Boy, Is My Face Red

Here's me in a self taken cheesey picture in my super cool Columbia River Power Marathon t-shirt

Okay, so my face turns red when I run.  Every single time.  I think it only takes about five minutes, and it looks like I've run for five hours.  I ran my first half marathon this weekend, which, of course, turned my face bright, bright red, but all that blood rushing to my face (Is that what causes it?) because of exercise wasn't the only thing making me blush.

There was a lot of other stuff that happened this weekend besides that half marathon, though, so I need to back up a bit and tell the whole thing.  Backing up to early September:  I signed up for the half marathon of the Columbia River Power Marathon, which is a super cool race to have as my first, because it takes place in two states, Washington and Oregon, and you get to run over the McNary dam.  Fast forward two days later, and I got an email asking if I wanted to do Tombstone Tales this year, on the same weekend of the run.  No big deal, I thought, I'll run in the morning and just be stiff and tired for Tombstone Tales that afternoon and evening.  I said yes.

So here's the line-up for this past weekend:

Friday
- 3:45 Alyssa's ballet
- 6:00 Tombstone Tales
-8:00 Alyssa's Nutcracker Practice

Saturday
- 5:45 wake up to drive to Umatilla
- 8:00 Columbia River Power Marathon!
- 12:00 Alyssa and Ethan's soccer games
- 1:00 Tombstone Tales
- 6:00 Tombstone Tales and Ward Halloween Party

Sunday
- 9:00 church, which the kids and I skipped, because I was so sore
- 3:00 dinner at Brian's parents'
- 6:00 Erin's Zombie Attack Birthday Party

I threw in Sunday's schedule, because I'm super excited for the zombie party.  Philip even had me decorate two brain cakes.

Okay, so Friday.  Becca and I took Alyssa to ballet, and while we were waiting in the parking lot, Becca dropped my car keys down the hole where our car stereo sat before it was stolen.  I called Brian, and he brought the boys and the extra van key to come get us.  We couldn't reach the keys in the parking lot, but Brian got them out later.

I raced home to get dressed in warm clothes that would fit under my costume, picked up my niece Megan (who was a grim reaper this year) and headed to Tombstone Tales.  I played Sadie Conway this year, who was originally from Texas, so I faked a Southern accent and had fun with it. 

Becca woke up a lot on Friday night, which wasn't fun, and she also woke up at 5:30, then wasn't asleep again by 5:45, so Brian took over while I went to get ready and head out the door.  On a side note, she's being weaned starting tonight, because she's at that point when she doesn't nurse at all during the day, but then she and I can't sleep, because she wants to nurse all night.  This is the week, starting tonight, and I'm sad and excited all at the same time.

I drove forty minutes to Umatilla, met up with Nelsa Sumsion, who came down from Seattle to run, learned about cow bells (they're awesome) and how they're fun to have rung by the people cheering you on, and started the race.  I ran over the dam, under a tunnel, through the pouring rain, over a bridge, and on a tiny little rock path along the Columbia River.

Oh, wait.  I wasn't supposed to run the little rock path (with hills!) along the Columbia River.  That was for the people running the full marathon. I was supposed to turn around just before mile 11 and head (uphill!) to the finish line.  But, I misread the sign and kept going straight.  See, they had a big piece of wood that was painted white with the vinyl numbers "1/2" on the top, then there was a printed piece of paper underneath that which said, "marathon turn around."  I saw the paper, which registered in my head as an important sign, and completely focused on the "marathon turn around" part.  I even hollered to the high school cheer leaders, "I'm running the half.  Do I go straight?"  to which they replied, "Yeah!  Good job!" and then did a cheer that involved saying that I'm cute.

So I kept going.  I ran up a big, rocky hill...kept running...ran down a bit...made a few turns...up another hill...kept running.  Really, I was a little concerned this whole time.  I was in the middle of nowhere, and I knew that I was getting close to thirteen miles.  I kept thinking that around the next bend, there would be a park or something, then they would shuttle us back to the hotel.  It didn't make a whole lot of sense, but it's all I could think of.

I passed the 13.25 mile marker and wondered to myself if I really knew how long a half marathon was.  I kept running until I passed someone on the way back and asked them which trail I was on, the full or the half.  He said, "Full," and I said, "Oh, crap."

This is when I turned around and started walking.  I called Brian to tell him to get my mom to come watch Becca and Marcus so he didn't have to take them out in the rain for the kids' soccer games.  I called my sister to tell her to call the Crehst museum and tell them that I was stranded in the middle of nowehere, and I didn't know if I would make it to the afternoon session of Tombstone Tales.  Then I called Nelsa to tell her not to wait for me at the finish line; I was going to be a while.

I walked and walked, and even though I was still moving, just slowing down made my muscles start to stiffen up, and after a few miles I had to literally tell my legs, out loud, to keep moving.  I made it to the turn around and headed uphill toward the finish line.  They told me I had three miles to go.  After a little while Nelsa and her mom found me and drove me to the hotel, where they let me out so I could run through the finish line.  I was so thankful to have Nelsa and her mom there, and I've decided that I'm never going to a race alone.

Anyway, I was able to hop in the car, soaking wet and stiff, and I made it home with just enough time to shower and get ready for Tombstone Tales.  Brian did a great job of taking care of things while I was gone.  He rented a movie for the kids and him to watch, made bacon wrapped jalepeno chicken stuff and even saved some for me to eat when I came home on my break, and got the kids to bed before I came home that evening.  He even sent some hand warmers with my parents when they came to see me.  Then he had a little hot cocoa station set up for me when I came home.

Well, it's 2:57 and Brian isn't home from church yet.  I guess we'll head to his parents' house without him?  And then on to the zombie party!

And here's some pictures I stole from Nelsa's Facebook page.

This is where Nelsa and her mom saved me from the (about) two miles I had left to walk.

crossing the finish line - finally

wet, cold, and tired

In other news:

Rebecca is a cutie.  These were all taken just before she got her cast off on the 19th.

She's starting to pose for photos.  I guess this is a sumo pose.

This is her I-know-you're-taking-a-picture-of-me smile.

This is what the boys do after each shower.  I put a towel around each of them and tell them to dry off and get dressed.  "But I'm cold!" they say.  They still haven't figured out that if they go get dressed, instead of collapsing to the bathroom floor, they would be warmer.

This is where I stuck Becca while I got ready for church a couple of weeks ago.

Here's the monster cake I made for my mom's birthday.  I asked what she wanted it to look like, and the only request she gave was orange, for Fall.  We went with orange monster.

Marcus fell asleep on Alyssa's floor last week, and used her robe as a blanket.  I didn't know he was in there, and I freaked out when I didn't find him in his bed in the middle of the night while I was up with Becca.

Ethan made Rebecca a third eye and stuck it to her forehead a couple weeks ago.  She wore it for a few hours.

We made it home safely from the zombie apocalypse party.  It was awesome!  I'll post pictures once I get them on the computer.