Running Roadtrip

Over Mother's Day weekend, a cute town called Fredericksburg hosts an all women's 5K/10K through their wild flower fields. I'd been wanting to do this race for a couple years because it sounded so pretty, and because it's on a Saturday. Oh how I wish all the races in Texas were on Saturdays like they are in Utah, but I'll just take what I can get here. I registered for the 10K with my running club, and Scott and Boston volunteered to pass out water, so I got to do it for free! It would have been $70, so I was pretty happy that I didn't have to pay for it. Races are expensive! 

We had decided to camp out the night before the race since we love camping, and also so we wouldn't have to wake up as early Saturday morning to drive an hour and a half to Fredericksburg. Friday a huge storm rolled in just as I was packing our camping bags. We were bummed because we were all really looking forward to a little camping trip. 

We decided we would go anyway despite the rain because the place where we were camping had cabins we could rent if we needed to. 

We stopped at a Thai restaurant on our way to the campground that ended up being so delicious. My dinner came in a pineapple! After I ordered it, I started thinking I should have stuck with the safe pad thai option that I know I like, but I'm glad I decided to try something new!

That pineapple fried rice was one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten. Scott had some green chicken curry, and that was really, really yummy too.

Funny story about Boston at the restaurant. When they brought our food out he said, "That took forever!" Scott and I were a little embarrassed, but the restaurant owner was really cool about it. He made it into a joke and teased the cook about taking too long. We all laughed about it, as well as the other people eating in the restaurant (it was a small restaurant). Then as we were leaving, the owner brought out complimentary coconut ice-cream for Boston to say sorry for taking too long. Scott and I helped Boston eat his ice-cream, and we both agreed that it was some of the best ice-cream we've ever had. I can't wait to go back to this Thai restaurant someday! It was awesome! 

We were lucky that the rain was gone by the time we got to our campground. Boston found a huge dirt hill (The Texas equivalent of camping in the mountains), and a four-year old boy to play with while Scott set up the tent. Even though this camping site had a playground, an outdoor theater, and a jumperoo, Boston said his favorite thing was climbing the dirt hill with his friend. It's the simple things in life that kids enjoy the most!

We stayed at a camping place called Jellystone, and yes they had a Yogi Bear there, although we missed his appearance. Apparently I need to watch the Yogi Bear movie because I've never seen it, but after staying at this campground, I realized most people know about Jellystone and Yogi Bear. 

I loved this camping place for kids. I wish we could have stayed longer, but Boston had baseball at noon the next day. 

Once it got dark, we went over to the outdoor theater and watched a Tinkerbell movie. 

It was past Brody's bedtime, and he has a hard time sleeping unless it's quiet, but he was finally able to fall asleep on me during the movie. He's such a good baby!

After the movie we had fun on the jumperoo thing. I guess everyone else had gone to bed, because we had it all to ourselves!

Brody slept great in his laundry basket! I'm pretty sure he slept through the night until about 5:30 or 6:00AM, unless I woke up with him and don't remember, which sometimes happens.  

The race didn't start  until 8:30, and we were only about 5 minutes away from the race, so it was nice to not have to rush in the morning, or wake the boys up early. 

I knew Boston would love passing out water at the race. He was adorable. A lot of people were coming up to him after the race and thanking him. He felt pretty special. It was cute. He even went up to the lady that was serving the catered lunch to the runners after the race and said, "I passed out A LOT of water, so I should get some food." Ha ha. She happily gave him some food! 

(I'm in the black)

This was my first post Brody race! I've been training hard with the running club, but I still have a long way to go to get back into the shape I want to be in. 

I started a little too fast the first mile, so the rest of the race felt harder than it should have, and it was also very HOT.

The first time I passed Boston I didn't take water and he was a little disappointed, so I made sure to take water the next time! I got to pass their water stop 4 times because it was a loop course. Brody just napped the whole time! 

Even though most of the flowers were gone, it was still a nice place to run. 

I just wish the race had started earlier so it wasn't so blazing hot. 

I never want a dog, but if my kids begged me, and the dog was this cute, I might cave. We don't know her, I just thought her dog was adorable. 

I didn't know what to expect for this race, but I was not expecting to get 1st in my age (25-29) at all! My time was 52:30, an 8:27 pace. I was happy with that time, but I wondered if I could have done a little better had I not gone out too fast in the first mile. My friend Maria (one of the coaches of We Run SA), also placed 1st in her age category. She was leading the race and would have won the whole thing, but got lost and ran an extra mile! She still placed first in her age even with running an extra mile though!

After I finished, Scott brought the kids to me, and then went to pack up our camp. Brody loves being outside and looking up at the trees!

We got some food, and then booked it back to San Antonio for Boston's baseball game. It would have been so fun to stay at the campsite and in Fredericksburg longer, but we'll have to go another time. Boston had already missed one game, so we didn't want to miss another. 

We were late to his game, but we made it all nice and stinky from camping and running. It was such a fun weekend. I want to do the race again next year and stay at the Jellystone longer, and get some of that blackberry ice-cream and cobbler across from the campsite that we didn't have time to get. The saying, "You know you're a runner when your vacations revolve around races" is kind of true in our house, but it's a good thing. We've had some fun vacations because of races!