Running

My daddy was a great runner. He jogged in the snow, in the heat, in the sand or wherever he could. He always kept himself in great shape. Him and mom did a lot of 5k's growing up. Mom would just walk, and barely beat the 10k runners. In fact, she said she saw them coming up on her while she was getting close to the finish line. So she decided to start running herself, and cross the line as if she was one of the first 10k runners to finish:) Adam and I did the Wenona 5k with mom and dad one year. I would say I was about 9 and Adam around 11...his very 'husky' days. It was an extremely hot, humid day. I'm pretty sure we were just doing a 1 mile 'fun run' for the kids. But it really didn't matter, because Adam ended up in the Ambulance they had sitting there for such an occasion. He got heat exhaustion, or at least faked heat exhaustion to get out of the heat and into the only air conditioned room anywhere for miles. I, for one, was not upset at all. Or even worried. See, I remember thinking he was faking. And I would typically call him out on it. But this time, I let it ride because I got to stop running and sit in the ambulance with him:)

I took up running again after my dad died. Steph, Abby, Sarah and I would get dropped off at 116, and run back to the house, giving the illusion that we had run all the way to 116 and were now running back (when really we had just done the way back), all timed perfectly of course to when most of the boys would be driving home from football practice. Running came kind of surprisingly easy to me? And I remember feeling regret that I hadn't done it more, or tried it with my dad while he was alive.

This year Brittany got me to sign up for a 5k and I'm happy to say that I completed it. Barely. In fact, CJ was waiting with the kids at the finish line, with Brit who had already been finished for 5 minutes. He was getting worried. He told me later that he thought I gave up and was crawling around looking for a pay phone or that he should start driving to go find me. Sheesh, it only took me 36 minutes! And when Brit spotted me in the distance, CJ didn't believe it was me. He said I 'looked terrible, and sick''.

Well, that had to have been true because that's exactly how I felt. I still don't know which mile was the worst? I figured the first would be easiest. But then I saw the sign that said 'mile 1', and I couldn't believe it. I remember feeling like I had been running for at least an hour and was already sick of the songs on my ipod. Then I just kept waiting for a water station so I could use it as an excuse to walk (as to not spill the water, duh). But that water station didn't come for like 2 more years! AND the water was warm and was like drinking sand because I needed more! But I couldn't just hang out at the water station.

Then mile 2 I thought about my dad. I kept looking up into the sky for him. And I have to say the temperature was perfect, and the sky was so blue. I was just looking up and running and wondering if he was running. Wondering what it would be like to run with him someday. Sounds beautiful and inspiring, but it only lasted like 3 minutes until that feeling of barfing came back. Then by the 3rd mile I was just completely pissed off. I just was mad at myself that I allowed myself to be stuck in this stupid race for the next mile. Mile that was taking forever. My ipod songs weren't distracting me enough. Nothing was motivating me. I thought 'oh, maybe I'll envision the kids at the finish line waiting for their mommy to come leaping across'. That didn't work because then I got depressed thinking that this was the first time I had been away and alone from them in a long time and I was wasting it on this stupid race.

Anyways, I finished the race. And I sped up towards the finish line, looked over at my family and acted like I was going to throw up. I thought it would be funny to make a barf sound. Well, I pissed my pants when I did that. No joke, pee came out as I was crossing the line. Then I picked up Bria and wanted people to see how little she was so that maybe people would be thinking 'wow, did she JUST have that baby? What a woman she must be!''