I am most certain ...contrary to many people’s beliefs we will NOT live to a ripe old age of 110....
Delaware Marathon Relay 7:10 AM
On Sunday 5/17..... Joe and I got up around 4:30am in order to leave at 5:15am to make it to the Delaware Marathon Relay… we were a part of QVC Relay Team 1.. The morning started off warm but in the course of the 5 hours we were there the rains moved in.... the temperature dropped... then the winds moved in.... Each one of our relay runners had a different climate to run in.. our first runner had the rain... our second runner had the residual effects of the rains and increased winds… our third runner..
MOI.. had to deal with the drop in temperature and had to put on a winter hat and arm bands (is it NOT SPRING??!)......
(will add the non illegal pic once we receive) .while our fourth runner.. JOE.. had to battle headwinds… Despite all the adverse conditions... we ended up winning our QVC Relay Division… VERY NICE!
So after waiting for the remaining teams to come in we trekked over to the parents to help them move air conditioners into their windows .....and what is dad doing..????
UM MOWING the lawn with just his one arm (the other is suppose to be in a sling from his surgery).. GRR.. stubborn... so we take the lawn mower away from him and proceed to mow their lawn..
An hour or so later... off to home.....the day does not really end there... as Joe falls into a two hour deep sleep...Wendy treks off to do the Millersville Mile.
Millersville Mile 6:30PM
Being the extra tired self that I was... I thought perhaps a big cup of java, a powerbar and a cheese stick would do the trick... did the trick alright... THANK G_D there was a potty there...
Millersville Mile is a blast.. it’s a great point to point mostly downhill mile.... LOVE the sensation of being DONE a race in less than 7 minutes... now that’s what I am talking about.. .no 24 min 5K’s or 4-1/2 hour marathons... 7 minutes or less... NICE!.....I clocked in a new PR of 6.45... very cool... coming in second age.. NOW the 1 hour and 15 min drive back home to find the bed and a wheelchair.. ha
I wish I could say this past week was quieter but alas it was not. My brother’s wife’s mother passed away, we had to cancel Heather’s graduation party, I had to take off a few days to take care of my nephews (ages 4,6,8) and Joe cut the tip of his finger off.. oh and yeah we started our marathon training this week... I most certainly could write a book on just this week but I will be as brief as possible..
Tuesday 5/19: Found out that my sister-in-law (Brother’s wife) had to go up to above Scranton to tend to her ailing mother and thus the nephews (4, 6, 8) were the sole responsibility of my poor incapacitated brother who as noted before is unable to do anything but lay in bed, and keep his foot up due to surgery on his ankle.. so knowing I had some vacation time to take and the boss being out of the office I took off the rest of the week to help out with the kids... GOD HELP ME....
We had to end up cancelling Heather’s graduation party due to the family issues.. So after work on Tuesday I rushed home, ran my scheduled 8 miles (you know for the marathon training)... contacted people about the cancelled party.. packed an overnight bag and headed to my brothers for a half week long babysitting extravaganza... sleeping on the coach was rough...
Wednesday 5/20: Mom and dad came over to help during the day after I got the kids off to school... My brother had asked that I drive him to be with his wife who was currently above Scranton at her parents house.. her mother had just passed away.. lets see.... 2-1/2 hours each way.. sure Chuck.... not a problem but I have to be back by 6pm for a trail race.
I told my brother I needed to get some clean clothes and get my bike work out in so leaving the youngest to the attention of mom and dad.. while Chuck packed his stuff I headed home, biked on indoor trainer for an hour, packed an overnight bag and returned to pick up the brother.
Chuck had to sit in back seat with leg extended so I was officially the chauffeur...kinda felt odd yelling to him over the seat... as he turned green with car sickness... turnpike driving is almost as fun as putting pins in your eyes.... by the time we got to our destination ... I was hungry, sore and anxious about making it back in time for the race..and yeah the brother was a bit green... so I wished him well... jumped back in truck.. thankfully I packed a snack... and drove home..... Total drive time was over 5 hours...
I was starting to wonder how truck drivers do it ... I mean your legs just LOCKS on the pedal and the blood drains right out... I made it home by 5:35.. just in time to clean up doggy doo doo in the kitchen.. and hey look at that.. she shit right in Joe’s sneaker... imagine that...
By the time I got back out the door and on my way to race it was 6:15pm and I was frantic about missing the start... after all this... I DID NOT WANT TO MISS THE RACE!!! So with 20 minutes or so to spare... I arrived.
Hibernia 5K Trail Race 7PM
BUT cant even walk let alone run.. ...I can see it now... “look at the woman hunched over trying to run.. pity so young to be soo decrepit”.....AHH... I do a light warm up but don’t feel much better and then I look around.. shoot I forgot bug spray... so I ask my friend Tom for something to keep the ticks off me.. he is warming up with me and mentions that if he runs right beside me maybe the ticks will jump on him instead.. and so we chuckle about that.. and obviously he has no spray... and so we go to line up on the start..
I mumbled again that I wished I had bug spray.. as I swatted at a mosquito.. and Tom said. .. I have some... its like 4 minutes to start of race and I say to him.. you have bug spray.. ??.....did I not ask you this before about keeping ticks off me.. and you didn’t mention that you had anything... and he said oh YEAH I didn’t connect the two.. UGH..
So off to get spray on... I thought he may RIP the spray out of my hand when I soaked my entire 5’7” frame with it.. I think he made mention that I would repel anything at this point.
Perhaps it’s the competitiveness, or perhaps it’s because I was running on pure adrenalin from being in the car and building up a bit of “road rage”.. but I ran strong and hard... jumping logs, slogging through mud and bounding over boulders..... and came in first age.. I am soo sorry to the people I pushed on the one downhill and when leaping over the rock formation.. but I just CANT .....CANT wait for your slow MO-FOs to decide what the F- you want to do... Joe said running is not suppose to be a contact sport.. sorry
Me and this older dude.. I say older since he was a few years older than me... ran together the last mile.. I was hoping to get a huge lead coming out of the technical trail part because I knew I was weaker on the straight grass parts as I always use all my energy on the technical parts... so when I came upon this man.. we ran together.. and somehow we managed to push the pace... a lot.. until I realized that our 5K Trail Race.. was MUCH longer than 3.1 miles...
In speaking to the director after the race he said they had to make it a bit longer.. for whatever reason.. I am not sure...BUT COULD HAVE AT LEAST MENTIONED IT!! .... BLA... my garmin picked up 3.61 miles.. but it probably was more like 3.5.. as I know in the field it was easy to run longer or shorter depending on how you ran it..
BOY what a person will do for Pizza!... I got my pizza.. and then back to the babysitting duties. My mother joined me for the night in order to help out and I welcomed her being there.. three boys were hard to watch when you were not used to having three kids...
Thursday 5/21: Up and the start of a new day... today was field day for the kids.. so they were fairly stoked about it.. and in good moods... I was starting to get used to the daily duties of spraying the kids hair with water and combing it to get rid them of “bed head” and making sure the lunches were packed and homework done... so when the two older ones went off to school I left the younger one with mom and went to meet my daughter for a quick swim and lunch.
So I get this email from Joe and it’s a picture of his bandaged finger and him stating, “Found the leak (on the washer) now just have to find the piece of my finger I lost doing it”
....How the hell did he survive before me?..... Of course the whole fact that he didn’t pass out from seeing his own blood and end up passed out on the floor for Heather to find is truly amazing...
The kids were great.. considering the fact that this was the longest time that they have ever been away from their parents, they handled it quite well... Even evil Wendy who made the older one do homework got a “A” for her half cooked brownies... the middle child informed me that “they are the best brownies ever”.. AWE... little munchkins can do no wrong now.... (thankfully I didn’t wake up missing an eyebrow or crayoned...
Friday 5/22: I noticed that I get more sleep here watching the kids (at my brother’s house) then at home watching the dog.. WTF! Poor Joe... he said dog has been getting him up continuously at 4am... he said he tried to ignore her and she now started to bark....she was HUNGRY... !
Done.. last time got them dressed, lunches made, hair combed and off to school... and then to attend to my own home drama...run a bit and then pizza (second time this week).. it’s heaven...
Chestertown 10 Miler Race:
Saturday 5/23: up at 4:15am. On road by 5am... drive the 1 hour 50 minutes to Chestertown to take part in the Chestertown 10 Miler Road Race.... This will be my third year doing this particular race and Joe’s second....... each year the heat beats the hell out of me ....and each year I try to come up with a plan to defeat it...
The first year I picked this race to do as a long training run and so I elected that first year to try it out.. I was hooked.. not sure why.. it was 80 degrees at 8am in the morning that first year and I baked... but I came back last year and brought Joe.
Last year I did better than the year before but it was a slow death to finish as the heat once again kicked my ass. Joe had a phenomenal race and passed me for the first time ever.
This year... the heat KICKED both our asses... we did great until the 6 to 6-1/2 mile mark and then we.... up and blew up... I counted 25 woman who passed me from that point to the finish line.. I didn’t bother counting the men... and I actually came up on Joe at around mile 8... taking a walk break...
I was delighted to be able to stop and so we walked and ran together for the last two miles... Joe was beyond himself with anger on why he was walking and why his heart rate was soo high... we concluded it was that he had no chance to heat acclimate.. he had done all his training runs either in the cool of the evening or early morning.. he wasn’t used to running in 80 degree weather and high humidity and a good portion of the course is NOT shaded and in the open.
I told Joe that at one point I thought I heard my brain sizzle and wanted to up and throw myself on the side of the road so the ambulance could pick me up... I concluded NO WAY in hell I was doing Eagleman this year.. (Eagleman is that Half Ironman Triathlon that I did last year and it was hotter than Africa in the run.. cooking all of us)... and I am suppose to do in a couple weeks.... and I said no way.. UM NO.. going to put myself through that.. (besides my utter discontent with having to run any more races in the heat.. Joe said I would do Eagleman and I would like it!) BLA!
As we were nearing last mile of the race... we looked over and a damn man is pushing a stroller and he passes us... . Joe said later the fact that I was trying not to let HIM PASS was funny.... since it was like I was standing still and he was still a going.... stroller man did beat us.. as did the woman who ran in black tights.. like chicky... were yo
u not F_cking HOT out there???!!!So Joe and I came up towards the end and I said to him.. you cross finish first.. he said no... he wanted me to.. I said no you should.. he said no.. .. are you sure.. he said yes.. OK... so as we round the last corner I truck it in .. and finished.. done... Joe comes in seconds behind me.. Done.. lets go home.
On way home we stopped in Chesapeake City to have lunch.. and sit and watch the boats.. what a great LUNCH and quality time with my favorite guy...shame he still had this twisted angry face on... although I do believe by the time fatigue set in his face softened,..
So Fabio brings us our ice teas,... and the best crap cake sandwich ever.. yeah Fabio was our waiter’s name.. .. he was kinda cute..... interesting .. I never met a Fabio before... I wonder what makes a person name their kid Fabio?
OK... so its Saturday Evening now... and here I am... feet up.. typing away..ready to take on another week of Mastripolito DRAMA..as Joe cuts the lawn.. I notice that I do have a slight sore throat.... I wonder if the little illness incubators gave me something.. hmmmm..
PS: and when the F- did SNAKES appear in the Chesapeake.. !!!!!I AM SOO NOT DOING EAGLEMAN now.. I aint swimming in that shit... no F- way! :)
