Thanksgiving 2008 Part 1: The Race

My Thanksgiving this year started a little differently than usual: with a road race.  For 33 years, Tallahassee has had a road race on Thanksgiving day called the Turkey Trot.  Despite having always wanted to run this race, this is the first year that The Hubs has been able to participate.

So we got up around 7 and headed the short distance to Southwood.  This is one of the biggest races of the year in Tallahassee, so we weren’t surprised by the massive number of cars pulling into the parking lot, especially due to the beautiful, slightly chilly weather.  The Turkey Trot starts with a 1-mile fun run and then runs a 5k, 10k and 15k simultaneously.  Despite protesting that he wasn’t in shape to do so, Hubs was going for the 15k.

Normally I am one of the very few people at these races who is not actually participating somehow.  I’ll be honest, it gets a little lonely.  But because this race is huge and family-oriented, there were actually a lot of people on the sidelines.  But we watchers were, of course, far outnumbered by the racers:

It took a while to get the race started because there were so many people, which gave me time to scope out The Hubs’ competition:

After the start, I headed to the 5k split area so I could cheer Hubs on as he ran by.  To my surprise, however, I was recruited to hand out drinks – along with the few other spectators in the area.

Now, I started dating Hubs almost 9 years ago, so I’ve seen a lot of races, but I have never volunteered.  It’s not that I’m anti-volunteerism (as if!), it’s actually that I get a little shy around big groups that I don’t know (hard to believe if you know me, I know – but ask Hubs, it’s true).  But as soon as I was asked to step up, I was happy to do so.  I impressed other volunteers with my skillful handling of the cups of Gatorade, and I was only mildly offended when Hubs (who didn’t know I would be handing out drinks) took a cup from the guy in front of me.  He made up for it at the 10k mark when he smiled as he realized I was helping out and gladly ran over to me for a cup (only to tell me later that he prefers water, whoops!).  The Gatorade stains on my jacket were totally worth it.

Not long after The Hub’s last visit to my area, I rushed over to the finish where I didn’t have to wait long to see this:

Though Hubs will tell you that he was disappointed in his race, he finished 9th OA and had a pretty good time, especially considering the substantial congestion caused by finishing three races at the same place.  And I like to think that I really changed the race for the better, with my priceless tutorial on cup-handling.

Check back tomorrow for Part 2: The Feast.  Fair warning, though: you will be jealous.

Springtime Tallahassee

Today was the 40th Annual Springtime Tallahassee, a downtown festival that’s just plain fun. Last year Dave ran the 10K but wasn’t feeling well afterwards, so we didn’t attend the festival.  But this year we did the race (okay, I watched) and the festivities.  It was quite fun and incredibly reminiscent of my childhood. So, a short pictorial representation of our day:

The start of the 10K.  I wish, wish, wish the faces weren’t blurry because you’re really missing something. You see, when Dave was running in college, he was quite the stoic runner: eyes always forward, ignoring the fact that anyone else was around.  I swear I was always nervous about cheering for him because it almost felt like I would disturb him.  Well, not so today.  The gun (or really the woman yelling “Go!” in the mircophone) went off, the runners took off, and Dave looked straight at me making the goofiest face ever, tongue out and all!  Quite the change from our college years.

The course is incredibly hilly and goes straight through downtown Tallahassee, onto Appalachee Parkway, and through downtown neighborhoods and parks. Here the runners are merging onto the parkway (I missed Dave so you just get a shot of complete strangers).

Now, I swear one of the main reasons they hold Springtime Tallahassee at all is to have an excuse to let people walk around downtown with beer out in the open.  It’s very Southern:)  The race is no different.  Even though it ends maybe a mile away from the “beer garden” section of Springtime, runners are offered their choice of a variety of cold beers at the end of the race.  Now, while the thought of running 6 miles and then drinking a beer kind of makes me sick, Dave said it was awesome and wishes every race thought of it!

Dave and I traditionally take a self-portrait of the two of us after his races.  This is the one from today.  We spent a lot of time just chilling on a hillside, watching everyone else finish the race and mingle around.  It was a beautiful day for it and we had quite a good time.

After the race we headed up to Springtime proper.  Most of Springtime is made up of craft booths, tons of carnival-esque food (kennel corn and funnel cakes!), live music, and little activities, and the whole thing is kicked off with a parade.  We didn’t watch all of it because it was, without a doubt, the longest parade I have ever watched.  The kids watching it were very cute, though.  Everyone in the parade threw beaded necklaces or candy and the kids just thought it was the greatest thing ever! Dave (who still has quite a lot of kid in him) most enjoyed the stilt walkers, particularly the one who juggled.  There was also a unicyclist, which was very cool. But the most disturbing part of the parade was this:

The parade began with the Police and Sheriff’s Departments, first on motorcycles, then in cars, and then on horses.  This is what followed behind it. Now I hope, hope, hope it was supposed to be a joke (the prison outfits, that is), but it didn’t seem like it. It felt really wrong watching these guys walking along behind horses having to deal with a lot of crap (sorry, bad pun). If not a joke, I’ve have never felt more strongly that I live in the Deep South than I did today.

All-in-all, we had a great time.  While I probably won’t watch the parade again until we have children of our own to take, the booths are awesome and the food superb, so I feel certain we’ll do it again. Fun times indeed.

Mostly of Leavings

Most of you know that, since moving to Tallahassee, Dave and I have had a very hard time finding a church we want to settle in. The two major contenders have been a Methodist church and a Presbyterian (PCA) Church. While we especially loved the worship services of the Methodist church, the pastors (both the senior and the associate) left us bored, uninspired, and unchallenged by their sermons. The PCA church has a vibrant congregation and a pastor who strives to challenge his congregation to be better Christians, but the worship service is less our style and we have some variably serious issues with its doctrine. Since October or so we have opted for the PCA church, choosing to be slightly uncomfortable but inspired. Lately, however, our doctrinal concerns have been becoming more of an issue and we’ve become uncertain again.

This week, however, has added further upheaval into our churchy dilemma. First we found out (because we still get the newsletter) that both pastors of the Methodist church are leaving: the senior pastor is retiring and the associate pastor has been given his own church. So, in June, that church will have new pastors, giving us incentive to try that church again.

Today the pastor of the PCA church, the same man who began this church plant just five years ago and has led the growth of the church wholeheartedly, announced that he will be leaving to pastor a church plant and take a part-time teaching job at a Christian college in California. Though he is leaving on the best of terms, this certainly is a big step for this baby of a church.

So, no matter the outcome for us, a change is coming in our church life. We trust that God is using this change to reinvigorate our passion for Him and guide us in the right direction.

My good friend Katie is also experiencing change, though in a way that is becoming more and more normal to her.  Her husband, Bryan, left for his 2nd deployment today.  He’ll be gone for four months, but she is holding up extremely well.  I get to see her in March (and I can’t wait) but until then I’m sending long distance good thoughts to her.

Some things, however, continue to stay the same. Such as my crazy runnin’ husband. In training for the half Ironman he’ll be competing in this May he has run a road race almost every weekend this year. And this Saturday I finally got to see him (weather and timing has stopped me so far). And as always, he did fabulously (though he’ll tell you a different story), getting 3rd in a field of 411. Though he always wants to do better (desiring change), I am consistently proud of him.

Dave at the 2008 Run for the Cookies.

I Must Be Crazy

It seems like lately I’ve been a glutton for punishment. First of all, I keep piling it on in my academic life. I started this semester with the purpose of keeping my responsibilities light so that I could get some non-required things done, like reading for prelims and sending out articles for publication. Slowly I kept getting roped into things (or sometimes roping myself in) like graduate student committees, starting a reading group, and taking on tougher-than-necessary projects for class. And now I’ve added one more thing: I’ve applied and been accepted to write an article for a forthcoming encyclopedia of contemporary fiction. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m pumped. This will be my first publication, and though not as prestigious as some publishing I want to do, it’s a start. And hopefully it will get the ball rolling for me. But this means that I have a to read a new book (Patchett’s The Patron Saint of Liars), research it and the author, and write a 1500 word entry (suitable to be read by lots of people, including publishers) by January 15. Exciting, but stupid me.

More stupid than that is my new ambition. I will be running Tallahassee’s Jingle Bell Run on December 3. Now, it’s only a 3K, but I don’t run. I hate to run. I have never run. (Okay I ran in soccer, but that was different somehow; it was running for short bursts with a purpose. I can do that.) And I have pitiful, weak little knees. But still I find myself trying to run. Darn this crazy running family I married into and their addictive healthy lifestyles! So last night I went out for my first run. I didn’t go far, but man am I weak! It was cold last night (probably in the 40s or low 50s when I ran), so my lungs weren’t used to that (or running for that matter). And my knees hate hills. But I did it. And I felt pretty good afterwards. And its nice that I have my own personal trainer at home:) So for now I think I’ll continue this stupid ambition.

One thing that I’m not crazy for but crazy about is getting to go to Kentucky this weekend. YAY! I get to see my friends, and go to the orchard, and play Settlers of Catan, and have a grand ol’ time. I cannot wait. I’m sure I’ll have lots of pictures for you come Monday. In the meantime, I must get back to my crazy life.

Yay Dave!

I don’t talk about Dave much on this blog, but today he really deserves it for two reasons. The first is that last night Dave registered for his first ever half-Ironman. This is huge! He’s both nervous and excited, but I couldn’t be more pumped about it. I think he’s going to do great, and now that he’s registered, he’s more motivated than ever before. It’s going to be exciting.

Then the second reason Dave gets a yay! is that, in the wake of his registration-excitement, he got up at 5 this morning (something he usually has a hard time doing) and went running. He followed that by taking care of Potter (as in feeding and walking) and making me breakfast. It was VERY sweet of him, especially as we usually don’t even cross paths in the morning enough to have a conversation. But today we really got to start our morning together. He’s a good man, that Dave.

Also, may I just say how nice it is to live in a place where the weather forecast calls for “abundant sunshine.” How wonderful does that sound? It makes me just think that there’s no way today’s not going to be a good day. Especially when I walk outside to a crisp breeze for the first time since probably April. Abundant sunshine? I’ll take me some of that.

I’m a Pronator

Today has been a fairly lazy day for Dave and I, despite the fact that I set out to be productive. We woke up, made breakfast, and watched the Tour de France together, and that making breakfast was about the last productive thing I did other than doing the laundry! Oh, and I have Potter a bath (which he still didn’t enjoy despite his newfound love for the water). But, I guess I feel okay about it since yesterday I vacuumed, dusted, rearranged our guest bedroom, and put together two new bookshelves and filled them with books.

One of the things that we did “do” today was run some errands, the main one being to get some new running (okay, in my case, jogging/walking) shoes. This has been on Dave’s to-do list for a long time now and we finally got around to it. We go to a locally owned shoe store (that also specializes in all things tennis) where all of the employees are surprisingly knowledgeable (surprisingly because many of them are still in high school) and make sure you’re getting the right shoe, not just the pretty one. Well, Dave got his shoe of choice (Nike Pegasus for those who care) and then our salesman started to help me. As we walked from the men’s shoes to the women’s he commented, with an air of astonishment, that I had a lot of over-pronation (my foot rolls when I walk). He even made me walk for him barefoot to get a better idea of my pronation. The owner, Shaw, saw me, and he, too, commented on my rolling foot. Though I felt a bit like a leper (not that they were mean, but no one likes having their flaws pointed at!), I then received some excellent help. He picked out a shoe for me that has superior arch support (a New Balance) and recommended I get a specialized insert. It’s amazing how much more comfortable my feet feel in this shoe/insert combo than they ever have before! Plus, the salesman told me that this will not only help with my shin splints (which I’ve gotten every time I work out lately), but that my over-pronation may be a cause of my frequent knee pain. So, for the first time in a long time, I have hopes for myself…I’ve always wanted to be able to run with Dave (okay, behind Dave) but my knee has prevented me for doing so. Who knows? Maybe I’ll be a runner, too!

Other than our exciting trip to the shoe store, I watched a lot of Lost (I’ve only just started watching it on DVD; I’m in the middle of season 2 and am sad to know that I’m about to run out of currently available DVDs), read a little, and went out to eat at Famous Dave’s (a BBQ) place. Tomorrow will be more productive out of necessity. This is my last free weekend during this summer session; next weekend my sister will be here, the next I’ll be at the beach with out Altmaier family, and the next I’ll be in Louisville for a wedding. This summer is really flying by!