Rainier to Ruston

Ben was invited to run. In a relay. By people who have run more recently than their freshman year. 

Of course, he said yes. Peer pressure is real.

It was hours and hours and involved a minivan supporting the group. Not really a spectator event, but I did manage to grab some photos from Instagram so here they are:

He came home with aching legs and some pretty sweet swag.

Spartan Weekend

Josh may or may not be addicted to Spartan races. 

There are definitely worse addictions! 

In any case, this is the only explanation I can come up with for why we found ourselves taking him to back-to-back races this weekend. 

May 2 | 10k

May 3 | 5k

Hot Chocolate Run 15k, ft. Josh

I am not going to lie, of all the kids I thought would ask me to drive them to Seattle to do the chocolate (choc-o-late) run, Josh wasn't even on the list. And yet, Seattle for the Hot Chocolate Run is exactly where we were this morning.

Josh is upping his running game these days. Look how excited he is to run!

Of course, since he would be RUNNING, I assumed that the excitement would last the whole time. 

He did great, recovered quickly, and posed well and patiently for some photos.

I did insist, as a chauffer and parent tax, that I would get the post-run goodies that would literally kill him.

I am sure this is just a sign of things to come. They do have some cool medals for this race, though.

Our Spartan

A while ago Josh mentioned that he had signed up to run a 10k Spartan race up north of us. Since we enjoy watching people do crazy things that are incredibly intense our kids do things they love, Jason and I volunteered to be transportation and cheering squad with extra towels and food in the truck of the car.

Bright and early 7:30a, Josh completed the course highlighted in blue (and sometimes red and blue) below. It is a blurry image, but there are 27 obstacles completed by the 10k folks and all of them are more fun to watch than to complete.

Josh started off pumped, caffeinated, and excited.

Less excited when I insisted on a group selfie, but still.

We realized, and Josh remembered just that morning, that he had registered for a competitive heat for the race. I think he found it intimidating when he looked around waiting to start, but smaller group also means no waiting at the obstacles. 

There were some sections of the course that spectators could not see, but luckily there were some professional photographers to capture some of the obstacles. Please note this is the last image we have of him smiling for the race.

I don't think the Spartan race is technically a mud run, but they made sure to have plenty of it. And while it did rain this morning, there was a huge water hose on the side of the trail.

Not just mud, but some dirt for the races to slide in before getting in the water.

We did get to watch Josh pick up this 100lb concrete ball which is possibly more than 2/3 of his weight.

This was towards the end of the race and a huge challenge that he refused to give up on.

I can only assume that the look of pain on his face here means that he is really enjoying himself. Right?

Of course many of the obstacles were clustered at the end of the race after the racers had already done a bit of running. Also, everything was wet. A great combination!

The last obstacle designed to show off how very tough and Spartan-y these folks are involved jumping over a line of fire.

Upon completing the race, a couple of folks on the side asked Josh if he wanted to run an extra distance for a pin and he said, "Sure!" Which convinced me that he was both crazy and not completely exhausted. 

Check out that medal!

And here he is at the end: exhausted, sore, and elated.

Aaaaaannnnddddd he still posed for another group selfie.

Apparently he had so much fun, he is planning on doing another one. Though, he admitted he didn't want to do it anytime soon. We are so proud of him!

Hot Chocolate Race

While I was living my best life flying in a tiny airplane flying from one side of the state to the other, Jason took Michael, Ben, and Isaac to Seattle so that Michael and Ben could run another 10k. 

The weather cooperated beautifully and refrained from raining until they had finished. They picked me up at the airport on the way home.

Michael is 17

What 17yo doesn't want to run a 10k early in the morning on their birthday?? Well, probably most of them, but ours was definitely interested in early morning exercise. After the half marathon, Michael decided that a 10k is the sweet spot for racing distance. Wandering around the internet, I found a 10k that happened to be on his birthday. I JOKED that he should do it for his birthday and a few DMs later the joke turned into reality. With two brothers and three friends, Michael ran his second 10k on his 17th birthday. 

After I got everyone registered, it occurred to me to ask Michael if these were his cross-country or track friends. It turns out, no, no they weren't. And none of them had run this distance before. So kudos to them for agreeing this weekend adventure!

Having said that, it is not surprising that Michael crossed the finish line first.

Followed by Ben long legs.

And then Michael's friends with Josh "I-don't-take-my-allergy-meds-anymore" Miller coming in last from the group.

This was a small town race with a total of 35 folks running the 10k and spectacular views of Rainier along the paved trail system. The kids all seemed to have a great time and Michael's friends were still his friends afterwards. 

Michael and his friends spent the afternoon watching the latest Spider-Man movie and wrapped up the day at Nana's house. Nana was kind enough to make dinner (stuffed shells of course) and host us all for some JackBox games.

Hope it was a great day for a great kid!

Michael's First Half

A few months ago I signed up for a half marathon. For fun, I signed Michael up as well. Then, well, my body rebelled against the idea of me being a runner and...

But do you know who's body does not rebel against running? Or, at least, he's young enough to bounce back quickly from any problems? 

MICHAEL! 

He got up early on a Sunday and ran and ran and ran and then decided this was much longer than he thought and ran and ran and then heard there was only one more 5k left and then groaned and then ran and ran and....

...crossed the finish line! 

And this was the point when he figured it probably is a good idea to have races in the morning because this shirt was too hot by the end of the race. 

Respectable showing for someone who didn't train. Not sure if he'll do this distance again, but it did inspire him to go and sign up to do another 10k.

Nicely done, MikeyWikey!

Hot Chocolate 10k

 

Who got up crazy early in the morning to drive to Seattle for the sweetest race around? Jason! But who got up crazy early in the morning to run a 10k? These boys did! Who spent the last few months training for this race and then ended up with a stress fracture? Me!

Michael finished the race in 56:55 with a 9:10min/mile pace. He was aiming for sub 1 hour so he was pretty happy.

Ben finished the race in 1:00:46 with a 9:47min/mile pace after not training at all even though I nagged him for months thereby proving that I don't know what I am talking about. 

They both did great and had a good time. Though Michael was unimpressed with the post-race chocolate.