Aurora's Blog

As I was waiting in the staging area to go to back to the corrals, I got a text message from my mom asking if I’d met Joey Fatone.

(For those who don’t know, Joey Fatone was a member of Nsync. When I was in elementary/middle school, I pretty much adored them and saw them in concert 22 times.)

When I got a text asking if I met him, I sarcastically thought, “Yeah. In this sea of 25,000 people, I met Joey Fatone – whom I’m sure is being treated like a total VIP and not even anywhere close to us commoners. ;)”

Not that long after that, I got to go up around the start line so I could be interviewed by David Baumann of NBC Sports.

Sure enough, before you knew it, I was standing around Joey Fatone and Drew Carey. This is where it gets nice and embarrassing.

Someone who travels with Drew Carey’s team (his assistant, perhaps?) asked if I wanted a picture with him. I think she thought I had made my way up there to get pictures with famous people. (I saw a small group of girls get their picture taken with Drew and head out right as I was coming up there.)

I didn’t want to annoy him, and I wanted to be all cool and seem like I belonged. So, I was all, “oh, that’s okay. I’m just waiting to be interviewed.”

But then I looked up and saw with my own eyes – could that be Joey Fatone?! I glanced away, then back. It’s him. It’s really him.

With Joey Fatone only three or so feet from me, I kept thinking, “That’s Joey Fatone from Nsync!!! An Nsync member is standing so very close to you. You have to ask him for a picture.” Then I thought, “Be cool. Be cool. Be cool. You’ve met famous people. They’re just people. You’re super cool and totally supposed to be up here since you are now apparently super famous as well. ;)”

Followed of course by thoughts of, “It’s Joey Fatone! Let your inner super fan out. You are a nerd. Nerd out and be okay with it.”

So, I went up and tapped him on the shoulder. I said, “Sorry to bother you.” And he very sweetly was all, “No, it’s fine!” I said I’d seen him in concert 22 times. He said, “I’m sorry.” Tehehe.

Then I asked if I could have a picture. He said, “Of course!” I looked around for who would take it. Sure enough, the only person around was Drew Carey’s assistant person (or, I suppose Drew Carey lol).

I sheepishly asked the assistant if she would take the picture. She was nice about it, but I could see in her eyes she was probably thinking, “Are you joking me? I just asked if you wanted a picture with Drew Carey. Now you’re asking if I’ll take one of you with Joey Fatone? Aye, aye, aye.”

I hope Drew Carey didn’t overhear all of this. I wasn’t trying to snub him! I was just trying to be cool, but then abandoning that…

Thank goodness I didn’t wait one more second with the loop of “Should I bother or not bother Joey” going in my head, because right after I got my picture, it was time for my interview!

David was so incredibly nice and cool. I hope he thought I was nice and
cool too, but my bet is I didn’t seem super cool. I had a bit of nervous energy – last race, big interview, super early morning (and I’d just met Joey Fatone!). But David didn’t seem to mind that I was totally nerding out. (I kind of feel like I am constantly nerding out lately. But that’s okay. I think that just means I’m having lots of fun.)

You can see some of the fun of that interview here.

Then I went on back to my corral, and I’ll talk about the race tomorrow.