Well, if you expected to see some jubilant triumphant story of my amazing success in the race against all odds, please stop reading now.

If you want the real story of my weekend, it will be detailed for you now. The day started off nice enough, we left home at about 7ish and got there with plenty of time to mill around and check things out. We saw a few people there that we knew. And I caught up with my friend Paul who was running the race (I decided with only two weeks of practice and the inability to run any farther than 2 miles – that I should walk the race and not run it and make an ass of myself being the very LAST person to finish). So, Paul was disappointed (even though I was on the fence there at the end, I debated running it). But my wife and daughter were walking it with me, so, I wanted to walk it with them. My wife needs all the encouragement she can get to keep this stuff up, she’s been doing good and I wanted to be supportive. That and I was a girl who didn’t wanna look like an idiot.

So, the race started and it was pretty exciting. Everyone clapped and cheered for the runners and the three of us were all in the middle of the walking pack and moving at a good pace.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, our son Connor was off at a backpacking trip with the boy scouts. We didn’t just leave him at home or anything. More later about his tragic pitfalls while camping (if you know my son, then you are aware of what is coming next).
We get about a quarter mile into the race and our daughter is chomping at the bit to run some, she keeps asking and finally my wife says, sure jog for a little bit. Keep in mind that she is 7 (8 soon!!!! as she likes to remind us). Anyways, she starts to jog and then she’s gone. Just… Gone.

The wife and I rounded the next turn and didn’t see her. I was a little worried. The wife was a little worried. So the wife and I scan the crowds in front of us for a few minutes and we don’t see her at all. No sign. We begin to get very worried. I tell her that I’ll run on up ahead and catch up with her, after all, she’s only 7 and I’ve been running for months, right? I start off and run for a while, no sign. I move in and out of the walking crowd and still don’t catch a glimpse of her anywhere. I’m really kinda freaked out at this point. I ran as far as I could run (I was running quickly and instantly sapped all my energy – excuses, excuses I know). So I start asking the track workers I pass if they’ve seen her. Nope, nope, nope, nope. The worry is getting serious now. I get to a point in the course where the runners who are ahead are starting to come around and meet up with us coming the other way. So, I wait. And wait. And wait some more. The wife comes up, clearly worried. She’s upset that I don’t have Maureen yet. Hell, I’m upset. So, I decide to walk the course backwards and see if I can see her while Robyn is going to the water station to ask if anyone there has a phone or walkie-talkie. They didn’t, btw…

I continue walking, pass Paul who asks me if anyone is behind him. I tried to respond but really all I could think about was how I hadn’t caught sight of my daughter in going on over 20 minutes now. I FINALLY see her walking with a lady, she’s up with the runners. The people who have numbers on their chest. Yeah, that made me feel good. She was WAY up in the pack and there I was huffing and puffing to walk fast. Anyways, we decide to walk back the other way to go see if Robyn is back at the water station. We get back there and the water station is packed up and gone. So, we turn back AGAIN and try to catch Robyn coming back around. I meet up with the track-worker group following the last group of runners who told me that she decided to go on back to the bank/finish line. So, Maureen and I keep walking and eventually finish. It was a VERY scary day and a day for us to teach our daughter an important lesson. I can’t even describe the fear and helplessness I felt. It was very disturbing.

So, I plan to do another 5K in the next month or so, and I plan to run it. Then I’ll post about the fantastic feelings of finishing and all that. After Saturday, I was just happy to see my daughter.