The Diva Dash and other things:)

It was a strange week.  Levi spent a good part of the week at Cub Scout Camp and it's always strange for our family when 1 person is gone.  I guess we are just so used to being together.  We did a lot when he was gone...I figured it was fair, he was having fun that we weren't!  We went to the zoo, the park and splash pad, and played with friends while he shot BBs and arrows, did woodworking, and played tons of games.  It was a fun week for all of us. 

Friday was spent helping at a funeral with a dinner and then George and I went out.  We went out to eat at our favorite TGIFriday's, and then we attended a night hike at our local county park.  It was so interesting and lots of fun!  We observed a few night creatures, bats, owls (only heard them) and lightening bugs (which aren't actually bugs at all, they are beetles...who knew?).  As it started to get really dark, we went into "night vision" mode, which was interesting.  It was really dark by the time we finished, but we were able to see a bit still.  We went with some friends and had some interesting teens in our group that kept us laughing.  A fun date night.

Saturday morning arrived early at 6am. I popped out of bed to eat a banana and an energy bar so I would have the full 2 hours to digest that.  Next time, I am eating only the banana.  The bar was still too much food.  My Diva Dash (which is what they called this all-women's race put on by Curves) started at 8am.  My best friend, Becca showed up at 6:45am to go with me.  Isn't she awesome?!?  We drove over and I picked up my stuff and we walked a lap around the parking lot for warm up.  After a prayer (in which he said "divas" and "rock this race" or something equally irreverent:) and the National Anthem (during which I got all teary and now had snot issues) we started.  It was wonderful.  The race took us through a large subdivision where there was plenty of shade, garage sales to distract me as I ran by, and people standing on their lawns cheering us on.  I was good until about 1.7 miles and then became unmotivated.  I was trudging on and came upon a lady who was jogging a bit slower than my pace.  I immediately said, "She's mine" and fell in step behind her.  When we came to a place we could jog side by side, we began to chat and that saved me!  We talked about whatever until almost 3 miles.  We were getting close to the end and getting winded, so we stopped talking.  I started feeling really sick and decided that if I was going to throw up, I was going to do it on the OTHER side of the finish line.  SO I turned the last corner and thought I was done, but no...there were a couple of blocks left...the longest blocks of my life.  But then, Becca was there with a big neon green sign that said, "GO ANNA---FINISH STRONG" and I took off and "sprinted" to the finish line.

This was an awesome race.  As I ran to the finish line, there were people with clapper hands, boom sticks, and someone threw a pink feather boa around my neck and took my picture.  I felt like a "Diva" :)  I will definitely do this race again.  It was a million times better than the first one.  I also loved that the trail was very well marked with "1 mile" and "2 mile" and guys at those points told you your time.  Very nice.  And then...they fed us pulled pork sandwiches at the end.  Yeah!  That's what I'm talking about.  None of this banana stuff...real food:)  It was a fun time and I found out that the girl that I chatted with lives near me and is my new running buddy!  Yay!

The day went on with volunteering at the Kate's Kart Ice Cream Social.  This is a non-for-profit organization that gives free children's books to any child that has to be in the hospital.  They serve 16 area hospitals.  Awesome!  The event had free ice cream, rides, bounce houses, games with prizes, face painting, and entertainment.  It was very hot, but fun for everyone! 

After that, there was a baptism at church (yes, I had time to shower, since I had like, 3 layers of sweat dried on me-nasty!) for a good friend of ours so Levi and I went to that.  Dinner when we got home, baths and kids to bed.  I am exhausted but need to finish my YW lesson for tomorrow.  Busy day tomorrow too! Thanks for reading!