Race Report – Fin Island Trail Race

I have to confess, I was a little dubious about this race.  It was, after all, free.  And with some of the responses I’d had to some emails I’d sent to the race coordinators, I was beginning to wonder just how organized the race was going to be.  Turns out it was a fabulous race and very well organized.

So Genine and I hemmed and hawed a lot about whether or not we really wanted to wake up at 5am to make it on time to the 8am race start.  Since the race was just over an hour’s drive away, she came to stay at our place for night so that we could get away nice and early.

Based on the research I had done, we would not be able to park at the river flats (where the race was held) unless we went to package pickup on Friday night and picked up a parking voucher for $5.  Since we were not going to package pickup, our other option was to catch one of many shuttles going from different places in the city out to the island on the river.

And, in order to get to the race early enough to get our race packages, we would have to catch the 7am shuttle.  *groan*

We managed to get there just in time for that first shuttle, and we happily hopped into the waiting van which was being driven by a nice an older gentleman.  Genine says to him “it sure is nice of you to volunteer to drive the shuttle” to which he said something involving a curse word and indicated that he was (a) up way too early, and (b) had been volunteered by someone else, so was (c) doing this against his will.

Awesome.

So now we’re being driven by the Super Crabby Old Guy Who Swears And Smells Like Cigarettes.  And who is listening to “Kokomo” on his CD player.  At 7am.

Again, awesome.

We got to the island ok, used the outhouse, and went to the race start where we picked up our race numbers and found some sun to stand in because it was 7 degrees Celcius out and we could see our breath.  And I was wearing shorts.

Genine and I had both been toying with the idea of running the 21k route, but I hadn’t run anything longer than 4miles in the last 3 months or so, so I talked myself down to the 10k.

Turns out 10k is plenty far enough in a trail race.  Running trails is a little more challenging than running on the road, which I *knew*, but hadn’t yet experienced.  By 2k I had learned that it’s best to not look at my Garmin while running trails, as inattention = tripping.  By 3k I had learned that no way would I have ever been able to run 21k, and what had I been thinking??  By 4k I had finally settled down, slowed my pace a little, and relaxed into the experience.

And it was truly a great experience.  The day was cool but sunny, the trees were pretty thick and blocked any wind that we might have felt, and the trail was great – lots of variation from double track to single track, grass to sand to roots to dirt, and every once in a while a breathtaking view of the river glistening in the sunlight.  Short but steep hills, nice flats, all in all a great course.

And the coordinators did a really great job on the race – it was really well organized.  The race is the kickoff to Bridgefest, the community’s annual fair, and if they keep offering it then Genine and I will keep running it.

We followed up the race with breakfast at a restaurant, and topped that off with Blizzards for the drive home.  Pretty much perfect.

Dynamite

Is it bad, do you think, that the most often requested song in my house right now by my 6yr old and 2yr old is “Dynamite” by Taio Cruz?  I’d post a link to the video, but it’s all full of girls using metal grinders wearing tiny belly shirts.  Or are they bras…whatever.  My question is, is this bad?  Is it a bad song?  I’m not sure…but it cracks me up to hear Berry Boy singing (albeit somewhat tunelessly) “I throw my hands up in the air…gonna rock this club…like it’s DYNOMITE”.

I love the fact that Berry Baby cannot get into bed without performing one (or many) summersaults in order to get to his pillow.

I hate the fact that both the boys are running fevers today.

I’m running a trail race on Saturday with my friend Genine.  I signed up for the 21k, but I’m thinking it would be wise to drop down to the 10k, seeing as how my longest run lately has been 4miles.  The race is free, so I don’t think it will be a problem.  The problem will be waking up at 5am to run at 8am.  Big problem.  We both almost bailed on this race, but in the end I knew I had to do it – I’ve been psyched about it, and if I bail on this it will be one more thing in the long list of Things I’ve Had To Bail On running-wise this summer.  So I’m doing it.

Berry Boy asked me today “Mom, do you think that every time we go to the city you could go to Starbucks?” to which I said “uh, yeah” while thinking to myself, dude, we already do that.

Random Roundup

I know, posting around  here has become as rare as the last steak I tried to cook on our bbq.  Sorry.  Here’s what’s been floating around in my brain the last while…

Is it just me, or does everyone have houseflies that look like they’ve been on steroids?  Seriously, these suckers are huge.  And slow.  Which thankfully makes them easy to swat in mid-flight.

On a related note, the moths seem a bit, umm, messier? this year too.  Like last year, when I would go on my nightly Moth Slaying Rampage, they would leave a little dusting on the wall where they were hit, but this year they leave dust and slime.  Much grosser.  Like they needed to be grosser.

I’m totally looking forward to Fall – the cooler weather, less humidity, school, routine…everything.  I’ve already done most of Berry Boy’s school shopping and I was like the parent in the Staples commercial dancing up and down the store aisles singing “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”.  Thankfully, Berry Boy is looking forward to it too, and his teacher this year is super awesome.

I’m (still) having serious motivation issues.  In everything.  Housework, cooking, reading, devotional time, gardening, running…I’m not sure what to do.  It’s like I’m maintaining the bare minimum in everything, but no more.  And it’s not because I’m just so busy, although we have been fairly busy, but not overwhelmingly so.  I kind of feel stuck.

I’ve been listening to the song “Lover Lover” by the Jerrod Niemann Band – it’s super catchy and has such a great blues-ey feel to it.  Berry Boy has apparently been listening too, and I overheard him singing it the other day, but he was (I thought) singing “Robber, robber robber, you don’t treat me good no more…”.  When I told him that the words weren’t actually “robber robber” he looked at me funny and said, “I was singing Robert Robert”.  I didn’t tell him what the actual words are.  “Robert Robert” is just way funnier.

Berry season has come and gone.  Definitely not our best year ever, in fact it was our worst.  Too much rain and humidity and we couldn’t spray enough to defeat the fungus and disease.  So we took in about a third of what we did last year.  Surprisingly, I had a ton of fun in the shop with the kids who work for us.  Some of those girls made me laugh so hard – I truly enjoyed getting to work with them this year, even if I disliked the actual work.  It was a pleasure to be in charge of the sorting this year with a group like that.

Our old, deaf Golden Retriever is no longer with us (don’t ask) and I think that our younger black mutt is missing her.  I’m contemplating taking her to run with me – we got her as a puppy and she was kind of obnoxious in the beginning, but now she’s about 2yrs old and she’s settled down quite nicely.  I kind of really like her, and I’m not the type to get attached to animals on this farm (they don’t always have a long life expectancy).  I need to get a leash (our old one is missing) and try her out.  I think she might do really well, and it might help get me out there.

Berry Baby has started to preface everything he says with “Should I…?” – as in “should I have a cookie?”  or “should I come sit on your lap?”  or “should I drink your coffee?”.  He just gets cuter and cuter, that kid.  They both do.  Except when they’re fighting with each other, which is all the time.  Definitely time for school to start.