The day of my dad’s first race ever!
I did the half marathon and he did the 5k. I felt bad for him because we didn’t have a car and they didn’t have a gear check. So he carried our goodie bags through his whole 5k! (Rough.)
I didn’t get to see him in all his glory at the finish line, ‘cause I was still out on the half marathon course. But it sounds like he had a great time. At lunch he was even talking about wanting to sign up for another 5k to try to shave two minutes off his time.
As far as the half marathon today, for some reason none of the runners (including myself) knew beforehand that this race was on a trail. (I’m totally not blaming the race. I just don’t think any of use were paying any attention.)
A few different people came up to my dad and me beforehand, all stressed, saying “did you know this is on a TRAIL?!” I don’t fault them for freaking out because I also freak out a little at the word “trail.” I mean, it is a trail after all! Crazy terrain. Possibly Muddy. Animals could come from anywhere! (Probably not, but it totally could happen – I did see a coyote once!) Plus, it’s much harder to run on a trail.
There were a few good miles on the road and boy oh boy, I was all business for those! My feet rejoiced, and I let out an audible sigh of relief every time my feet went from trail to pavement. In that final mile (on the glorious pavement), I was running like a crazy person in a sort of dancing run. I was all “enough of this hiking and stuff. I am out of here!”
Here’s the best part(!) – when I got to the finish, there was my dad waiting for me. He got the DJ to play Michael Jackson! Did I, or did I not say my dad is pretty much the greatest man?
After the race, we went to see a Lakers game! My dad and I have this tradition I love. We go see the Indiana Pacers play in a different arena every year. Let me tell ya, the Pacers WON!
It’s hard to believe since they seem to lose every time we go see them (boy, I miss Reggie), but this time they won. At the end it looked like it could really go either way, but it went our way!
My dad left Monday morning. It rained. Los Angeles was crying about losing him to Ohio, but I will see him again in May for his First half Marathon (in our hometown of Indianapolis)!