a tale of 2 races

A few weeks ago the kids and I got super-early and headed to Bangor for the Garelick Milk Run, a one mile downhill race. I convinced Will a few days beforehand to watch the little kids during the race, “It’s only for about 6 minutes,” while Mary, Maggie, Charlie, and I ran. I only found out after we arrived that the race was not in a loop, but ended downtown, making me change my promise to, “I’ll run, turn around and run back to the start and collect y ‘all.” I also soothed a nervous Tim on the phone the evening before, “I will finish and go back to run next to Charlie,” but apparently that promise wasn’t necessary to keep.

I decided to run the family race as opposed to the competitive one that started 20 minutes later (I guess this was so little kids wouldn’t be trampled in the fast start) and with no men, I quickly took 2^nd place and almost beat the 20-something girl in front. Finishing with a time of 6:19, I grabbed a bottle of water and headed back up to find Charlie. But he surprised me by flying through the chute in 7:30, followed by Maggie at 8:00, and Mary at 8:30. After getting them all situated with chocolate milk, I sprinted back to the start and drove them down in time for the door prize giveaway and awards ceremony. While we didn’t collect one of the Styrofoam coolers of dairy products, I did receive 1^st place in my age group, a $25 gift certificate to the local sports store.  

This past Saturday a huge thunderstorm woke me up at 4:30am and woke a very scared Timmy up at 5:00am. He climbed in bed with me while I debated whether the Tour de Lac 10 miler in Bucksport I had signed up for weeks before was going to be cancelled. I changed my mind several times about going, but by 7am the rain abated as I pulled into the town pool parking lot wearing several layers for warmth. The kids had been left at home in the care of their older siblings with strict instructions to change the baby’s nappie as well as to please not burn down the house. I have been paying Willand Mary to babysit for the past 9-10 months while I have gone running, but this was the longest I had left them alone, so I promised Tim I would call home as soon as the race was over. I strapped on my IPod shuffle, cranked it up and punched my stopwatch as soon as the signal was given. After only training on hills for about 4 weeks, I was a little nervous, but quickly settled in a 7:30/mile pace, dropping down to 7 minute miles on the more downhill sections. I finished strong at 1hr, 15 min and was told that I was the 3^rd female, so I quickly changed into dry and warm clothes (by now it was misting and very chilly) and called the kids. They were fine, promised to immediately change Julia Ellen’s nappie, and checked in with Tim to reassure him of the children’s safety. After the awards ceremony, in which I received a jar of raspberry jam for finishing 1^st in my age group, I made it home to put the dirty breakfast dishes in the dishwasher and fix myself some toast smeared with my newly gotten gains.

Will was jealous of his little brother’s racing success that he convinced me to let him run in the 4^th of July 2 mile race in Bangor while I watch the little ones, so I will be in the strange position of cheering on my children, rather than them standing on the sidelines shouting, “Go Mommy!”