Amy and Ben

busy beeeees

Ben completed his first ever race this weekend! I am so proud of him. The 5k was full of hills and a whole lotta' people (haven't found the 2006 headcount yet, but in 2005 there were over 8,000 participants!). We - I believe I can speak for Ben when I say this - felt like a herd (happy, mom?!) of slow-moving cows at the start & throughout the entirety of the race because there were so many people! This didn't bother me too much because the event supports a great cause (the Make-A-Wish Foundation) and is such fun otherwise.

That being said, these events are sometimes a little unorganized. For example, a bunch of fast runners would get stuck behind a group of walkers or slower runners. This would produce lots of chaos as the faster runners would decide to pass the slower folks (it is a race, after all) - and in order to do so, they had to run up on the narrow & uneven sidewalk, pass, and then make their way back onto the road, where they'd inevitably get stuck again and have to do it all over!

Oh! And then there was our favorite spectator who enjoyed puffing on a cigar right before one of the hills... what a wonderful way to encourage us to make it up! (the stench did encourage me to run faster - away from this guy)

As mentioned earlier, Chinami, Ben and I ran the race, as well as our other running friend, Lauren. I made it to the finish line a little before Ben so I was able to watch him cross the line where I made sure to cheer loudly for him. That was my favorite part of the race!

After the race there was a huge party. There was tons of free food and drink for the runners (everything from BBQ to Thai to Italian to Jambalaya to corn-on-the-cob..... TONS of stuff) and to entertain us, a live reggae band. I enjoyed standing close to the band to listen, watch, and of course, to dance. In addition, there were people in a shelter to help stretch the runners out after the race (another favorite moment for me).

That was the race.

There's another one coming up that I'm interested in - the Run Like Hell race! It is also an evening race and you get to run through a cemetery!

Enough about running.

After the race, we attended a Birthday/House-Warming Party for our friend Joanne. It was quite fun as there were lots of new people to meet. Jo is a fan of tequila - so we decided to buy her some margarita glasses. Wouldn't you know, only 3 of the 7 glasses made it to her because I managed to break 4 before they were even wrapped! Yesterday, Jo made a confession that she, too, had broken one of the glasses while putting them away! I think they must have had a curse on them or something. Too funny!

Sunday was quite awesome because I went to a new dogpark with Chinami and Gandalf! It was awesome! It felt like dog-heaven - there were so many dogs running around and playing together! Very cute. Chinami met one of her co-workers who owns a Great Dane there. I think his name was Brunis - and he dwarfed Gandalf! One woman brought two 6-week old puppies... Pictures will soon be posted!

This week is terribly busy for Benjamin. He has to work a few shifts at Brönte, go to numerous rehearsals at the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra (and concert on Saturday), school, and a school ensemble concert on Sunday.

I, on the other hand, do not have much happening. I will go running a few times. And last night I did 10 loads of laundry. What a life....

That's the update for now! Stay tuned

posted by Amy @ 7:28 AM