A marathon doesn’t begin at the starting line. It begins with dinner the night before…  a starter,

and a strong finish with carbo-loading-nara and grocery-freezer garlic bread:

The morning of the marathon, at the recommendation of Ed Kohler of “The Deets,” I dropped Tom in downtown Minneapolis and headed to the Rose Garden at Lake Harriet. Here I first saw Tom: mile 7 (viewing point 1). He was looking great:

Does it look trashy? It’s supposed to look trashy. Marathon lit explained that runners are meant to throw their watercups to the ground rather than seek out a trashcan. You can’t handle the trashcan when you’ve got 26.2 miles ahead of you. That’s what volunteers are for.

Next, we met just before Lake Nokomis (viewing point 2) where Tom decided to remove his gloves:

We saw each other again as Tom came off Lake Nokomis (viewing point 3). I have not included a second picture, because you can imagine for yourself all of the people in the picture above, still miraculously on pace and running together—only they have their backs turned toward you and they are running away from rather than to the lake.

I missed Tom on the West River Parkway (viewing point 4), which is, by the way, a lovely spot to watch the marathon. My tardiness was due to a coffee stop at the Caribou on Lake Nokomis Ed kindly mentioned in his spectator’s guide. I don’t even like Caribou, but it was there, I had a coupon, and I had my mug with me for the purpose.

Once I figured I’d missed Tom, I trotted over to the other side of the Lake Street Bridge where I caught Tom on the East River Parkway (viewing point 5), still going strong. Here he is envisioning himself crossing the finish line:

If you’re following along with the spectator’s guide, you’d realize this was the last time I saw Tom before I raced to the finish line (viewing point 6) in my Volkswagen Golf to watch him run up and down to the Capitol in St. Paul.

Just after crossing the finish line (you can watch a video of the very moment with the “results feature” here), I caught up with Tom and was able to hand him the phone so he could speak to his mom and dad and confirm that he was still in fact breathing:

And that was the 2010 Twin Cities Marathon, just nine days after we were married, and one day before Tom turned twenty-six.

Click the image to see this photo set on Flickr.

Hailey, Dave, Nicky, and Peter went to the State Fair. Then Nicky made a video. More words are not required…

See Hailey’s full post, The Minnesota State Fair 2009, at Hailey’s Comments. Video, formicadinette.com.

We ate a lot yesterday. The fair was fun, especially since we were able to meet up with a few great friends to, well, eat with. Below are photos of most of what we ate, as well as pricing and locations if you’re planning to make the trek yourself. $11 will get you an adult ticket (ages 13–64) at the gate. This is about the only place credit cards are accepted, so bring plenty of cash for the treats to be had inside.

After a shared $5 tray of Cheese Curds in the Food Building (sorry, no photo), Summit’s Beer on a Stick was our #2 item to try. Three 7 oz. cups sampling Extra Pale Ale, Oktoberfest, and Red Ale for $7.50, not bad. Get in line for your Beer on Stick at the International Bazaar on Underwood St. and Judson Ave.

Next it was the French Meadow to hunt down the Reuben Pretzel we’d read about in the Star Tribune. After asking around about the “old Schumacher space,” we found the French Meadow on the corner of Carnes Ave. and Underwood St. With a two $5 bills in hand, we ordered two; this was not meant for sharing.

Pictured above is the exterior of the Reuben Pretzel. Notice the sauerkraut on top.

And the inside, just in case you were curious.

Naturally, this was followed immediately by a trip to the Deep Fried Candy Bars stand. With a choice between deep fried Oreos, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Deep Fried Milky Ways, and Deep Fried Snickers all at $3.50, we went with the Snickers.

Covered in thick breading and plenty of powdered sugar, this was exactly how you might imagine it. I never need to eat this again. If you’d like to have your once-in-a-lifetime taste, keep walking down Carnes Ave. from the French Meadow.

Walking north toward the Eco Experience, we thought we would see what we would see along the way. A stand we spotted just north of Randall Ave. on Underwood St. led us somewhat off the path to our destination.

With ticket in hand, we waited patiently for what would be next.

For $7.75, Texas Tater Twisters was offering sausage (on a stick) surrounded by a fried potato spiral, aka the Taterdog. We could have gone with the potato twister alone, but Tom sprung for the combo and I wasn’t about to protest. A side of ranch, please!

A few bites in, the spiral came began to unravel.

At this point, we parted with the group and went looking for one of the items on my not-to-be-missed list: Stanly’s Sugarbush Maple Soda, $4. Sample the soda near the Eco Experience at the Countryside Market (located at the end of Cosgrove St.). Already there, and having eaten a number of things that might be described as awful, we decided to opt for a rare, healthy item along side the soda: a Caprese Salad on a Stick, $6. This $10 combination is well worth a try.

Not to be caught ending on a too-healthy note, we finished our visit with a tray of Tornado Potato Chips for $5.50 from Sonny’s in the Food Building. Served with a side of chipotle ranch and fresh from the frier, they demanded to be accompanied by a second helping of Summit on a Stick (refills for $6.50 if you save your stick).

After a couple of loops around the Food Building trying to locate fried green tomatoes for sale, we gave up a little disappointed. I’m sure it was right under my nose, but with the weather turning noticeably chilly and already full stomachs, we said goodnight to the fair.

Thanks again to our fellow-tasters at the Heavy Table. Their list helped us navigate the sprawling Minnesota State Fair for the first time. As we headed home, the folks at 89.3 the Current were doing a tasting of their own on the radio. Among the pickles and the cheese curds, they reminded us of what we’d missed: Peach Glazed Pig Cheeks from Famous Daves. Next time? We’ll have to take that up next year.

The Heavy Table has a great post today which combines all of the secrets from yesterday’s live tweets (follow @heavytable to keep in the loop) with photos to help your imagination along. For those of you who can’t make it, this post will give you a picture of the best-of eats on day one of the fair. If you’re like us, and you’ve LIVED IN MINNEAPOLIS FOR A YEAR AND A HALF WITHOUT GOING TO THE MN STATE FAIR, this post will convince you that you are CRAZY and that you should GO TODAY. Incidentally, we’ll be heading to St. Paul this evening, tomorrow evening, or both, and we’ll definitely keep this list of suggestions in mind (along with the google map, thanks guys!).

From what our friends at The Heavy Table shared, it’s the beverages I’m most excited about. I’m currently craving the $1 Cider Freeze, the trio of Summit beers on a stick ($7.50), and Stanly’s Sugarbush Maple soda ($4). The last of these looks to be the most promising. As The Heavy Table puts it, Stanly’s is

A local alternative to soda… not just “as good as a Coke” good, but “far, far better than a Coke” good. It’s got an almost creamy flavor, a maple kick, and a refreshing hit of carbonation.

Based on the prices shared here, it looks like we’ll need to carry plenty of $5s and $1s with us in preparation for this 4,000+ calorie snack-feast.

Image: Becca Dilley, The Heavy Table