Before the race!
After the race, we did it!!!
We did it!!! We were cold and tired, but we did it. Keri and I were determined this year to get to the race earlier so that we would not have to wait in a long line for the shuttle to take us to the start of the race. (a hard lesson to learn last year as we froze in line forever) The plan was to meet up at the field house at 5:15 and dropped off the kids and head to the race. At 5:25, I come tearing through the parking lot, telling the kids to help everyone get unbuckled and get in the gym. I grab Tanner's hand and pull him along, explaining the whole way that mommy is late and he needs to hurry. The next thing I know, he is on the pavement, face down crying. I gasp, and grab him, expecting his face to be bleeding, but praise God, nothing. Just tears!! I give him a hug, tell him that I am so sorry, and race into the gym to pass him off to dad. (still crying, so sorry dad, Bye) Now, I run to Keri's van and explain why I never seem to get out of the house in the amount of time my mind imagines that I can. We get there in plenty of time! The parking lot is almost empty. We get on a shuttle right away and head to the starting line. (after a short potty break) Feeling so proud of ourselves, we look down at our watch... wait, that is not quite accurate. Keri had a stopwatch that she borrowed from her husband to track our time, but we were not sure how to switch modes to get the time, and we couldn't risk not being able to time the run, so we asked. 6:15!!! What we have 45 min. to sit out in the freezing cold and wait. Somehow this didn't work out as we planned. Luckily, there was a huge, I mean huge (forest fire size) bonfire. We rushed right over to defrost!!! Soon, there were people everywhere, all huddled together, like cattle, close to the fire. The fire was so hot that Keri and I had to keep rotating to keep from burnin' and freezin'. Finally, it was 7:10 (they were running a little behind) and we were off. It is so exciting starting a race. You get this rush. As we began, our toes were numb, but around mile 2 we started to feel them again. I say around mile 2, because we were not quite sure where we were. Last year, they had mile markers, not this year. I swear that the race was almost over in my mind more than a few times, before it was actually over. We did beat our time by 5 minutes!!!! Yes!! We were pretty pumped about that. We went out to eat after to celebrate and to bring our temperature back up to normal. Praise God for heat and warm soup!!!
Gross!! right. No women's foot should look like this. I keep trying to tell my husband that it is time for new shoes. He still needs some convincing. Maybe, next month ... 
