So, where did I leave it last week? Everyone did the mile and the 10k, but the best part was around the corner. And the most stressful. Not really stressful, I was stressed about it, which is different. The day before an event, we do what we call the Inspiration Dinner. If you’ve been to one, they can be pretty amazing. We celebrate all their training and fundraising, cancer survivors in the team tell their amazingly inspiring stories, we pump the team full of inspiration for the big event the day before. It’s a massive planning undertaking and I had done them before, but I had never MCd one. There were 8 pages of text I had to say outloud. I had just a few days to memorize it. It was really stressed about some of the words. And I tend to trip over numbers in English sometimes with my accent… Pffff, breathe in…

—this was my view from the podium. We had decorated the tables and hotel put those super cute Bermuda-style houses as centerpieces. It was all ready to go. 

Luckily, we had a super special speaker… Bart Yasso!! He was going to be the first speaker as he had to go to the official marathon pasta party after! The problem was… the food wasn’t ready yet and we were running out of time before he had to leave… I was in knots!

So, executive decision had to be made (well, we really had no choice!): we started the dinner speech, sat everyone down. I did my first paragraphs so I could let Bart talk and he could leave right after

He was fantastic. As you can imagine. I was a bit worried and half the room were first time marathoners and seriously had no idea who he was, but after three seconds I realized I had been an idiot worrying about it, Bart had everyone laughing and it was amazing. Even without food.

As soon as we was gone, we broke for food, they got back seated, continued the program and all went fantastic. Everyone was happy. I was completely spent but happy it went well! By 10 we were done, I had to scarf down some food and make super I was up at 4:30. Half and Full were on Sunday morning!

It rained all morning and I was already feeling a bit sicky… Luckily we had a dandy team tent, were we hid for a bit…

At some point they were calling my name over the loudspeakers, which I couldn’t hear from the tent, half a block away, so someone came to grab me. I rushed!!!

Bart and Sid were by the Finish and in the announcers tent. They just wanted me to give them some info on the team to announce. I was there for a bit as it was really fun to scream my friends’ names all over the loudspeakers in Bermuda. I am a bit loud to start with… and hyper.

—Pure love!  PS: he called me his girlfriend for the weekend. (Laura Yasso, you know we’re joking obviously. PS: love you too!!)

A few hours later, the team was done, we all went back to the hotel… and I was feverish!!!! That night we had what we call the Victory Party. We celebrate the team’s spirit, racing and fundraising. Then they eat, and they all went dancing. I was a sweaty, hot, feverish mess.

I had 3.5 vacation days in Bermuda after work was done and I was a hot mess. And, FYI, you can’t buy any ibuprofen or anything (thanks, you know who you are who tried over the phone, from overseas) without a prescription. It was sucky. I still managed to get outside for food and fresh air. I had to, it’s frigging Bermuda!

Bermuda is truly gorgeous. I am planning on going back soon, May or June. It is just 2 hours from NYC!!!!! I am not gonna hide that I had no idea where Bermuda was… but it’s soooo close and so worth it. People are ridiculously nice. I am not sure it’s the best running: it’s crazy hilly, you have to run on the road with the cars, though they’re super nice and move out of the way, but definitely worth the trip. The pink beaches are just wonderfully amazing. I say yes.

Racing all Over Bermuda, part deux