Happy Mother's Day!

Posted by Kim:

Happy Mother's Day to all of the amazing Moms! We hope you had a beautiful, relaxing, loving weekend with your families. Every year I celebrate Mother's Day running the Title 9K race at the Boulder Reservoir! What a great way to start out the day. While breakfast in bed sounds enticing too, I just love the frenzy of getting the family up and out the door by 7am so we can get there in time for the kids race and to simply soak up the gorgeous view of the Flat Irons and the energy that radiates from 1800 Moms as they wait for the 9am start! What an amazing blessing to be a part of this event.

Well, this is what it is like under ideal conditions, because as Moms we all know that we have this ideal plan for what an event is going to be like and often it is the worst mistake I can make because I expect too much. For instance, is getting everyone out of the house by 7am easy, even on Mother's Day? No, of course not. It usually involves some coercing, begging, frustration, and on the rare occasion me sitting in the car making Dad take care of it (would this be considered pouting)! Then there is probably whining on the way there, but some how it always comes together and the hour it takes me to run 9K (now 9.9K) is like going out for Sunday morning coffee with my girlfriends, quite relaxing. In the mean time Paul is managing the boys and keeping them occupied. Sometimes I wonder why I try to get my best time each year, shouldn't this be the race that I try to take the longest?

I have been running this race for 7 years (since the year it started) and I have LOVED being a part of it, plus the fact that I can say that I have run it every year! This year was a bit different however, because for the first time I woke up to rainy cold conditions. We have now had just about all weather conditions, gorgeous, too hot, too windy, cold, but it had never rained before. I kept thinking if the rain can just hold out it would be perfect running conditions, I love to run when it is 45 degrees!

Changing the routine due to the weather I picked up my girlfriends Carissa and Rebecca and husbands and kiddos were going to meet us at the finish. I was feeling so great, quite giddy actually, until I realized that I forgot my number! UGH! So I called my Dad who was staying at our house and he zips down 66 to meet us and deliver my race number. At this point we still have plenty of time, but I am anxious and upset with myself for forgetting the number. I like to enter the back way into the reservoir so we head that way, but there is a sheriff car sitting on the corner. I ask if the back way is still open and he says yes, but that it is a bumpier ride. I was driving our dreamy 1995 eggplant purple Pontiac Sunfire, do I look like a few bumps are going to scare me? We head down the road only to see another sheriff's car at the next corner and he turns us back telling us that the road is closed. By this time I am really anxious and frustrated with myself so what is my response? I yell out my window that the other sheriff told us it was ok to come this way and that they should communicate with each other. What?! Did I just do that? So I head speeding back (toward 3 sheriff cars) and as we pass the sheriff that told me the road was open I yell out my window "The road is not open, don't tell anyone else to go that way." What?! Did I just do that again? I then come to the stop sign (right next to another sheriff's car) roll through the stop sign in my hurry and Carissa yells out "He's going to pull you over." As the lights of his car come on and he starts moving I just see the headlines MOTHER ARRESTED ON MOTHERS DAY! What is wrong with me? Luckily it all worked out and he was just moving to officially close the road, looks like they decided to take my advice! Phew.

It all worked out, we arrived early enough for Carissa to get her race pack, to find some friends and hang out for a bit, and then to cram (literally shoulder to shoulder) into the start and stay warm until the 9am start. Once the race started it seemed like it was sailing by. I was shocked when we passed the 5K point. But I felt great so I figured we must have been running a bit slow, but when I approached the finish line Griffin ran out to run into the finish with me wearing his Mommy's #1 Fan t-shirt I was shocked to see that my finish time was 1:03. I was surprised considering the crammed start, the water stops and the fact that I did have to stop to use the porta potty. Now that was a fun time!

Speaking earlier about foiled plans, this year the boys would were actually cooperating and willing to get their picture taken with me! Ahh yes, some things change! Another amazing year, another amazing race. The perfect way to celebrate Mother's Day with a personal accomplishment and my biggest fans waiting for me at the finish line!