Back Home Again in Indiana

Brent and I made two trips home in May - one for the mini and Mother's Day, and another to pack up our house.  It was great to be home! 

Mini/Mother's Day Weekend

We signed up for the mini last year, long before we knew what this year would hold for us.  After I started my new job in April, my hope to come home this weekend was squashed about 20 minutes into my first day of work because I was told I would instead be going to Boston on Mother's Day.  I was really bummed, because 20 weeks of pregnancy and moving across the country be damned, I was going to do that race. Not very quickly, but I really couldn't stand to miss it.  Then the whole thing worked itself out and we couldn't go to Boston after all, and bada-bing bada-boom, there we were in Indy.  Brent took the day off and flew in that afternoon, landing just a couple hours after me (and giving me plenty of time to enjoy some Patachou cinnamon toast and pick up the rental car). Perfect timing. Brent and I carbed up with the Sinders that night at Bravo and prepared for our fifth and sixth runnings of the Festival 500 Mini Marathon, respectively.

Mom was walking it this year and I think the only reason she came down to put herself through the torture was to keep me from being an idiot and hurting myself or the baby by doing more than I should. After I got pregnant I started running only 3, and very rarely 4, miles at a time, so obviously I was in no shape to run it. Neither Mom or I were overly crazy about getting up that early and being out there for almost 4 hours in the back of the pack, so we called in for reinforcements - Christi, the super-motivator.

Our finish time, including two bathroom stops for the preggo, was 3:46, which we didn't think was all that bad. It went really fast and we had a good time, but I will always stick to my opinion that walking all 13.1 is more brutal than running it. Think how many more steps you have to take the slower you go, and how much longer you're out there? It's been nice to have a break from running and not training for anything right now, but I cant wait to get back out there in October and work on dumping my baby (er, and pre-baby) gut and whittling away at my PR. I even told Christi during the race that I may be ready for another marathon in 2012. Running.is.sickness.

Notice the corral on that bib? E. Thats right - the only year my previous time was good enough for preferred seeding. To put it in perspective, Brent the super runner always starts in B. Would I have been out of my league in E?  Perhaps.  We tucked our tails and went back to the W corral where we belonged, but I hope some day to reach the top middle of the pack again.  All I know is it's going to take a lot of time pushing our new BOB stroller to get back into the E corral, but I'll give it my best shot.  It's rumored that women are better runners after having a baby because their pain tolerance is higher.  That theory makes sense to me!   

After lunch at Bazbeaux's with Christi, Jay, and Peanut, we headed home to Kendallville where Dad and Grandma were just getting in from Florida that evening.  We were pretty tired but we stayed up late visiting anyway- and I think Maddie was especially pleased to have our company without a little white dog accompanying us. 

We continued on with our Mother's Day tradition of eating lunch at Joseph Decuis in Roanoake the next day.  Another great meal and fun times with my family!

Memorial Day Weekend

Our second trip home in May was a tiring whirlwind of hard work and 34 hours of sitting in the car.  We thought we were closing on our house in early June, so we had planned to fly home over Memorial Day to pack up the house and get ready for the movers to come.  After a delayed inspection and other general ridiculousness, flights got too expensive and we were going to have to drive it.  If there's one weekend when you shouldn't plan to fly into Indianapolis, it would be Race weekend.  Duh.  We realized around noon on Thursday that we would NOT be selling our house and that we would NOT need to leave in three hours as planned to drive to Indiana, but we packed up the car and terrier anyway.

Mom and Dad came on Saturday and helped us tear through the house putting things in boxes, and shared the burden of making 15 trips to Lowes and U-Haul for more packing supplies.  Dad may have ended up making most of those trips.  We took a break on Saturday night for a birthday grill-out.  The Steinbergs stopped by to visit and the Sinders came over for dinner, so even though it was a really grueling weekend I got to see some of my favorite people on my birthday.  The May Queen was satisfied.

A big thank you to Mom and Dad - we never would have gotten it all done without them!

Brent and I had to finish off nearly half of a DQ ice cream cake by ourselves on Sunday night before we left for to go back to Denver...shucks. 

 

Bonnie loved being home and hung out in her yard the entire weekend, actin' a fool.  I feel bad that she doesn't have a place to run here and is always on a leash. 

Avian Stare Down

   
And then there was the drive home on my birthday.  There's nothing like sitting in a car for 17 hours while a dog keeps trying to jump in your lap and the winds in Kansas are about to blow you off the road.  It may be awhile before I'll do that again without being sedated first. 

I did at least have a jug of sweet tea as some sort of consolation.   

We also made time to check off the last Presidential Library on I-70 while we had the opportunity on the way home - Harry Truman's.  It was much cooler this time so we were able to stay a little longer without fear of coming back to a Hot Dog in the car.  Very cool library!