Roots N Blues Half Marathon

By now you should all know that I can't stay in The Village for very long before I get the itch to travel and Dr. C and the rest of the family end up on a quick road trip--even just a day trip--to somewhere.  I think this road-tripping habit of mine (coupled with the fact that we've never lived anywhere for longer than 3 years) is turning us all into modern-day gypsies.  My kids now routinely ask where we are going over the weekend.

Last weekend, we didn't disappoint them as we headed up to St. Louis to meet the fabulous Kate from Trial Run.  While I'm not usually an internet stalker, Kate's blog is funny and insightful and entertaining...and when I learned she lives near my parents, runs half-marathons, and has a daughter with Down syndrome, I figured we were kindred spirits.  And then when we discovered the Roots N Blues Half Marathon to run together, Dr. C agreed to another one of my gypsy-like weekends and we drove the seven hours to meet Kate and her family on Friday night and run the race Saturday morning.

I'm so bummed that I didn't take ANY pictures of Kate and I (or our kids) together--honestly it was such a pleasant evening and all the kids were getting along fabulously that I didn't even think about it. 

Thank you Kate and Matt for being such gracious hosts and making the random Internet-friend from The South feel welcome in your home--we had a fabulous time.  (Oh, and my kids want to play with your kids again next time we are in town!)

As for the race itself...it was my worst race EVER. 

I broke my #1 Race-Day Rule of "No Walking".  Ugh!

I originally broke the rule to help some fellow runners pushing a large man in a wheelchair up a monstrosity of a hill (it took all three of us pushing to get the guy to the top) but unfortunately I hadn't been training on long, steep hills...and I definitely hadn't been training pushing heavy wheelchairs up long, steep hills.  My bad knee protested against the added strain and didn't give up protesting for the rest of the race.  Which meant I had to stop and walk again and again, which completely deflated my confidence. Add to that the fact that the water stations kept running out of water right before I got there and my worst-race-ever fate was sealed.

(Yes, I am currently in the process of nursing my knee back to health and looking for a "Redemption" Race to train for and make myself feel better.  I'll keep you posted.)

Later, I felt slightly better when T-Man overheard me telling my dad what had happened in the race--how I'd stressed my knee pushing the wheelchair and how I payed for it for the last 8 miles.  T-Man interrupted and said, "But you did the right thing Mom; that's what Jesus would have done."  Awww.

It was a fast, fun quick trip--about 36 hours total--just enough to get the gypsyness out for at least the next month or so (until we go on our next trip to San Antonio!)

Many thanks to Kate for letting me run with her and for sharing her home and an evening with us.  And to the rest of her family for hanging out with us and letting us crash their family time!  We think you all are fabulous.

And many thanks to my dad for watching T-Man, Fearless, and Miss B by himself on Saturday for many, many hours while Dr. C and I were at the race.  Love you, Dad!