A Family 5k Outing: Awesome fun, turned this mother's worst nightmare.

Meet the Chronics ( my Husband's friend gave us that name and it kinda stuck).



Back Row from the Left: Summer, Me, Joseph
In a row by herself: Kara
Front Row from Left: Andrew, Josiah, Ally



The Idyllic Setting

The Garden of Lights Veterans 5K is an awesome idea! The race starts in the evening and winds through Honor Heights Park, Muskogee, OK. This park is decorated to the nines with Christmas lights and manger scenes. Its absolutely beautiful! We were excited to run this as a family, including our 15 month old, Josiah, in the jogging stroller. The kids were so excited to run with us and now they want to run with us even more, which is cool. Some friends also met us there and some of them ran the course as well.

Joey was running for time. Kara was running with a friend, and Summer is old enough that I felt safe letting her set her own pace. This was mainly because I knew that I would see her a few times during the course, even if she ran faster than me. Ally, Andrew, and of course, Josiah stayed with me. This was so awesome because it allowed me to not worry about time or speed. More importantly, it allowed me to see the beauty of the lights through their eyes. Their amazement affected me in ways I can't explain. Josiah sat quietly in his stroller taking in the sights. I wish I had a mirror or something attached so I could have seen his little face. Andrew and Ally kept up a running commentary: 'Oh look at that tree. Its beautiful!' and 'That blue star is the biggest. It must be Jesus' birthstar.' and my favorite (from Andrew) 'Mom why are the tops of my legs burning?' Hehehe:-)

Sounds like the perfect family holiday outing, right? Wrong...

Where Things go South

The finish line...there it is kids. Take off! Go, Go, GO! I'm right behind you...oh wait. No I'm not because the guy standing by the finish line refuses to let me cross. What?!?!?! It went something like this:
Guy: You can't cross the finish line with a stroller.
Me: Excuse me?
Guy: It will mess up their insurance.
Me, getting peeved: I specifically asked about strollers and was told, no problem.
Guy: You can't cross the finish line with a stroller. You can leave your baby here though like this dad did.
Me: {completely shocked to look down and see a baby in a stroller that I recognized from the race. His momma is going to be ticked at his daddy}
Some Random Woman: I will watch him for you. I have four kids. I will take care of him.
Me: {a more scathing look has never crossed my face} Good for you but I will not leave my baby with strangers. Have you not read the news lately?!?! (Side note: This was the DAY AFTER the Newtown, CT tragedy. My mom emotions were still completely raw and shocked from reading the news all day the day before.)
Guy: You are not crossing the finish line with a stroller.
Me: Fine, at least take my bib number so that I finished the race.
Woman across the line: I'm not taking that.
Guy: Go ahead and take it
Woman: {Rips it out of my hand}
Me: {Losing my cool for real} Look, You can get ticked off all you want but I specifically asked about strollers and was told they were fine.
Woman: Whatever {walks away}
{This is when I realize that the finish line doesn't end there. You have to walk down a little roped off lane. AND I CAN'T SEE ALLY AND ANDREW!!!!!!! There are 1500 runners plus their families. Hundreds of people are milling around and I CAN"T SEE MY KIDS!!!! And I knew Joey was back the other way.}
Me: {Now I've lost it for realsies and I am resisting to the urge to A) Punch someone in the face or B) Run over someone with the stroller.} I have to get to my kids!!!!!! They have already crossed the line!
Guy: Too bad, you can't cross the finish line with a stroller.
Me: {Seriously considering just going across the finish line. I mean what would they do? The only thing that kept me from it was the possibility of them tackling me and Josiah being left alone.} {Oh and by now I am so angry that I am crying because I have no other outlet for my rage...plus I'm terrified about my kids...I have never lost track of one of them in a crowd before. This is literally a nightmare for me. Of Epic Proportions.} You leave me having to choose between leaving my baby with a stranger and losing my 8 and 11 year old in a huge crowd! How can you do this?!?!
Guy: You can't cross the finish line with a stroller.
Me: {turning away and ripping my phone out of my arm band to call Joey} Joey!!!{in hysterics now} They won't let me cross the finish line and Ally and Andrew have already crossed it and I CAN'T SEE THEM!!!!
Joey: Stay right there. I will get them.
{The dad who left his baby, still wasn't back. He crossed the finish line well before I got there. I can only imagine that he had just as much trouble getting back across the finish line to his baby as I had getting across it to my kids.}

This whole episode really only took a few minutes but it was the longest few minutes of my life. Ally and Andrew did exactly what we taught them. They stayed together and stayed put. Joey had them in less than a minute. I had a full scale panic attack. I don't even have panic attacks. We walked the whole way back the van, loaded everybody in. I started driving and still I was shaking. I drove all the way home (and hour and a half) and still I was in full panic attack mode. I had to take sleeping pills just so I could calm down. I still cried most of the night and had nightmares about worst case scenarios. This was, hands down, the worst experience of my parenting life. I looked everywhere, on all the information about the race, and NO WHERE did it say that strollers were not allowed. No where. Not to mention that there were other strollers, some of which had already crossed the finish line. As fun as this run was, as good as the charity is, my family and I will most definitely never run it again. Ever. I can't even type this post without getting sweaty palms and fidgeting.

~KC

 

Of Miles and Milestones...and Determination...and Uberness

 

Miles...

According to my Nike+ GPS watch, I have ran over 200 miles since June 2nd 2012! Since I started running in February of 2012, I have ran over 300 miles. And I have loved every minute if it;-)

 

Milestones...

To go right along with my 200 miles, I am very close to weighing below 200 pounds for the first time since Josiah came along. That's a big milestone for me because I have been working really hard for it!

Determination...

This weekend, Joseph and I ran the Fayetteville 5k.

It was a very hilly, tough course. I had been terrified of it for a month.
We had to run up the hill next to Razorback Stadium then back down the other side for part of the course. I've been told by many people that this could accurately be called 'Hell Hill' or 'Hill of Torture'.  For those of you who have seen the stadium before, this picture that I took from the top of the hill might help you visualize what I'm talking about...

 I was honestly less worried about going up the hill than I was about tripping and rolling DOWN the hill! I'm one of those people who can trip walking across a smooth, flat surface...I'm even considered a klutz in some circles! So this was a very real concern for me. It turns out that I didn't have to worry. I was so terrified that the hills were no where near as bad as I imagined them to be. And I was determined to run the whole course, even the hills. Maybe even especially the hills. I was determined not to let them beat me. That determination paid off because not only did I run the entire race, but I set a shiny new PR...on a difficult course! By TWO WHOLE minutes!!!

 I was pretty excited. Maybe my success stemmed from giving this guy a high five as we started the race...

Whatever the reason, I came, I ran, I rocked! And so did my awesome husband who set his own race PR by over 3 minutes;-).

 

Uberness...

Now let me tell you a little about Uberness...Awesome Uberness even! My running friend Paula (check out her blog here, dont let the name fool you - she's fast!) ran the half marathon. Our race started after hers so we were able to see her off and even give her a cheer after her first mile. After we finished the 5k, I went to where I thought the course map showed she would come running back through and Joey went to the finish line so he would be ready to take her picture as she finished. I was sitting on the steps of a fraternity house wondering where all the spectators were. I decided to look at the map again. Oh NO!!!! I'm in the wrong spot!!! I had to go back up Hell Hill and over a block to see her coming through. And I knew she would be getting to that point really soon. So I hurried, although I didn't run again, ha! I got there just in time to see her come through the aid station between mile 8 and 9. She was making great time! I cheered:-) Now it was time to wait until she came through again. I wasn't worried though because I knew her time goal and she was ahead of schedule. So I waited and cheered some other runners on. This was a really fun experience! 

 

I started to get a little worried because it was taking her longer than I thought. Then I heard this little voice in my head, 'Kacey, run the last bit with her. You have to get back somehow and she may need you'. Just as I heard that, I saw her. I snapped a couple of pictures, grabbed my water bottle and caught up to her. She told me that she had hurt her knee at mile eight. But here she was, still running at a great pace. We chatted a little as we ran. Paula is neither a wimp nor a complainer but the pain in her voice was obvious. She really was hurt. But she was going to finish and only barely miss her goal time. And she was still going to set a PR! We reached the track and I left her to her well deserved victory lap all the while thinking that this friend of mine is awesome. Her determination has inspired me in many ways. She is truly Uber and I was honored to run that bit of her race with her.

 

~KC

 

 

 

 

 

  

Trail running for the WIN!!!

Well, not literally for the win...and not really running either:-)

Joseph and I ran the Devils Den 3 mile trail run Saturday. It was a great day for it. Slightly overcast but warm and dry. I had been looking forward to this race for a few months. Why? Well, when we ran the Muskogee WaterLoop, I discovered that trail running was fun and invigorating. Its the kind of race where I don't worry about how long its taking me. I don't worry about getting a PR (personal record) because, unless you run the exact same course again, there is no precedent to beat. Each trail run is different. Some are rockier, some are more of a hike than a run. But they are all fun. Well, okay, I've only ran two of them, but they were both fun:-) Nothing makes me feel more alive than using the body that God gave me to run amongst the beauty he created.

My mind jumps all over the place when I run a trail run because it doesn't have to focus on results. Here is some of my thoughts while I was running:

Time to line up. This is going to be a blast. Music or no music? How about just one earbud, the best of both worlds. Whistle blows (yes, whistle) annnd we're off! Man, there really needs to be more places to park. I almost just hit that car! HA! Okay, here we go, there is the trail head. This is gonna be so fun!!! Wait, why are we slowing down? Oh, yeah because the trail is very narrow and we are basically in single file. That looks kinda neat. Hmmm...small scale exodus would probably look a little like this. Cool. Oh hey there's Joey. He's way up there. Up...there...crap...fear of heights...forgot about that...this should be interesting. I wish we could go a little faster. Ha, I probably won't be thinking that later. Oh good, we're speeding up...oh wait, no not so much. Hey that would be a good spot for some family pics...if we could get up here without breaking a sweat...not likely. Speeding up again, wooohooo. Ouch, my calves are starting to feel this. Its a good thing I'm stronger since I started G-Fit! Oops, watch your feet, no wait don't look down, not a good idea. Oh no, someone got hurt! "Do you guys have a phone signal?" {Yep but its going straight to voicemail, but someone is running back to get help.} "Okay. Good luck...oh hey you might want to get that shoe off. That ankle is swelling pretty fast." {No, I'm a doctor and we are just going to leave that right where its at.} "Oh good, so you know what you are doing." [And I'm a nurse and I've done this to this ankle before.] "Good then." Back to thinking: not to be rude but if you've done this before why in the world are you running a trail run with no ankle brace on? Hmmm oh well, they seem to have it handled. Hey this must be the look out someone was talking about. Picture? definitely not! That would require getting closer...debilitating fear of heights, remember? Oh, yeah, better keep going then. Pretty though. Glance back...do a double take...WHAT??? What in the world are Mr I'm a Doctor and Miss I've Done this Before doing????? Is he really going to try to piggy back her back to base camp (base camp, hehehe what is this? Vertical Limit?)??? No, wait they are coming this way. What? No go back the way we came, you are only a mile in! What are you doing? Just keep going Kacey, they so obviously know what they are doing...obviously. Okay peeps, this is fun and all but y'all are a tad too slow. Excuse me. Thanks! The leaves are so pretty. Shoot! They are covering some of the rocks...maybe not so pretty, be careful. Up, up, up....where's the rope from the Water loop? That would come in handy. Which way? Oh, there's the little sign, cool. Up, up, stumble, up. Whew finally level. Time to really run. Well that didn't last long. I love nature...what in Hades is that awful smell...Can I get around you please? Thanks! "You guys are doing great, keep it up!" Down, Down, switch back, down. Hey I recognize this. We must be back on the original trail. Sweet! OW!!!!! Hurt ankle, just keep going. Work it out. Slow down a little bit. Awww a cute older couple hiking up the trail. What a great way to spend time together. Oh that's the road, almost done. Aweso......woah! Check for cars... oh they are waiting, cool. Pavement...jog, jog, jog....what am I doing?!?!?!?! This is pavement!!!! RUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNUUUUUNNNNN!!!!! Finish line here I come!

48 minutes. Not so bad! How did you do Joey? What?!?!?!?!?! 34 minutes? That's insane!!! What did you do? Jump down? Basically? Wow! I'm impressed. I need a cookie:-)

And there you have it folks. A look into my crazy mind:-)