Saturday, July 4, 2009

Happy 4th!

Happy Independence Day!

The day had an interesting start, We had to get up early to get to the 5k I was running so we set the alarm. This was an unneeded precaution that ended strangely. The alarm went off at the preset time and we turned it off (or so we thought). As I waited in the car Pat ran upstairs to get a pair of jeans (it was cold) to find the cat looking rather angrily at the noisy alarm clock. Pat ended up unplugging the clock to get it off (sorry mom and dad).

Anyway the ride in was fairly uneventful and we got to the race with plenty of time to spare. Pat and I were the first to arrive. The parking lot looked full so I told the rest of the family to park behind the middle school (as I had done earlier). Apparently their was plenty of parking at the High school, Sorry.

I got my bib and chip and when the time came lined up behind the starting line (we did not get a photo of the start line or finish line). As I was impatiently waiting with Lillie I noticed that the stoplight we were standing at was green. It is very annoying to be standing in front of a green light and not able to go. It must be a deeply ingrained driving thing. I kept telling Lillie they need to turn it red then back to green when we were actually starting. Poor Lillie had to listen to me go on and on about this for a few minutes before I got distracted and we started planning our finish, we were going to skip down the 'runway' together holding hands.

Very quickly in the run did I discover that we were not going to bring out the best in each other, not in this race anyway. We took turns being the negative ninny and the motivator. It was pretty funny and I would feel better about it if I had done allot better. I have never chatted so much during a run but it was fun to 'house shop' while racing. Their were some nice houses for sale on the route. We took turns pointing out the houses we liked in the neighborhood, at least we got out minds out of the negative mindset! I was feeling ok for most of the race but the last .1 mile did me in and I started dry-heaving again. I was definitely not running any faster then I practice so I would love to figure out why this happens. I ran all but the few steps that I was trying not to throw up. Lillie was nice enough to slow down but I waved her on as I didn't want to slow her down even more. She finished a full 30 seconds ahead of me.

We then enjoyed a breakfast at the Bagel Bin (the 2nd best in town). I did not partake as my stomach could not handle anything but the watermelon that I grabbed after the race and did not want anything more complicated at the time. I had a great time as I got to hold Ryan (whom I met before the race) and take lots of photo's of him.

The rest of the day was spent trying to take a nap as I didn't feel my best.

I must have rested enough because after a Tylenol I was ready for the fire works. We walked over to the office park and discovered that their was plenty of parking and as Anne said that was twice for them that day that they could have parked closer (or in this case driven).

Anne Packed nice picnic of snacks to eat while waiting for the show. That ended up being a good thing as it did not start for a good 45 minutes after we thought it would. We were far enough away that the fireworks were not that loud (this was a good thing as Madison does not like the loud noises). but the lights from the carnival rides were left on, I think it would have been nicer if they had turned them off. The city fireworks were off to our right and barely viable but greater in quantity and frequency from the ones we were watching. Maybe next time we are in Rochester we will go to the city fireworks, at least if the Illinois cousins come out to visit.

The walk back was made longer by my brilliant idea to go another way that I originally thought shorter. It was much longer. I definitely got my exercise in today!

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