Let's run in the sun for fun!

This week has been a pretty quiet one--Andrew and Evelyn both had colds, so we were necessarily home-bound more often than not. This also meant that we were a little more creative in entertaining ourselves, like creating this homemade lava lamp from this month's Family Fun magazine (using water, food coloring, vegetable oil, and an Alka-Seltzer tablet).

Earlier in the week, Andrew and I went to get Evelyn out of her crib following her nap and found her trying to climb out. She hasn't succeeded yet, but it might be time to pull the toddler bed out again.


Friday, the kids finally felt well enough for me to take them to a play-group organized by a woman in Bubby and Poppy's ward who knew Dan (actually, to be strictly accurate, who *dated* Dan) in college. The other women there were also college friends; between the three of them, they all either knew Dan, his brother Matt, or both of them. It was kind of fun to hear some old stories about them. Mostly, though, we talked about kids. I was also glad that the play date was indoors, since we woke that morning to a good four inches of snow.

The snow was especially disheartening since, a few days earlier, I'd signed myself and Andrew up for a local 5k/1k, called "Hearts for Haiti," where in lieu of the typical race donation they were collecting used clothing and other supplies. Andrew was really excited about his first "race"--it was the first thing he asked Dan about when he got up that morning.

Unfortunately, actually getting to the race ended up being a little more adventurous than we'd expected. The flier I'd seen only gave the name of the park (Canyon Park Trail); full of confidence, we arrived 15 minutes early and found that no one was there. We drove back to the sporting goods store where we'd made the donation, reread the flier. It said the same thing, so we drove back to the park. Again, no one. By this point, both Andrew and I were getting pretty antsy (and Andrew's anxiety certainly didn't help me!). I made Dan drive back to the sporting goods store one last time before giving up on the race. I was hoping that maybe there was an address in the fine print. No address, but the store employees were opening the store as we drove up, so I asked someone. He explained that the location meant was slightly different--the trail was the same one we were thinking of--it just started somewhere else. We arrived just as the race was about to start. Dan dropped Andrew and I off at the registration table just as they blew the starting horn. Poor Andrew just about expired on the spot when I made him wait for me to sign in and pin our numbers on. So, we were a minute or two late getting started (I like to blame this for my slower-than-usual finishing time). At least this gave Andrew the pleasure of running past all the walkers.

Also unfortunately, I didn't know anything in advance about the race set-up. I had assumed that the 1k race would be run separately from the 5k, as it had been at my single previous experience with a race. Instead, the 1k runners ran the same route, at the same time, just not as far. I didn't really realize this until we came to the turn-around point for the 1k race. Then I faced a dilemma: obviously, I couldn't send a four-year-old back on the trail by himself (even if it wasn't very far). Nor would he be able to make the entire 5k route with me. I initially thought I might find a kind-looking person who was also doing the 1k, and ask them to take Andrew back with them, but the volunteers at the 1k station, seeing my dilemma, offered to watch Andrew for me until the route brought me back by the same spot. So that's what we did. Andrew seemed to enjoy watching all the runners come by (especially since the volunteers--a couple of teenage boys--three snowballs at one of their friends as he passed). And when I got back, he ran the last half of his race with me. This meant, of course, that he didn't have a hope of placing in his race (shh, don't tell him that!), but it was pretty motivational for me--I kept thinking as I ran that I couldn't stop to walk because Andrew was waiting for me to come back.

So here's a picture of Andrew and I nearing the finish line. I was pretty proud of him for running most of his race (and I didn't even mind slowing down to run with him near the finish!). The weather, as you can tell, was less than ideal, but at least the sun was shining and most of the ice on the trail had melted off by the time I made the return run.

Evelyn, of course, as cute as always in her spectator role.

And that, my dear readers, pretty well sums up our week--a slow, meandering start, and a race to the finish!