A couple of years ago, the boys ran the "Iron Turkey" in Dexter with Rebecca running the 5K. The Iron Turkey is a really fun idea: it begins with a 5K (there are quite a few runners for this race) at 9 a.m., and 10K then begins at 10 a.m., so depending on how fast you finish the 5K, it will affect the break you have before you begin the 10K. There are a couple of challenges in this, the biggest one being that if you really go all out and start sweating during the 5K, you will be wet during that break. That first year, I showed up to watch little Baby Annie during the first race. It was a crazy cold day, and during that break, there was horizontal snow happening, and everyone was freezing. However, it is worth the hefty registration price because you get a t-shirt for doing the 5K as well as for running both races, and there is a medal for each as well which fit together with magnets. I was all in for this year.I was really happy when the boys decided to both come for the weekend. It's not an easy hike here, seeing as Ethan and Rebecca live an eight-hour drive away in Maryland, and Mark lives a five hour drive away in Illinois. Add in work schedules, school work and babies, and it's a challenge for sure.
Ethan and Rebecca left Maryland at 7 p.m. that night (thanks, a lot, late train getting him home) and were making good time, expecting to get in around 3 a.m., but around 2:30 a.m., the roads in Ohio turned quickly to ice. Like, it was happening as they were driving and they started to lose control of the car. So they pulled off a rest area to grab 90 minutes of sleep and to wait for the salt trucks to do their work. At 4 a.m., when they pulled out, they didn't get more than a couple of miles down I-80 when traffic came to a complete stop. They ended up sitting there without moving an inch for almost three hours. A semi had slipped and crashed across all lanes of traffic. Thankfully, Baby could enjoy her breakfast of Skinny Pop ;-)
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| I wondered why Ethan was FaceTiming me at 7 a.m. if he was just in the bedroom next to ours. What a surprise to answer my phone and see them still in the car! And Brother was relaxing in Rebecca's lap ;-) |
Needless to say, this made them late for the race, so they ended up getting to the 5K at 9:30 and were there to see us cross the finish line. Well, they saw me since John and Mark are such speed demons ;-)
It had actually snowed the day before, so I was worried. I had done three miles of walking the day before, but it was hard to get good traction in the snow, and I'm always worried about falling due to my ankle and hurting my back. However, the Metro Park had done a great job clearing the paved path and salting the bridges. It was still cold though--22 degrees when the 5K began. I was grateful though that I knew what to wear. Does that sound ridiculous? A lot of times I do these races, and I don't know what to wear because I don't do that much running or walking anymore--I end up being too hot, or too cold, or my ears are uncovered, or I'm chafing. However, I've been walking between six and eight miles a day for the past few months, and I always head out in the mornings, so I knew what would work for me. And it did!
And despite being super cold, it was really beautiful. The Hudson Mills Metro Park is just ten minutes from our home (and is an end point for my daily walks), and Fall is still hanging around. So between running through the woods, over bridges (but not to grandmother's house), it was awe-inspiring.
And in some very large nods to the race itself, it's not advertised particularly well so it's not terribly crowded. Probably not what the organizers like, but it's great for runners. In fact, John placed in both the 5K and the 10K, and the boys placed in the 10K as well. But as John says, if he hadn't stayed back with the boys at the beginning of the 10K, he might have done even better ;-). All I know is that he and about 15 other runners lapped me, so I knew he stood a good change of winning a prize.
And as far as all the races I have run, this race takes FIRST PRIZE for keeping the race going until ALL the runners have crossed the finish line. I can't tell you how many races I have been in where we slower runners cross the finish line with absolutely no support (looking at you, Creamie girl at the SLC marathon, handing out boxes of popsicles to random kids two hours before the race is over). In other races, the food is gone, the tents have been taken down, and nobody is yelling our names or cheering us on. But holy cow, this race did it ALL! For both races, I got a shout out for being married for 29 years <3, and a comment about the "entire Kennedy clan is with us today"! There was still hot chicken broth to drink, and water bottles, and fruit and PUMPKIN PIE with the cutest little Michigan student, Asian girl doling out Reddi-Whip on top.
And the literal icing on the cake? Great photographers throughout the race who posted the photos within a day FOR FREE!! Probably some of the best race photos I've ever seen of our family. Like, here I come Michael's because I'm gonna need some new frames for the Winner Wall of Fame.
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| In so many of the photos of these two, the runners behind them are always smiling! I'd like to think that that's what we Kennedys do--make people smile ;-) #MarketingOurselves |
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| This is the longest distance Rebecca has run! |
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| Don't tell my orthopedic surgeon, but I actually ran the 5K. I couldn't walk the next day, but it was good to feel the feet hit the pavement again. |
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| Mark has actually been featured before on a race website (from running the race the previous year). I can imagine that this one might just make it as well, although I give Ethan the award for the most imaginative Kennedy outfit this year ;-) |
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| John went all out. Seriously, he finished 47th out of 205 runners in the 5K, and second in his age group! As a contrast, I finished 202nd ;-) |
And being the true champs that they are, and not wanting an asterisk (*) next to their names when we mention the race, Rebecca and Ethan came home, checked in with the babies and then went back out and ran the extra three miles up and down our street. #IronTurkeysForTheWin
The next day was our 29th wedding anniversary, and we have a strict rule that whatever we are wearing that day, and however we look, we will take a photo that way. In true race form we were each wearing a shirt from the Iron Turkey (after we got our church clothes hung up and put away), and my hair is nap hair, so even though you can't see the logo, and my hair is pulled back, I think it turned out pretty well <3
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