A Last Minute Race and the Dentist

About two weeks ago we got an email from some out of town friends letting our small group know they were going to be in D.C. for a conference, and wanted to meet us all for lunch that Saturday. They mentioned that they needed to get a 17 mile run done for their marathon training, and hoped some of our runner friends would join them. One of our runner friends replied that she was running a half marathon Saturday morning and invited them, and anyone else who wanted, to join her. Even though the longest I have run in awhile is 7 miles, I briefly thought about doing the race just because it would be fun to go to a race with friends! But decided I was most definitely not in half marathon shape. When Luke was saying good-bye before heading off to work that morning, he asked me if I was going to run the race, and I told him I had thought about it, but knew I wasn't in that kind of shape. He told me he knew I could do it, and that was all the encouragement I needed to sign up for it later on that day. I was most definitely nervous that I would end up walking a lot of it, but figured it would at least be fun to hang out with friends.

picture by Jess!

The race was the Oldfields Half Marathon, and it supported Back on My Feet, a non-profit that benefits homeless individuals. The race started at Oldfields School and ran along a flat crushed gravel trail. I met up with my friends and we drove out together, getting there in time to grab our race packets, wait in the potty lines, and the other three ran a little warm-up while I hung out under the trees to stay dry from the drizzle. As we were walking to the start line, one of my friends and I figured that we were aiming to run the same pace, and decided to stick together until one of us felt like going faster or slower. We ended up staying together until the last little bit, and it's probably the only way I finished! I am so thankful for her! We ran at what felt like a comfortable pace and talked almost the whole time catching up on life. Since it was an out and back, we were able to see that her husband was in the top three and our other friend was first female. We ended up running an 8:15 pace, and other than one sore hamstring, I avoided being in pain the next day!

Last week was my 31st birthday, and to me it stung a bit more than turning 30. I am now IN my 30's, which just seems to much older (and my body seeming to fall apart doesn't help!) We had a MOPS meeting that morning, Noelle had a dentist appointment in the afternoon, and then I had a leadership meeting for my other MOPS group in the evening. The MOPS girls surprised me with a cake, fruit, and a card, and it was a fun little to-do embracing the MOPS theme of celebrating lavishly!

When I had told Noelle a few weeks prior that she had a dentist appointment coming up, she was actually excited about it. Some nights before bed, she would say "When I wake up, what day will it be?" I would tell her, and then she would ask if we were going to the dentist that day. And then on the morning that we were going, she came downstairs all excited that it was THE day! Once we got there and it was time to sit in the chair, she started to freak out a little bit, but the dental hygienist turned on My Little Pony for her, and all was good. She sat there in her little sunglasses totally enthralled while her teeth got cleaned. Jonah, on the other hand, was climbing on and off my lap, up into the chair with Noelle, and pointing to everything. Thankfully Noelle is still a part of the No Cavity Club (much to our surprise)!