The Bridge Run

If you didn't know already, these last few months in Charleston have been filled with our "last things" we have to do before we leave in June. Jasen and I have a list of about 20 restaurants we want to try. Newsflash: we aren't going to get to all of them. I am bummed about that, but feel good that we gave it all we had. And my waistline proves it!

One of the things Jasen and I both wanted to do was the Bridge Run. The Cooper River runs up the northeast side of the Charleston peninsula. It separates Charleston from "the" place to live: Mount Pleasant. Charleston hosts the Cooper River Bridge Run every year. It's a 10k run (or you could walk it) starting in Mt. Pleasant, going over the Ravenel Bridge, a gorgeous suspension bridge, and into downtown.

Jasen has developed a real love of running since we have lived here. His waistline proves that. He says part of it has been the lovely scenery he has to run in. He only runs three to four times a week, but he's doing anywhere from 4 to 7 miles each time. Yikes! I, on the other hand, had prided myself on running the 3 mile loop near our home regularly. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered just this week, that it's only 2 1/2 miles. No wonder I had trouble on the bridge!

Anyway, as the Bridge Run approached, we both worked hard to prepare. Jasen had a time in mind; I just wanted to run the whole thing. We helped my mom come down to take care of the kids that weekend and celebrate her upcoming birthday. The night before the run, she was encouraging me, telling me she was confident I would finish the race. I told her I knew I could finish (hey, I walked a 15k volksmarch once upon a time!) the course, but I wanted to run the whole thing. That was my goal.

The morning of the run, we got up early and took a shuttle from my gym to near the start line. We both had pre-race jitters. Jasen and I signed up in different time slots. He was in the 45-59 min. area, I was in the over 60 min. area. As we waited for the race to begin (with almost 40,000 other people), I made friends with a lawyer from NC. Her name was Emily (which meant we HAD to be friends!) and I adored her accent.

Here we are, with almost 40,000 other crazy people. Jasen and I are back a few groups.


Once the race started, my group had to walk about a quarter mile before we even started the race. Once we got to the start, Emily and I began our run. There were so many people and just when you had a spot to run in, someone came in front of you. More than a little annoying. But you know what else was annoying? We had to run 2 miles just to get to the Ravenel Bridge. When we hit the 2 mile mark, Emily congratulated me and then we started up the bridge.

Here we are on part of the 2 miles before the Bridge.
This doesn't do the incline any justice. I felt like I was running a straight-up mountain!

Uh, yeah, not fun. I mean, really, really not fun. Again, jockeying for position wasn't helpful. But about halfway up the bridge, I realized I had made a key mistake: I had run the first 2 miles at Emily's pace. Not at my own. UGH!! Slowly but surely, I realized that if I continued to run up the bridge, someone would be carrying me down the other side. I said goodbye to Emily, and made my way to the left, where I joined the crowd of "I thought I could run it all, but I was wrong" people.

Of course, I was disappointed. However, my knees, shins, and ankles were screaming in pain from the upward climb we were on. Seriously, there were points when I didn't think I would ever see the other side of that darn bridge. And yes, more than a few times, I didn't care! I also thought a lot about how the crazy Kenyans were probably already at the finish line, and Jasen was already past the top of the Ravenel.

At some point, though, I realized I was near the top. I started to appreciate where I was and take in the scenery. The day was cloudy, cool, and damp, so I am sure there are people who would say it wasn't as pretty as it could have been. But for a fat chick running a 10k, the weather and view were perfect!

Not long after cresting the bridge, was the 3 mile marker. At that point, I decided I would run to at the least the 4 mile marker. I mean, it was pretty much flat, then started the downhill. I could run that! I slapped on my headphones and turned on the playlist I had ready for my run. Imagine my complete horror when, after the first song (which wasn't the one that was supposed to be playing on the downhill part!), the darn thing QUIT on me. I was so ticked. So ticked.

However, I took that anger and channeled it, baby! And being on the downhill of the run, I kept going after the 4 mile marker. At that point, I realized I was running behind Dr. McGinley, the superintendent of the Charleston Co. school district. As I watched her struggle, I thought about asking her to please make MATH a priority in the schools, too. But I held my tongue and passed her. :)

At the end of the bridge, I really thought I was going to have to start walking again. However, we turned the corner into downtown and the people were there. The homeowners, store owners, cheerleaders, bands, you name it, they were there. And they were cheering for us! I tell you, it was so cool to have complete strangers congratulating me on my efforts. Of course, already being disappointed in my effort, I decided I couldn't let the people down. I signed up to run this race and I wasn't going to let a half mile (give or take) of disappointment ruin the rest of the race.

As I got closer to the finish line, I started looking for Jasen in the crowd. Um, right, there were probably double the amount of people downtown as were running the race, so the chances of me hearing/finding him while struggling to finish the race were slim. As I came closer to the finish line, still running, I felt the tears coming. Yes, I cried as I finished. I might not have run the whole thing, but I know I ran at least 5 miles of it. Two of those miles were not at my pace. The last three were without music. And the one in the middle was on a pretty good little up-slope. Nothing to be ashamed of, if you ask me.

Sadly, after I crossed the finish line and got my two apples, I had to run to the bathroom because those pre-run jitters? Not jitters at all, but the beginning of a stomach bug that my mom and I had. Lovely. I mean, I had to ask a mom with two small children to let me go in front of her, lest I have an accident right then and there. You know I was in trouble if I did that!

After I left the bathroom, I was walking to our "rally point" and managed to run, er, walk into Jasen. I was shocked I found him that quick. We made our way to where we were going to meet Mom and the kids. Once we found them, we wandered around downtown, with Jasen, Mom, and the kids going down a huge bouncy slide.

We ended up at Taco Boy, near the Ravenel. Nothing says "I DID IT!" like a margarita, guacamole, and carnitas soft taco!

Jasen did beat the time he wanted. He ran the 10k in 47 mins. and some change. Me? I did a 72 min. race. Not bad, not bad at all!

Me and My Emiline

Two blogs in one week? This must be some kind of recent record.

Back in March, we were blessed with a visit from one of my oldest friends, Emily. I can't tell you all the things Emily and I have done together. When we were young, she went on more than a few family trips with the Thomases. She even visited Morton, TX. I think that solidified her place as my best friend EVER. On that trip, my dad asked Emily if she was excited and in her sarcastic, deadpan way, she told him that, yes, she was excited. It's been a continuing theme with my dad whenever Emily's name is brought up. He always asks if she's excited.

On that same trip, Em and I were delivered to basketball camp at West Texas State University in Canyon, TX. Why did we go all the way out there for basketball camp? For the life of me, I can't remember, but I do know that a bunch of other girls from the 'ville went. Here is a picture of us stylin' and profilin' at the Rec Hall. That's me second from the left in the awesome glasses, and Em on the far right. Oh, and beside her is my other old "BFF" Jen.

Emily also went with us to visit Amy at A&M and more than likely, I think she went to at least one state basketball tournament. Wow, this makes my family of origin sound like a real traveling group. We weren't at all. Those were the only places we went: west Texas/eastern New Mexico, Austin for the basketball tournaments, and Aggieland.

Anyhoo, Emily and I grew up together. She's seen me at my best, seen me at my worst, and everywhere in between. She's watched life throw some crappy things my way, seen me make some really bad choices, and she's been right there beside me, a real rock in some pretty trying times. You see, Emily's really different than me: not prone to crazy emotion or overindulgence, even-keeled, steady. I asked her during her visit how/why she stuck by me, particularly after high school and before I got married. Her answer was quite sweet: she knew I would always be there for her, that I would never turn on her. She's right, I never will. And I know the same is true of her: she'll always be there for me.

Besides, she's been to Morton, for heaven's sake! That makes her more than a friend, that makes her family!

Here we are the night I sang with a "real" band at a watering hole in the 'ville. Wow, we look young.So, it's always nice to get to spend some time with her. In some ways, our lives couldn't be more different. Yet any time we are together, it's comfortable. We're still the same people underneath. I love you, Em.

Okay, now to her visit. It begins the night before her arrival. Jasen was gone that weekend, so I had to prepare the house on my own. Everything was going great until I decided to turn on the self-cleaning oven. I was enjoying season 3 of "The Tudors" while I folded some towels. All of a sudden, the house was really smoky. I turned on all the fans, the fan associated with the air conditioner, and opened all the windows to no avail. At 11 p.m. on a Saturday night, the Saturday night of "spring forward" our smoke alarms went off. At that point, with all of the means to get the smoke out already employed, I had no idea what to do. I was worried about the kids, of course. When I went to check on Davis, he was still fast asleep. Grace answered me when I asked her if she was awake. I explained that I was trying to get the alarms to quit ringing.

On a different but related note, have you ever had your smoke alarm go off? It's the sound of hell, I am pretty sure.

A full 10 minutes later, I had no idea what to do. Did I mention that it was raining? And that our dog took off into the woods behind our house? Finally, a thought occurred to me: what if I blew fresh air on one of the detectors? I got my blow-dryer and a chair and proceeded to blow-dry the detector in the downstairs hallway. Voila, after a minute or so, the alarms quit ringing. Thank heaven! And write that trick down; believe me, after 10 minutes of ringing, it was a lifesaver!

After the alarms quit ringing, I had to help Grace back into bed and try to coax the dog to come back. Meanwhile, thunder and lightning are all around, while I stand out back with a metal umbrella, begging the dog (who I am still not very fond of) to come home. When the mutt arrived, I left everything open and the fans still running because our house REEKED.

You can imagine my disappointment the next day to find that, although the house was chilly and wet in some places (it was raining, remember?) it was still stinky. So much for having a perfect house when Emily arrived!

She arrived later that afternoon and we were so glad to see her! We immediately went downtown and took her to a late lunch. Em had told me that she wanted to eat her way through Charleston and I was happy to oblige her! After we ate, I took Em to The Citadel where we got to see the cadets lower the flag. Pretty cool.

The next day, we were off. I gave her the 10 cent downtown Charleston tour. After we picked Davis up, we went to the Stono Market for lunch, then went to see Angel Oak. The rest of the afternoon was spent puttering downtown. It's a great place to putter!

That night was our big meal. You see, before Emily came, she saw Alton Brown on the Food Network say that his favorite chocolate dessert was the chocolate pudding at Hominy Grill in Charleston. Hominy Grill was Emily's one request. That evening, Jasen, Em, and I headed there for dinner. Jasen had the best friend chicken I think I have ever tasted. And Emily got her chocolate pudding. But I wouldn't call it pudding. More like a heavy chocolate mousse. It was DIVINE! Amazing, simply amazing.

Here we are before dinner.
The amazing chocolate pudding....
Grace and Auntie Em saying good-bye.

The next day, I can't remember what all we did. We went to lunch and to Piggly Wiggly for a souvenir. The 'ville-ites love our Piggly Wiggly! Then it was time to deliver Em back to the airport. It was a quick visit, but it was wonderful.

I love my Emiline.

What We Learned/Did on Their Spring Break

Yes, "their" spring break, because everyone knows it's not a break for Mom!

Here is a short list....

• Although our kids SAY they want to go hiking, expect complaining about walking.
• I am way behind on the blog. Emily's spring break was almost a month ago and I haven't written about it. I ran about 5 miles of a 10K and I haven't even discussed it on here. Those are significant and need to be blogged.
  
• Grace is pretty darn cute when she gets really angry and frustrated and tries to handle it appropriately.
• Do not tell my Aunt Pattie that you like something she has on. She might very well give you the shirt off her back!
• Just when you think you've got it all figured out, life/Satan will throw something at you from your blind side.
• My dad is one tough, brave man.
• I am sick of Easter candy. Really, I am.
• Grace's teacher from last year, Mrs. Branch, continues to amaze me. I want to be like her when I grow up!
• No matter the beauty at the end of the trail, the Graham kids will only be happy hiking about a mile.
• If you cry to your military doctor's nurse, you get an appointment faster.
• There is nothing like a stressful situation to make me miss my sisters more than ever.
  
• If you ask God to hear your prayer, He will. And He will guide you to the exact verses you need.
  
• Sometimes, life just makes you tired.
• Despite all the crap going on in my life, I must remember that blessings abound because...
• I cannot imagine the pain of losing a child. Especially your 22 month old only son who died in a tragic accident in your driveway. Please continue to pray for the Ayala family.
• I can make everyone just as full with Easter dinner as I do with Thanksgiving and Christmas!
• We hope our kids are as well-adjusted as Christians as Sarah and Hadder are.
• How we wish marriage was easy! As a friend of mine said to me this week, "If God thinks marriage is important and for life, why didn't He make it easy?"
  
• We are so proud of our sweet girl, who, without prompting, remembers so many in her prayers.
• My mom will lift your spirits, even in your darkest hour.
• The gnats love Grace and me and give us more bites than mosquitoes ever have. And yet, Jasen and Davis seem fine...perhaps it's the level of sweetness in the victim?
• No, that couldn't be it because our boy continues to be so, so sweet. The examples are too numerous to count.
  
• We are so blessed to have an aunt and uncle who will travel so far to see us. Especially now, when they have their own little man at home.
• I'm not who I was and Jasen is not who he was. Thank you, God, for growth!
  
• Um, yeah, next year, I hope to boil the eggs until they are done.
  
• I have the best family, friends, prayer partners, and mentors that a girl could ask for. I hope my kids will be able to say the same when they are my age!