Yesterday afternoon we drove to my favorite place on earth, Virginia Tech.  I absolutely loved going to school at Tech, and I even met my husband there!   We were thrilled when Joseph, our oldest son, decided to attend VT; and even more thrilled when he met Julie, ‘the cutest and sweetest girl in the world’ there!

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Hokie Stone entrance on University Blvd.

Our first stop in Blacksburg was dinner with Joseph and Julie at Bull & Bones (a local sports bar).   No worries about carbo-loading though, since today’s race was an easy run.  It was a tough decision, but I decided to go with the smoked chicken salad.  It was very tasty, but didn’t photograph well, so I’ll share a picture of Bill’s beer sampler instead.

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Bull & Bones

This morning we ran in the Virginia Tech 3.2-Mile Run in Remembrance.  It’s an un-timed, low-keyed race honoring the 32 students and faculty members we (Hokie Nation) lost on April 16, 2007.

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Back of the race shirt

I got to meet Meagan from Turkey Runner today for my first ever blogger meet-up!  What better way for two runner/bloggers to meet than by running in a race together!  We also ran with Julie and her two roommates, Becky at Running on Happy and Kelly at Life With a Side of Coffee, all VT seniors.  All of us were doing additional miles either before or after the race so we decided to run a nice easy pace of ten-minute miles and take photos along the way.

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Meagan and Deb

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Becky, Kelly, and Julie

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Ready to run with my hubby Bill!

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Pleasant surprise… Bumping into Mary and Dave!

Before the race started, signs were held up to observe a moment of silence, and then 32 white balloons were released (one for each Hokie lost), which was incredibly moving.  Once the 32 white balloons were released, we released our maroon and orange balloons, and the race began.

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32 White Balloons

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And the race begins!

The highlight of the race was running through the tunnel and touching the Hokie Stone, before running into Lane Stadium to “Enter Sandman” by Metallica.  Our Hokie football team waits in the tunnel as the opening riffs to “Enter Sandman” blast throughout the stadium speakers and everyone starts jumping.  Once the team runs onto the field, the fans go crazy.  I get chill bumps just thinking about it!

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Reaching for the Hokie Stone!

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Quick pause in Lane Stadium

To give you an idea of how excited the fans are in Lane Stadium when Enter Sandman starts playing, you’ve got to watch this YouTube video!  Start Jumpin’!

As Meagan and I ran together, we had a chance to get to know each other.  She a very sweet young lady, and I hope she enjoyed our run as much as I did!  I’ve always said the best way to get to know a person is to run a few miles with them…

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Hanging out with Addison Caldwell (first VT student) after the race

  • Questions:
  • If you’re a blogger, have you ever done a blogger meet-up?
  • Did you race today?
  • Where did you go to school?  Do you go back to visit often?