5k Weekend

We had such a fun weekend! While I was still pregnant, Nora and her husband Steve decided that we should run a 5k in the spring. (Let me just interject here that, on the off chance that you don't know this about me, I am so not a runner! I have only run in one other 5k --which you can read about HERE-- and running is not my idea of a fun time.  But it is good exercise and it is fun to run with friends, so I agreed to do another one).  Steve runs marathons and is pretty well connected with the running community, so he found the 5k and Half-marathon in Allentown. My friend Danielle and her husband Matt also signed up to run, so it was a pretty central location for all of us. But, since the race started at 8am, and it was almost 2 hours away, we decided we should spend the night at a hotel, which ended up being a GREAT decision! We were able to reserve a room at the same hotel Matt and Danielle were staying at, which offered free busing to the race, free breakfast, and most importantly-- a pool! It was our very first order of business when we got to the hotel Saturday afternoon, because a certain little girl was dying to try out her new swim suits and floaties!

Collette love, love, loved the pool.  She was so excited to be able to wear her arm floaties and be a more independent little swimmer.  She had a blast jumping off the side of the pool and having LL catch her, and going all over the pool.

Trey got to try out a pool for the first time, too! Although he loves his baths, the pool was pretty cold.  He cried a bit at first, and then began to relax, but he didn't appear to be having the time of his life or anything. No energetic kicking or big smiles and giggles.  Just chillin' in the water with Daddy.

After we tore Collette away from the pool, we met up with Matt and Danielle (who were having a kid-free weekend!), Nora, Steve, Evan, and our good friends from college Bethanne, Andrew, and their twins Hannah and Angela, for dinner.  Steve did a great job picking a restaurant-- thanks to lots of TVs and loud music, dining with 5 kids didn't make us conspicuous! And all of the kids did great. :)

We apparently got the last hotel room available at our hotel, so our room had a king bed instead of 2 full beds. Since we had never had Collette sleep in the bed with us before, we were a little worried about how she would do, but she did great! When she crawled in the middle of the bed in between us, she started giggling like crazy.  She said "This is so fun, Mommy! I sleep in the big bed! Go to sleep, Mommy! Go to sleep, Daddy!" She snuggled with LL all night long. I had lots of room on my side of the bed. :)

The next morning was the 5k! Getting up at 5:45 to get ready to run is definitely NOT a common occurrence for me, but with over 3,700 people running (most of them for the half-marathon), we needed to get breakfast and be ready to get on a bus by 7am! We used our double stroller for the first time, and  it worked great! The perfect way for LL to corral both kids by himself. :)

(We didn't have our camera and LL's phone died, so most of the pictures are from my cell phone.)
Ready to run! Matt, Danielle, me, Nora, and Evan:

Collette had a great time cheering.  She kept saying "I watch Mommy run!"

It was a beautiful day for a run! Cool and sunny.  Most of us ran at our own separate paces (Steve beat everyone pushing Evan in the stroller!), but Nora and I were about at the same pace and were able to run the whole thing together. Since we both recently had babies and haven't really been able to train well, we didn't have a time-goal, but we both had a goal of jogging the whole time.  Minus one brief walking episode when Nora felt dizzy, we were able to jog the whole time.

The race finished with a lap around the stadium (which was at the top of a wicked hill!)

Nora was even able to get a personal best time! (And yes, they gave us metals.) Our finish time was 35:39.

Trey watching the run:

In the stadium, there was lots of free food and clowns making balloon animals.  Collette was excited about her orange balloon bunny for about 5 minutes until she popped it. :)

After the race, we had to wait a bit to get a bus back to our hotel.  Luckily the bus stop was right across from a Fire Station, and Collette got to look at and climb on the fire trucks!

When  we got back to our hotel, LL and Collette went back to the pool, which she both went to bed and woke up talking about. :)

We left about 12:30 and both kids were asleep within minutes of us getting in the car.  They slept the whole way home!