Tuesday, January 20, 2015

On the Sidelines

We had a fun-filled weekend with Ronnie's mom and brother up to visit. Since they came up from Tucson, his other brother and wife (newlyweds, woot woot) were also around much of the weekend. It was a fun way to spend the weekend, and of course Mckenna loved every second of their visit.

The real highlight for me, however, was getting to go cheer on my mom and her friend, Patty, run the Arizona Rock 'n Roll half marathon. It was on Sunday morning. Ronnie's mom was nice enough to watch Neylin so Mckenna, Ronnie and I could all race around with my dad in his car and catch them at points along the course. We got to see them at the start, missed them at mile 5 because they were blowing their goal time out of the water, caught them at mile 8, and again at the end. We drove around like maniacs tracking their progress and navigating all the road closures. I have never "watched" a race that way, and man, it's fun.

It was also another great opportunity to brainwash Mckenna in all things running. Running just to run sounds kind of boring. But knowing that people who run often get to go to a super-charged environment where men, women and children all cheer them on sounds a bit more appealing. The cute part was hearing Mckenna continue to chant some of the cheers we heard, long after the race was over. I think getting to drink a gatorade from Nana was the major highlight...gosh it's almost too easy to brainwash a 3 year old! Ha! By the end of the day she was asking about doing a race herself.

The major highlight of the morning was the fact that it was my mom's friend's first race of any kind, and they planned to run/walk it. Neither had run more than 6-9 miles before the race. Yet, they freaking rocked it! They didn't walk at all, and finished 20-minutes faster than their projected finish time.

How insanely packed is this start? Runners couldn't even all fit in the corrals!