Nebraska state #33

 

About 4 weeks after my races in VT and RI and about 4 weeks before The Good Life Halfsy, I decided to sign up for this race in Nebraska.  Race date was November 8, 2026.  I had heard the race was a good one and that there had been below freeezing temps during the race in 2025.  This year the temps were much better!

The race was in Lincoln and I made the good choice of getting a hotel near the finish line.  But before I arrived at the Drury Inn, I went to packet pickup to get my bib.  It was a nice expo and I was able to buy some socks and a face glitter tattoo!

Koolaid was invented in NE and I got to meet the Koolaid man!  

He was also on the race course on Sunday.

After check-in at the hotel, I went out for the evening in downtown Lincoln.  The race was a point to point one and I was going to take the shuttle to the start and basically run back to my hotel.  I walked to the finish line to make sure I knew where the shuttle buses would be.

Setting up the finish line!

Then I walked to Yia Yia's Pizza and got two slices of pepperoni and mushroom.  Pretty yummy!

After going to bed early, I was able to sleep until 5:45.  I left the hotel at 6:40 and walked to the shuttle bus.  I was wearing my goodwill throw away sweatshirt, a Mississippi State one in honor of my nephews!

When they dropped us off at the start line, we were able to wait in the high school.  It was nice to wait inside and use real bathrooms.  I also was able to talk with two other ladies I met while waiting.  They were super nice and I helped them with their face glitter.  

Finally at 8:15, I got lined up.  There were 9500 runners!  And I was #9050.  I was very happy to have signed up before the race sold out!

The first part of the race had some hills, even if they weren't too bad.  I did waste time in mile 2 taking off my long sleeve shirt and putting my bib on my tank top.  That made that mile slower than any in the first 8. Other than that, all of the first 8 miles were in the 11 minute range.  I was happy with that time, but the last 5 got slower.  The hills in those miles were not big, but they still slowed me down.  I really need to figure out how to keep my momentum in those last miles!    

The state capitol.  No buildings in Lincoln can be higher than the capitol and on top of the capitol is a farmer sowing seeds.

The last bridge before the downhill to the finish

The worst hill in my opinion was the last one up to a bridge with Lincoln spelled out on it.  This was where we finished mile 13 and downhill from the bridge was the finish line.  I know not to speed up at the end as it causes a cramp in my calf, but running downhill made me a little faster.  And then, with the finish line right ahead of me and beside many spectators, I cramped up and had to stop for a second. Such a pain!  Literally!  But I stretched it out and was able to run over the finish line, slowly!  But I finished!  Faster than my VT time, but still over 2.5 hours.  One day I will conquer those last 5 miles and get my time down.  But it did not happen in Nebraska.  I did, however, finish the race and get my medal.  

My medal in front of the prairie near the Homestead National Historic Site

It had been a beautiful day!  Great weather, a great course and lots of encouragement from the town along the way.  Especially the people at the finish line when I had to stop with only a few steps left on the course.  Nebraska had been good.  Only 17 states left!  

PJ party

 

No girls' trip can be complete without mathching PJ's and fun pictures!  Next trip, we need to add a TikTok dance to the evening though!  Since Carrie had the same pajamas we were buying, except in pink, we made her the "bride" of the party.  Even though it kind of looked like a gender reveal party!

Stretching after all of our walking today

We also played games all night.  Career poker was our main game.  It's hard to explain except that the winner of the round gets the president's chair and the last one out gets to be the dishwasher.  Not to brag, but I sat in the president's chair a lot and Chrissy was the dishwasher.  But we all laughed so hard and had the best time!  No matter what chair we were sitting in.    

Sunset from our back porch

There was a pretty moon Saturday night

Sunday morning we loaded up to head home, but we did get distracted by all the deer across the street from our house and in our yard.

 

We had one more waterfall stop on our way home and this one had a beauty rating of very good!  The name was McGalliard Falls found at a park by the same name.  My car arrived first, so we had a Look Up Lodge style greeting for Angel's car.

We took a short hike to a suspension bridge before we walked to the bottom of the falls.

We made it to the bottom of the falls next with some of us going all the way down, some looking from the top, and Angel putting her feet in.  

Carrie clearly has a gift with taking pictures as my legs actually look long in this picture!

This was a replica of the Meytre Gristmill that once operated at the falls.

We finished our trip with lunch in Charlotte before we drove our last stretch home.  We ate at Harriet's Hamburgers in The Bowl at Ballantine area of Charlotte.  It had been such of fun trip with so many laughs and many good memories made!  Looking forward to our next girls' trip! With our dance moves!