4th of July and The Difference Being In Shape Makes

At the parade

 On Tuesday afternoon I finally thought to myself, "I should see if there are any community things we can attend on the 4th... after all, we should do something, right?" So I hopped online and, among other things, noticed there was going to be a 5k held downtown.  "Hmmm.  I have been jogging further and further at my (admittedly unregular) gym visits, and last time I even made it 3 miles.  So, I'm probably o.k. to take on another 5k short notice, right?"  To you runners out there, this may sound trivial, but let me assure you, this is a huge deal for me.  Shall I rehash last time?  The short version is, we signed up, we "trained" for about 6 weeks, then due to sickness, we fell off the wagon for the 6 weeks leading up to the race.  Day of, I pushed myself MUCH harder than I should of, and still did the race in 43 minutes.  It was so much for me, not only did I throw up immediately after crossing the finish line, but I also got a horrible fever with the worst body-aches and sore muscles I've ever experienced in my life.  I couldn't even move.  It felt like I'd pulled every muscle in my body at the same time! So it was pretty clear that if I was ever going to do another 5k I would need to prepare myself much, MUCH better.

So there I sat Tuesday deciding that I would do a 5k the NEXT DAY.  Brian declined to join me (he remembered the consequences of last time more clearly I guess), but I didn't want to do it alone.  So, like any selfish Mother I convinced Brennan that since he (literally) ran circles around me on our 2k last March, he shouldn't find the 5k too hard.  So Brennan agreed and we signed up.  Yeah, we're crazy like that.

So yesterday, we started off the 4th of July with our race.  Brennan complained frequently about being tired.  He walked a lot which caused me to walk more than I otherwise would have.  And we came in I think dead-last among the running group.  And yet, even still I shaved 2 whole minutes off my time from last time!  I hardly pushed myself at all!  When I stopped to walk with Brennan it was knowing that I had enough in me to keep jogging if I'd wanted to.  And when I crossed that finish line, although tired, I knew I could have gone further if required.  And I didn't need to throw up at all! ;-)  Wow, what a difference it makes to exercise somewhat regularly for 8 months versus 6 weeks.

And despite Brennan's complaints during the race, he said only an hour later that he would be willing to do it again some time.  So I say a win for both of us!

Finishing in 41 minutes, number 56, BRENNAN STEVENSON...

After our leisurely morning jog, we met Brian with Asher and Hollyn to watch the parade.  And I use that term loosely.  It was basically a crowd of kids and parents walking and biking (the "anyone can be in the parade" part), followed by the Democrat and Republican trailers, some lamas, old cars, and a firetruck.  They didn't even block off the streets officially.  Police cars parked sideways to stop traffic from crossing for the 10-15 minutes the parade lasted, then got out of the way again to let traffic continue.  Still, the kids gathered lots of candy and had a great time.

Father and Daughter, watching some parade

After all that I sat outside to get some sun.  But I stayed out longer than I thought.  I am horribly sunburned on my knees and shins with stark lines showing exactly which direction the sun was from me.  Oh man, I have been in SO much pain.

Lastly, we have an awesome barbeque feast, and as it got dark the boys and I walked to the edge of our neighborhood to watch some neighbor friends light off their fireworks.  Good enough for me!

Sitting comfy for the neighbor's fireworks show

The way Brennan watches fireworks

Double protected with headphones and hands

I hope everyone had a great holiday as well!