It was a full and tiring weekend. I’ll begin with Thursday when Christy and I took our last training walk before the River Run on Saturday. We walked about 3 miles with Christy’s dogs, Finn and Stella. Those dogs are well trained for walking. They are all business. For the whole walk they lead the way keeping tension on the leash pulling you along. I was impressed. What I didn’t know was I was stretching and stressing a muscle in my neck and back that would hurt badly all weekend. I had no indication while walking that I was doing that.
After doing wedding preparation all week on Friday we loaded Christy and the dogs in the car and brought her back to High Springs. Then it was on to Jacksonville. We had to get our race packets that evening. That’s part of the fun of the run. 15,000 people have to get packets in 2 nights. They handle the crowds well. After getting our packets, and race shirt and tracking chip we go out into the exhibit area to pick up freebies. The first stop was free popcorn. Once Sophie got that she was happy. We got the traditional glass and shopping bag from Publix. After that we all went to dinner at Sweet Tomatoes and loaded up on calories for tomorrows 9.3 mile walk.
Saturday morning I got up around 5 AM. Since there were 5 of us participating we could all go in 1 car so I drove us all to the run. We left at about 6:30 and arrived by the prescribe 7 AM. We got there easily with relatively light traffic just as a little fender bender occurred in the main lane of traffic. We were sure that would cause a nasty back up that we just avoided. It was cool and windy and we found a sheltered area near beside one of the big Gate Petroleum trucks they had parked near the starting line. We had about an hour and a half to wait until the 8:30 start.
I got embarrassed when I heard the announcer saying, well, trying to say, my name because someone had found my racing chip. Yes, me, the engineer didn’t properly fasten the chip to my shoelaces.
The weather was just about perfect for the walk. The run begins to the inspiring “Chariots of Fire” and live bands are sprinkled along the rout at about mile intervals. People line the route to encourage all the participants. Homeowners sit on folding chairs in their front yards and many dogs are on the sidelines. Christy and Christian liked the dogs. C&C and Karen and I walked and Tim ran and walked in intervals. Our names were on our number card that we wore on our chests and many of the spectators would call out our names in encouragement. I passed one guy in his yard and he probably had had some alcohol already in him. He was telling everyone who was walking that the sign said “Gate River RUN” not walk. I playfully said to him “well, I don’t see you down here”. That got a good laugh but I could hear him spouting off as I walked on.
At about the halfway point Karen was getting hungry.
The last mile and a half of the walk is crossing the Park Bridge—180 feet over the St Johns River. The last band was playing "Running on Empty". We held our hands over our heads as we crossed the finish line. It took us just under 3 hours to walk the distance. We all got our race medals. Then we found Tim who had gotten a banana for each of us. (By the time the walkers arrive they are out of them)
Everyone was in line to get free beer when they ran out so we left. We hit Wendy’s drive-thru on the way to the house with a big confusing order. Instead of missing some items we ended up with a free Frosty and an extra sandwich.
After lunch and some rest we all went to look at the house K&T are thinking about buying. It is a brand new place that looked nice. They have some concerns about location but the house itself looked good for them.
Sunday we did church and Famous Amos and drove home. My sore neck and back was aggravated somewhat by the long walk and hurt on the drive back. I’m going to take it easy for a couple days and see if that helps.
It was a very full weekend and after the full week we had with Christy’s visit I am tired! I should catch up on the sleep tonight.
This coming week I will finish the kitchen island and start preparation for the week of the wedding.
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