I left off with Barry and me sitting on the a sidewalk in Uptown Charlotte at the finish line of the Thunder Road Marathon. After a few minutes of sitting and talking, we headed over to the ‘Victory Lane’ area for the finisher’s party, which was right in front of the Nascar Hall of Fame.

Unfortunately most of the booths were already packed up and gone. The marathon had a cut off time of 6 hours and it was nearing the 6 hour mark. But still, I was surprised to see that most of the booths were packed up even before the cut off time had been reached. We walked by a massage booth and a beer tent. There was also a live band and there were two marathoners dancing like crazy all by themselves in front of the stage. I wish I had taken a picture…

I was walking pretty funny, but it felt worse to stop. Anytime our group stopped I would either walk around in small circles or just sit down. As part of the race, Barry and I got free entry into the Nascar Hall of Fame (usually $20 each) and our families got in at a discounted price of $10. We made plans to meet back at the Hall of Fame and parted ways. Barry and I headed back to the camper to take care of Hank and Scout and to get cleaned up.

We met back up with our families and spent about 1.5 hours walking through the Nascar Hall of Fame. It was really neat and had a number of exhibits.

On the second level, they had a sky box you could stand in and see the main level of the hall of fame. I gave the panorama setting of my camera a try.

Even if you aren’t a fan of Nascar, you would probably enjoy the museum because there’s so much to look at and so many interactive things to do. I could have easily spent an entire day in there reading everything. Barry and I both tried our hand at commentating a race.

I also pretended to be Jimmie Johnson for a minute. Getting into that car and getting back out was quite a feat. There was a lot of grunting and a lot of laughing from onlookers.

I had a good time at the Nascar Hall of Fame, but I was still feeling kind of nauseous, which probably had more to do with hunger at this point than anything. I hadn’t actually eaten anything since the race, aside from nibbling on my bagel and drinking Gatorade. I just didn’t feel like I could stomach anything.

From the Hall of Fame, we walked to a restaurant called 5 Church that my dad’s friend had recommended. At first they told us they didn’t have any tables available, because of reservations. But then the hostess said we could be seated at the VIP lounge, which was a low marble coffee table with leather couch seating on either side. I felt very swanky and felt like it probably wasn’t appropriate to take a picture. After we placed our orders, they brought out some bread. I started to feel better after having a piece of it. My dad surprised me with 26.2 magnets for my car and for our fridge.

I ordered the lamb burger, which is what my dad’s friend had recommended, and it was amazing! It’s not something I would have traditionally ordered, but I am so glad I tried it. It was topped with red onion marmalade, gorgonzola cheese (similar to bleu cheese), and arugula and was served on a housemade sesame seed bun. Barry also ordered (and loved) the lamb burger and everyone else got steaks. 5 Church Restaurant is definitely somewhere I’d go again if I am ever back in Charlotte.

The ceiling in the restaurant had writing all over it

After dinner we headed back to the campground and were off to bed before 10. I didn’t rest well, because the campground was close to the road and there were a lot of traffic sounds. My legs also kept waking me up. I never had actual full-blown cramps, but I kept having shooting pains in my quads and calves and my muscles would “ripple” without fully cramping. When I woke up the next morning my legs were very stiff and sore, and my right arm was also sore from carrying my water bottle during the race. Going down the steps out of the camper was quite a challenge.

Barry and I had a low key morning on Sunday and then hit the road around noon to head home from Charlotte. Each day since the race I have felt a bit better, except Sunday when I felt worse than Saturday. My quads are still very sore and my feet are also pretty sore.  I am taking things easy and all I have really done is some gentle stretching. I’m hoping to do a short, easy run sometime this weekend.

How long do you take off after a marathon or big race?

Have you ever had a lamb burger? What have you tried in the past that you didn’t think you’d like but you ended up loving?