So we rose early and attired ourselves in layered assortments of running togs, long underwear, sweats and even pajama bottoms(!) and packed sandwiches and snacks for lunch and....went to church.
After doing our bit and blitzing the coffee-hour, and a quick change for Nancy (from choir-appropriate footwear and a skirt to sneakers and sweats [that long running skirt I've been eyeballing would have been totally perfect for this...]) we convoyed to Brewer, scarfing down more snacks in the car. We arrived in plenty of time to pick up our bibs, use the facilities and figure out where we needed to be. Mum and Dad, of course, played things a little closer to the wire. Mum saw the kids start and then retrieved Dad from the car in time to see them finish. All three did a great job. They had fun in spite of the cold and were pleased with their times. Alan was desperately trying to get some stretching in before the start but I just kept thinking how much I didn't want to shed any layers. At the last minute I shoved my fleece at Mum, along with assorted water bottles and cheese and crackers I'd been nibbling on. It was really cold while we waited for the horde to surge forward, but after that the chill was quickly left behind. For almost the first mile I kept pace with Alan. He was in the zone with his tunes so we didn't chat much but he kept looking over at me as if to say "you're still here?". I finally let him go and hunkered into my own pace, but I really didn't feel like I'd pushed it that much to begin with. During my first walking break, Carey from UMaine who I frequently see at running events ran past and said hello. So I picked it up again and chatted with her for a bit which was just what I needed. Between keeping up with her and trying to keep Alan in sight I was able to pull off a pretty good pace overall. The brisk air was certainly invigorating as well!
Afterward, we all milled around in the high school gym and visited with the many people we know. Once again I marvelled at how much taking up running is like joining a secret society only to discover that I already know a huge portion of the membership.
As usual, we won no prizes, although someone we know walked away with 3 turkeys (yes, age-group and team awards come in the form of frozen fowl) and the $600 cash door prize (one dollar per registrant)!
It was a fun event (even though the kids were a bit unmanageable) and we're very likely to do it again. At first, I thought the tee shirts were terrible because I thought the turkey looked evil. They had car decals, too, and Jeremy kept asking if we could get "evil chicken stickers". I'm thinking someone overheard us because they made a point to announce that the artwork was done (and donated) by the artist who draws The Hulk for Marvel Comics. Upon closer inspection, it's easy to see that he is not, in fact, an evil chicken, but a hulkified turkey. No one's gonna cook his giblets! Way cool.
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| J, j and M strike action poses |
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| Emilie with her Marks Family flock of newbie runners |
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