First 25K and a Trail Race at That!

The whole family and the Hancock family went down to Bastrop State Park for Keri and Anjuli's first 25K. Because it was on trail it was more than 15.5 miles. It was 16.8 miles. It was a great drive down and we enjoyed wildflowers along the way. I say it was great because we prayed before leaving home for a safe trip and in Dallas a car on the other side hit another car or divider and for a split second we saw it flipping in the air before hitting the wall in front of us and to our left. It landed in the middle, between the two dividing walls where there was nothing but empty space. Neal and I ducked as I hit the gas. Our car was splattered with some sort of fluid and something hard hit the windshield front and center on the driver's side causing a scratch on the glass. But just as fast as it happened, it was over and we and our car were in good shape. We were not in a place where we could stop so we continued on asking God's blessing over the other involved drivers.

Friday, it rained all day. We hung out at the local public library, at lunch at a covered pavilion in the city park, and shopped nearly every aisle of Walmart and ate dinner at a restaurant to stay out of it. It lighted up and ended for the most part that evening and we slept pretty well.

Sophie tending to Hancock #4 at the library

Storm lifting for the evening

Anjuli and I got up before dawn to making it to the starting line. The 50K runners had already been out an hour. My first loop I did great, I walked more the 2nd loop, and the last shorter loop, I ran occasionally. It was super hot after that first loop and there wasn't a whole lot of shade, as we expected as much of the course had been burned in a fire. The race was called the Wildflower and it did not disappoint. It was gorgeous! There were such a variety of flowers and the runners and staff were all very courteous, which is especially important to a snail like me. I had no idea when I'd finish so I told Neal 6-8 hours, given that I knew I'd we walking a lot and was not totally familiar with the terrain. I finished in 5 hr, 28 min, 58 sec which puts me at a just under 20 minutes per mile. I was very happy with that because, I pushed where I could given my endurance and the heat and still enjoyed myself looking at flowers, properly caring for blisters, and stopping thrice to eat a wild blackberry.

before

During

 

After

Anjuli finished way before me but I got to the showers first! We rested a bit and then took off to Lockhart for Kreuz' BBQ (besides yummy, smokey meat, I learned their German potato salad is awesome!) that was delicious and we followed them up with s'mores at the campfire. The flowers to and from Lockhart were gorgeous and there were blankets of firewheel along the roadside.

The next day we went for a short hike for the kids so I could help Brendan pass off a required activity for Scouts. It was fun and we had a safe drive home.