FMM - Final Roundup of Houston Weekend

I mentioned that we stayed at a different hotel this year, the Magnolia, which is a boutique hotel in an building that originally was home to the Houston Post Dispatch.  The building dates back to 1926 and there is a lot of original charm to it, although it's been extensively renovated.  It's located about half a mile from the George R. Brown convention center, which is where the race expo and start/finish line area is, so it wasn't quite as convenient as staying at the Hilton, which has a skybridge across to the convention center, but we felt like the hospitality of the Hilton toward the racers has gone downhill over the last year, especially when they shortened the late checkout to 1:00 pm, so we tried somewhere new.

Our room was nice enough.  It was race weekend and prices were steep but that's all part of the event.  We were on the 21st floor - the next floor up housed the suites (Karen and Jimmy were put there, lucky ducks), and the 23rd floor held the rooftop pool.  It was very cold when we went up there on Saturday morning to check out the views, but totally worth it:

You've heard that song refrain, I can see for miles and miles?  That's what it was like up there.  Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and  you can sure see why from this viewpoint.

 

The arched roof is Minute Maid Park, where we stood in the corrals before the race.

This building is right next to the hotel - it's GINORMOUS!  I have no idea who it belongs to, but it dwarfs all the other high rises nearby.

This building is super tall, but the ginormous one to the left is in another stratosphere.

One fun thing about the Magnolia is that they offer cookies, milk, and coffee in the evening - you know we all stampeded over once they were set out:

In case you were wondering, they were delicious.

After the race, after the ER visit, and still in my race clothes, I was feeling beyond disgusting, so when we finally got back to the hotel, I made myself take a shower between bouts of vomiting.  I washed my hair, wrapped it in a towel without combing it, and fell into bed.  Next morning, I looked in the mirror and realized that I had 80s rock-band hair:

Felt like garbage, but still had to document that hair.   

We didn't run last Saturday, but did get together for breakfast, and we got a picture of the Houston survivors, minus Julia:

Jeff, me, Brian, Cary, Andi, Diane, and Karen.  Bonded even more by Houston 2018.

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We are set to run a bit this weekend - not sure how far, but it will feel good to get out and shake out our legs.  Have a great weekend!