Quite the comedy of errors!
I was scheduled for this lost weekend in Huntsville, Alabama. Basically, my flight into town arrives on Friday night, and then I work the flight out on Sunday morning. All day Saturday.
I was able tot plan out a visit with some friends down here, but I also wanted to do some better exercise and workouts on my overnights.
I went on the website http://www.runningintheusa.com, and found that there was a 5K here, and I registered.
Big bonus, the run benefits the Grissom High School JROTC (Junior Rats On Toasted Cheese) program, and the Wounded Warrior Project. I am a big fan of the WWP, and ROTC is great, so excellent.
When I started my 4 day trip, I asked my FO if he had plans for the HSV overnight, and he said he gets them to visit family in Birmingham. I told him I was going to do this 5K, gave him the details, and he said that he would love to do it, too. It would be his first ever 5K of any kind!! How cool is that?!
All the parts are in place.
We were held up and late in Montreal because of weather, but thankfully we are so shortstaffed, that there was no way they could recrew our trip.
I woke up on race day, and my FO had left me a voice mail. His rental car was blocked in at the rental car agency, and nobody was around. So he took a cab out to the race site, because he needed to get there early to register.
Thankfully, my very good friend Desiree had left me her car the night before (she came by and hung out for a bit, and then her bf picked her up.. simple!) (Also, thanks again for the car, Desiree!!) So I had a way there.
I got to the race site, and my FO was trying to find me because he had our race packets. They had closed the near parking, so I had about a 1/4 mile jog over to find him. Then, because he obvisouly does not know the car, I had a 1/4 mile jog BACK to where I had parked. While we were doing all of this, the race cannon started, so we missed the start. Then we jogged the 1/4 mile back, found the start, but they had taken the start timer off. So, we looked at each other, grabbed out phones, started our MapMyRun apps, and off we went.
We found the walking group a few minutes after starting off, and I settled into a nice 10:00/mile pace. My FO has been running a bit more regularly, so he shot off and was gone.
It was a really pretty run, through part of a residential neighborhood, and then around through a park that runs along a river. There were some characters all around cheering everyone on.
This is a military town, and a heavy military presence. Lots of Army unit insignia, some Navy, Marines, and Air Force. Well represented, no doubt!! It was great to see!
Finished in 32:28, which was probably more like 31:30, as there was a weird hitch in the run that was really some extra distance not on the map (hey, when you are a follower, and everyone turns, you turns... lol) So I don't feel too bad about that. I was holding back a little bit, because with all the running back and forth to get to the starting line, I had not had nearly enough time to stretch properly, and I really do not want to go back to my dance with runner's knee.
After the race, they had a large number of Army and Navy men and women in uniform to greet the runners, hand out bananas, water, etc. I grabbed a water, and then just went along shaking hands, telling all of them "Thank you so much for your service, and your dedication to our country." That always makes my day better when I can say thanks to our servicemen and women. A great time was had by all, my FO got his first ever race of any kind in, and I got to support the Wounded Warrior Project and a local High School. Hard to beat that for a Saturday morning!
On to the next one!!
