2011--Week Two

Today we were a family of hardcore joggers. There is a high school wrestler in town who got injured & is now paralyzed from the neck down--some folks organized a race to raise money to help with his medical bills and ongoing recovery and all that. Kids from all the high schools in town were there either as participants or volunteers. High schoolers are always fun at a race because (a) they are fast, but not in my age group, (b) they--particularly boys--are not afraid to do dumb stuff like running shirtless together as a team in the 30 degree weather, or dressing up in crazy outfits, or whatever (full-grown adults dress up in crazy outfits for races like the Boulder Boulder & Muddy Buddy, which is probably why I enjoy those races so much).

The great thing about being in a smaller town is the kind of turnout this sort of thing can produce. I'm an easy target for running in a race--"Hey Skerrib, there's a race this week, wanna run in it?" "Heck yes!" But lots of other folks who wouldn't normally participate in a race came out to either run a 5K or walk the mile (and a half?) course in support of the injured wrestler. We got to see lots of friends & acquaintances, which is most always good for perking up a somewhat dreary Saturday morning.

Even the Cat Daddy, who would normally recoil and twitch at the thought of running a 5K, ran today. He's been trying to improve his run times for work so he had an ulterior motive, but I'll take what I can get. We pawned off the boys on some friends who were doing the walk, leaving us free to run like the wind, which we did.

Well, long story short, neither of us won a prize, but I came in at 25:43 which I was very pleased with. I also beat the Cat Daddy which always pleases me, even though he is adamantly a sprinter and really couldn't care less about any distance longer than a mile and a half, and that's only 'cuz he's required to care about it for work.

As for the photo, I will offer a quick explanation of what each person was thinking at that moment. I, of course, was grinning a dumb grin of glee, having finished well and enjoyed myself immensely. The Cat Daddy was happy to be done, and was ready to go home and get on with the day. His Highness had cold hands and really wanted his mittens, but mean Mommy made him wait a few minutes and have his picture taken with the fam first. The Littler One, having just woken up from a snooze, was pleased that I had arrived at the finish line to hang out with him.

And finally, in the interest of full disclosure, this photo was taken with my phone, as I didn't even think to bring my camera to the race. Go figure...