Safety Dance!

We got out of the city right after work on Friday and boarded a Megabus to Hartford for the UNC-UConn football game.  We met up with my parents on Friday evening and stayed at a hotel just outside of Hartford on the eve before the game.

As a quick aside, it’s amazing how living in the city will make you appreciate the little luxuries that come from a suburban suite-style hotel.  Tracy in particular was excited about the large room, workout area and, most of all, the ICE MACHINE.  What’s so special about an ice machine you may ask…well, nothing.  Just your standard, run of the mill hotel ice machine, that was positively heavenly for some reason to the soon-to-be mom.  Nothing like life’s little pleasures!

Getting back to gameday…

We had known for days that the forecast for Saturday was fairly grim.  I was especially dreading the prospect of rain, as my training schedule called for a long run of 18 miles this weekend.  I decided to wake up early and head out before the game, knowing I could cut the run to 8 if I had to (and do the long run on Sunday).  I felt good through the halfway point, and the run had held off, so I decided to go big.  This felt like a good decision until about mile 13 when the bottom fell out of the sky for about 10 minutes and I ran continuously through puddles.  Despite Mother Nature’s attempts to conspire against a finish, I was able to make it the full distance and grab a quick bite before heading to the game.

The weather continued to be a main focus during the 1st half at Rentschler Field, as periodic waves of rain led to a somewhat humorous game of musical ponchos from just about everyone in attendance.  Rain would come…ponchos on…subside for a bit…ponchos off…repeat.  What wasn’t as humorous was the play on the field, which could be described as defensive dominance or offensive (to watch) offense.

The Heels trailed 3-0 at half which left us less than happy.  We had a lovely respite from the dreariness at halftime when we met up with good friends Rob and Malissa Albright.  The Albrights recently moved to Boston after living in Chicago for 2 years while Rob was earning an MBA at Northwestern.  It was great to catch up face to face and the Albrights showed their typical thoughtfulness by giving a baby gift - a onesie that is straight from a Parisian shop on the Champs-Elysee.

The 2nd half saw a bit more scoring, and lucky for us, every single point scored in the game happened in the end zone directly in front of our seats.  So we had a perfect view of the UConn touchdown (boo!), the two Carolina offensive scores (yay!) and the unbelievable holding call in the end zone which led to a safety.  The safety allowed us to perform my favorite football related pose - the walk-like-an-Egyptian-esque hands over your head - and was especially sweet because the 2 points ended up being the final margin of the Carolina Victory.

After the final horn sounded, the entire team ran over to the section of Carolina fans and we locked arms and sang “Hark the Sound”.  It was a perfect ending to a rainy, dreary, but still quite beautiful gameday.