Thursday, April 1, 2010

one of many: A Race Day Adventure



Last Saturday started of much earlier than any of us are used to. Tom was going to run is first trail race and it was about an hour away in the Uwharrie National Forest.
We got up a little before 6 and were ready to leave at 7.
A quick swing by starbucks and we were ready to be on our way.
The first hour of the trip was uneventful, Hayley and Jonas slept and Tom and I talked. Then we made a turn, that was in the directions, that we never should have taken. The race was to start at 9, so we still had time and so we stopped and asked for directions. The wom
en who gave us directions sent us to a neighborhood with the same name as the trail that the race was on. This neighborhood was in the opposite direction. Fun. So we turn around and I type into the trusty GPS the name of the road that we were supposed to turn on, the nonexistent Tower Rd. It took us down this dirt road that would have b
een much more suited for one of our 4 wheel drive jeeps, and not th
e buick century we were in. We get closer and closer to race time, and seemingly further and further into the wilderness, yet we have NO idea where the race actually is. We found a church with some men doing some lands
caping and asked them if they had any idea where the race was. They gave us simple directions and in 5 minutes we were there. We got there at 9am on the dot. There are still people walking around with their numbers pinned to them talking leisurely. I had prayed then entire time that maybe the start would be delayed and it indeed was. There was an accident
on the way to the race from Raleigh, that was holding up about 10 racers. We are fairly certain they were waiting on the team from Duke (ew) to get there. I felt a little bad that
I had prayed for a dela
y and there had been an accident though. Trail racing is much more laid back than road racing thankfully so them delaying the race 15 minutes is not a big to any of the runners. I was a little worried for Tom, he didn't really have time to eat his pre race waf
fles, or drink his cliff drink, plus he was getting over a cold.
Tom was an instant celebrity at the race because of his shoes. Honestly we thought there would be more people in the vibrams, but he was the only one, go figure.
Jonas was very upset that he could not run the race with daddy.



He had run the 2 races with Tom, But this race did not have a fun run for him to participate in.
He did eventually let Tom go so he could join the starting line.
I knew we would have at least an hour before he would cross the finish line, so the kids and i trekked back to the car. I got them a snack and they watched part of a movie. We head back to the 'camp site' since I wanted to see more than just Tom finish. The kids played around till the runners started to come in. Jonas wanted to go into the forest to look for lions and tigers. I told him that lions and tigers did not live in the forest. He assured me there were mountain lions and that we needed to find them. We didn't find any.




Tom Finished 11th overall. That seems pretty par for the course. If they had done the age groups in 5 year increments, like most races, instead of 10 he would have been 2nd in his group. The Duke Road Runners swept the 19-29 year group. Jonas even got a medal! He and Hayley were the only kids there, and when the director saw Jonas was so upset that he didn't get to run, at the end of the race he gave Jonas one of the leftover medals. It was very nice of him.





Jonas was very happy when daddy finished!

The trip home was a lot easier than the ride up. Apparently if we had not made just one turn. and stayed straight instead we would have never gotten lost. But now we know for the half marathon in May.

I couldn' t get the campfire smell out of my hair for 2 days. I do like the smell of campfire though, so it wasn't too bad. And even though we were only there for 3 hours, when we got home I felt as if I had gone camping the whole weekend.
It was a good and very busy weekend.
Saturday was a gorgeous day.
We went to coldstones and toted the ice cream to starbucks were we ate it while Tom and I shared a french press of coffee out on the patio.
Still very tired on Sunday
No rest for the weary.
I still had to do grocery shopping and a few other errands.
I got it all done, as tired and as sore as I was, I still got all my running around done.
I didn't want to by any means, but we needed food. Haha
Most unorganized of any of my grocery trips.
But I did still manage to save over 60 bucks!
YAY ME!