Just when you think you’ve seen it all, the fair is there to remind you otherwise. The world’s smallest woman! Deep-fried buckeyes! 20-foot-long stuffed animals! Alpacas with bowl haircuts! Well, what better way to wake yourself up in the morning than with a run through all of this glorious madness?!
The Ohio State Fair 5K started at 8am, so we got up early, put on our adorable and amazingly comfortable new Moving Comfort running outfits (the endurance short, the serenity t, the fiona bra), loaded Fonda up and headed to Crew Stadium. Moms, dads, little kids, teenagers and other twenty- and thirty-somethings were mulling about, chatting casually, and we knew we were in the right place. Not exactly what you would call an uber-competitive set by any means, which was just what the our super-stiff legs were looking for. After a big group stretch (Lindsey didn’t have the heart to tell them that static stretching pre-race was not recommended unless you’ve done a warm-up first), we were off!
Runners stretching before the start.
The course took us through the whole fair—unopened booths filled with popcorn and cotton candy, empty roller coaster rides, caged roosters crowing “good morning” and workers setting up shop. Note to self: seeing signs promoting “deep fried hot dogs, oreos and bananas” while running really makes you want to vomit. At least a little bit. But we charged through the huge fairgrounds, all the way to the finish, where we were greeted by a smorgasbord of candy, oreos, bananas and more. Thank you, o-hi-o.
Smiling at the finish
Gotta love the idea of replenishing with tootsie rolls after a 3-mile loop!
We skipped the oreos, grabbed a couple of bananas and headed over to the fair. Race participants got free entry—yay! And now, ladies and gentlemen, our Ohio State Fair montage:
Sheep getting ready for some serious competition. Intense, we know.
Seriously- the world's smallest woman was in here! We didn't get to meet her, but we hear she even talks!
Hairchetecture, Alpaca-style. We think Bob and Schwoops here followed us to Columbus from Williamsburg.
The Kiddie Slide... haha
Beth makes a friend at the petting zoo
Riding the Sky Glider back to the entrance.
The fair food was surprisingly not appealing to us after our run. We opted to get freshly brewed rootbeer and birchbeer to go instead. Delicious!
We’re not going to lie, leaving the fair was hard, but we had to get back to the hotel to check-out and gear-up for our trip to the next destination: Chicago. Since we did the run that morning, we didn’t feel the need to work out again, but the Sheraton Suites had some decent options to choose from anyway:
The indoor pool was small, but good for families and very, very short laps
The outdoor pool was clean and a decent size, but again, would be a stretch doing laps in there
The hotel gym had good quality machines from LIfeFitness—elliptical, bike, treadmill, etc. But it didn't have any resistance training equipment or TVs. Still, clean and airy, so not bad for a quick cardio fix.
We wanted to eat something healthy before we hit the road (again!) so we headed to our new favorite area in Columbus, the Short North Arts District, and stopped in at the North Market. This permanent farmers market is filled with local food vendors and hosts local artists in its courtyard. We settled on a Banh Mi (Beth) and an egg salad sandwich (Lindsey). Both were amazing. Full of goodness, we toured the artisan booths and saw some great stuff. Lindsey ended up buying something (of course!), a handmade button ring with an apple on it (it reminded her of NYC), while Beth pined over some precious stationery.
So, it’s official— we heart Columbus. But Chicago awaits, so off we go…
But did you see the butter sculptures??? Spencer took me to the Ohio State Fair several years ago when we were visiting family and we saw both the liberty bell and a cow sculpted from butter. Still not quite sure how I feel about that. I guess a cow sculpted from raw beef would have been grosser.
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