Today was the Trick or Trot 5K near Montrose Harbor. This year, Teresa, Sue and I decided to run as Rice Krispies-- I'm Snap, Teresa's Crackle and Sue's Pop.
In true Linda fashion, John and I got to the race much, much earlier than we needed to (what I lack in running ability I make up for in punctuality). Found Pop pretty quickly and hung around with her. Where's Crackle? 10 minutes before race time, she rushes in with daughter Alexis. But wait... it's not Crackle... it's... Santa Claus?!?!?! She may have just qualified for Boston in a youthful manner (over 20 minutes faster than she needed to for her age group--qualified as an 18 year old, in fact) but Teresa really, really sucks at costume design-- no child-like creativity at all. We all had a laugh at her expense then lined up at the start (all in good fun, of course).
Pop was going for time, John the clown was just trying to waddle to the finish (but without his red nose this year because it makes it hard to breathe), so Santa and I ran with Alexis. I learned that my running style can be very compatible with an 11 year old's-- run a bit, walk when you're tired or just want to enjoy the sights, whine when you're thirsty and wonder where the hell the finish line is. We jumped to high-five low hanging branches when we felt like it, marveled at other costumes and soaked in a beautiful fall day along Chicago's lakefront. When Teresa tried to urge Alexis to keep her pace, she was scolded with, "mom, you're doing the child abuse."
Once we hit the three mile marker, Alexis was off in a full-out sprint. Fast!! Teresa and I took off after her, but neither of us could keep up. I should've checked my Garmin to see how fast we were going, but I was trying too hard to beat the kid!! That'll hurt me tomorrow, I'm sure. I think we finished around 40 minutes, but who cares? As we were crossing the finish line, the race announcer said, "here comes Santa-- looks like someone is confused as to which holiday it is!" Perfect! T will never, ever live this one down. It'll be dredged up time and time again as part of our race lore when we all get together and tell stories.
Afterwards, lots and lots of candy. Is there anything better on God's green earth than banana Laffy Taffy?!?! John finished a few minutes after we did-- he was making conversation with a turkey. One of the things I love most about John is that he's crazy; he'll wear any kind of costume. Several people commented and took pictures and he loved every minute of it.
What a great day.
You guys!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat fun.