addison Caldwell, Virginia Tech’s very first student. He’s recently been moved from one spot on Upper Quad to another during the major redesign of that section of campus. And on an interesting side note, Bill and I met on Upper Quad my freshman year!
During our walk around campus we saw many hardy tailgaters completely set up by 10 AM for the 8 PM game. We weren’t worthy of such shenanigans and got t our tailgate around 4:30.
Our tailgate was a huge reunion of many walks of life – Hokie friends from our years at VT, Julie’s family, Bill’s brother. In fact, Julie’s brother helped me prepare our good luck shots!
After closing down our tailgate, we hustled over to Lane Stadium with a couple of stops along the way…
Saying hell to an artsy Holstein
Fist bumping Iron Hokie
We got to into Lane Stadium about an hour before kickoff – we didn’t want to miss a thing, and rumor had it that Metallica might be there because they’d been seen in nearby Roanoke the day before. They weren’t…..
We were playing the reigning National Champions after all, and since we were the only team to beat them last year, I wouldn’t have put anything past VT Athletics to accelerate the excitement with the fans. Even ESPN’s GameDay crew was set up outside the stadium for a special one-hour Labor Day Night show.
Even without Metallica, Lane Stadium was absolutely electric, and just thinking about jumping to Enter Sandman gives me goosebumps!
The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets Highty Tighty Marching Band played the National Anthem, and with the boom of the Skipper and the explosion of fireworks, it was game time!
Corps of Cadets Highty Tighties
At the end of the first half we were leading 17 to 14. Whoa – we might just be able to pull off another upset after all!
Halftime was entertaining with both the Ohio State marching band and the Marching Virginians performing.
Ohio State Marching Band
Marching Virginians
But alas, an upset wasn’t meant to be and the second half was a different story. Our quarterback got his collar bone broken with a hit early in the third quarter. He was out for the game, and after surgery the following day it was announced that he will be out for about six weeks. Sending healing hugs your way, #12!
OSU went on to beat us 42 to 24, but even with a loss, our weekend wasn’t spoiled. In true Hokie spirit, I’m looking onward to the next game!
- Questions:
- What did you do over Labor Day weekend?
- When and where was the last sporting event you attended?
- Looking ahead, are you racing this weekend? ~ I’m running the Parks Half Marathon with my youngest son, and it will be his first half!
Great recap, looks like a nice weekend! That is a lot of dogs!! The trail looks nice, pretty cool with the elevated bridge 🙂
Kelli recently posted…Friday Five: Fitness Funnies
That bridge was so cool! I’ve seen pictures Meagan has posted in the past, but didn’t realize it was that long.
You packed a lot into your Labor Day weekend! The last sporting event I attended was our local minor league baseball game in Portland, Maine. Always fun! After a nice long run in a nearby seaside town (which made it feel like a mini-vacation) we spent Labor Day weekend working on home projects, which felt good to accomplish. Good luck to you and your son on the half-marathon! Have fun!
Karen@runningfifty recently posted…June- “Try Something New for 30 Days”
I love attending minor league baseball games. They are usually so much easier to get in and out of, and much less expensive. We used to take our sons to see the Frederick Keys (Orioles) when they were little. Hot dogs were reduced to half price at the end of the seventh inning – the things we remember!
I lazied around Labor Day baked a few things which was nice. The last sporting event would be the Memphis Cardinals baseball game last year, only because my son’s school sang the National Anthem.
Have a great day
bakingrunner..blogspot.com
How cool that your son’s school sang the National Anthem at the minor league baseball game! That must have been exciting!