Run'ucopia = Puke'ucopia (or Our Thanksgiving Weekend)

The Smith family had great intentions to take on the 2nd annual Run'ucopia on Thanksgiving morning. I got an early start, logging 12 miles, before meeting Mac and the kids at Riverfront Park. Megan was pumped up for her second shot at the 5k distance after last year’s Turkey Stuffer, but as the 1k start approached, Liam was increasingly obstinate and fussy about not wanting to run. 

Mac let me know he had done some dry heaving earlier in the morning. Hmmm - maybe better to sit this one out! So Liam and I headed off to the car, planning to drive to McDonalds which was on the course for the 5k. Just as he was getting into my car, Liam asked if I had a bucket he could hold. Uh oh. Fortunately, there was no mess in my car, but I cannot say the same for the parking lot! So we just sat in the car, because there was no way McDonald’s could help the situation in anyway.

When we saw Megan and Mac coming back through the park, she was running strong. I told Liam we had to get out and cheer. He didn’t like that idea, but he agreed to go on piggy back. “Liam, there is just one rule,” I told him,”No puking on Mommy!”

“Quick, put me down!” was his response before I deftly maneuvered him into a position where he could discretely fertilize the rhodies. I cheered for Megan while Liam huddled on the damp pavement in a lifeless ball. I then picked him up and we high-tailed it to the finish to see Megan finish in 33:42, even sprinting at the end to pass a boy that she knows from school. That’s 15 minutes faster than last year and Mac says she ran almost the whole thing. So proud of Megan! 

Megan finishing strong, while Mac checks out the competition

However, race organization pleased me somewhere about as much as all of Liam’s puking. Actually, he actually puked every time he said he would, so he did a much better job at sticking to his word! The race just could not manage the number of finishers and people had to wait in line for a very long time to turn in popscicle sticks. Plus, the race said every finisher gets a cup and hot beverage to fill it. At the end they had about 100 paper cups of hot chocolate, which were quickly consumed by the 400 or so people there (and not by us!).

No silly kids 1k for these three tough ladies! They rocked the 5k!

As we headed home, Megan quickly deteriorated. She was fine for 30 or so minutes after the race, so I don’t think it was run related, just that little bug finally catching up to her. Both kids crashed as soon as we got home (but not before one more round of throw-up). We cancelled our Thanksgiving plans and just ate stuffing and pumpkin pie together in our pajamas that evening (the two things we were supposed to contribute to dinner). While maybe not the best way to spend Thanksgiving, it served a good purpose. Huddling together under blankets on the couch certainly made me thankful that my kids are happy and healthy most of the time. And it was kind of nice just to be together as a family. As an added bonus, our good friends delayed their Thanksgiving celebration by a day for us, so we still got to stuff ourselves silly on Friday!

Sick and tired kiddos. :(

I spent a lot of the rest of the weekend sorting through the house. Not only did I not make a single purchase on black Friday, local Saturday, or cyber Monday, but I actually ended the weekend with fewer possessions than I started with! Mac makes fun of me because we have cupboards in our house that are completely empty, but in my dream world, all of the cupboards would be empty. Well, except the ones that hold running gear and food! Don’t worry, we won’t be free of our worldly possessions anytime soon, especially if that means cleaning out the garage!

Pile of junk off to Goodwill!

And Saturday, I got in one last long run. Yes, I have one more race on my calendar for 2012: Desert Solstice 24 hour run. You could say this is my punishment for doing so poorly at Western States this year - ha! Actually, I feel like I have never really “nailed” a hundred miler and in fact, the better shape I have been in, the worse I have done. So I am going to try to teach myself a few lessons about running past 100k in a very controlled environment. Just me versus the distance. I’ll let you know how bad an idea this was in three weeks. Until then, I am tapering and trying not to eat to many holiday cookies!