Running through the woods and going to see a president

Two weekends ago we drove to a park on the southwest side of town to run a 5k trail race. All four of us had planned on running but George came down with a fever a few days before and missed some school, so he acted as event photographer instead. Owen and Becca had never run a trail race before. In fact, Owen had never run that distance before. All went well. Owen and Bec started off together, but it wasn't long before Owen took off on his own pace. It was great to look up and see my little man coming out of the woods all by himself, finishing strong.

Yesterday, Bec and I rode our bikes downtown to see a future president. Barak Obama came through town to ask the question, What's so funny about peace,love and understanding? The speech was held in the Veterans' Memorial Mall which sets right before the main library. The mall is a giant rectangular lawn where we used to squeeze in with the rest of the city to watch the fireworks on the Fourth of July. I have never seen the place as crowded as it was yesterday, and with every sort and type of person you can imagine. They estimated there were 35,000 packed in there and I believe it. Bec and I didn't get very close, but we could see him well enough from where we stood, and it was just good to be there. I've never attended any event of that magnitude, and as weird as it sounds to say, especially since it was so amazingly peaceful, it really felt like we were taking part of something important.

What a weekend

We went down to Bloomington this weekend to run the Hoosiers Outrun Cancer races. In all the races and family walks, 5000 registered to participate this year. We've been going down for about seven years now, ever since a young friend of ours lost her life to cancer. We did the family walk when the kids were younger, but the past three years have run the 5k race under the Team Jenny banner. Owen finished third to a 12 and 11 year old in the kid one mile fun run, and took first in his age group. I ran a personal best 5k time and got 36th overall. Becca and George started the 5k together, but after a mile George took off on his own. This was his first 5k race, only the second time he'd ever run that distance, and it was a great success. I think he surprised himself. According to his account--since his mama was too far back to report--he never stopped to rest, got a bang out of taking cups of water from the stations--just like the Olympians he watched this summer--and closed with a strong kick, finishing in the top third of the field of 1500.



The fun continued as we met up with friends Jon (that's him in the picture below), Colleen and their sons Henry and Luca and enjoyed our post-race brunch at the Runciple Spoon like a pack of wild dogs. Looking back, it felt less like brunch and more like a day at the trough. We put it away with wreckless abandon. Oh, the joys of running.