So this is how my birthday started. I was challenged by my trainer to run up Gibraltar. I'll just say it sucked. The goal was for me to run up to Lookout Point or something like that (I need to pay better attention to directions) which would be 7 miles and then my family would pick me up. Well.....7 miles came and went and I was still trying to power up that hill. I never saw a Lookout Point but did see what looked like some sort of radio antenna thing so I figured that was the top.
At about mile 4 I was delirious.
Really I was.
I am trying to smile through the pain but it was 95 degrees all of a sudden and I was THIRSTY! Seriously, I was pretty close to stopping one of the bikers coming down the hill and asking them for a drink of their water.
I went 9 miles to what I thought was Lookout Point and was literally in tears. Beyond mile 6 it is was so steep that I was basically power walking just to make it. Besides the heat, it was the lack of water that was driving me mad. I decided that dying of thirst is pretty high on the list of being one of the worst ways to die.
So here we are, posing and happy but in all honesty, Todd and the kids could not find me. Reception was bad on our cell phones so it kept cutting out so we had a difficult time trying to explain where each of us were at. Samantha was in tears when we finally reached each other and has begged me never to go up that mountain again (fine with me!) ;)
Done. Check that off my bucket list although between us, it was never on my bucket list ;)
Thank God for Brophy Bros. for temporarily erasing the Gibraltar nightmare from my mind.
And it was nice to have my parents join us ;)
I deserved the cheeseburger but went with this.
Samantha forgot about "her mother getting lost on the mountain" for a split second while having ice cream but I am still hearing about it from her. On a side note, look how long Samantha's legs are getting?!
The next day all I wanted to do was RUN! ha ha j/k This actually was an easy one, the State Street Mile, which is a benefit race for the Santa Barbara District Attorney's Emergency fund. All FIVE of us got decked out in our Never Give Up gear to raise awareness for Team GSF.
The race started on our street so we walked up to the starting line.
We were basically dragging Lollipop. For goodness sake she is a GREYHOUND who LOVES to run but when you put clothes on her she morphs into a basset hound/statue.
There were a lot of people at the race supporting the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation. You can't wear one of their shirts and not have someone stop and ask you where you got it from and what is the organization. I'd say mission accomplished on the success and message of the GSF!
This was Reese and Sam's second race you know after Nite Moves and all, they are total runners now ;)
Reese was happy to show me all her warm-up moves.
On your mark, get set.....
GO!
Samantha took off ahead of us and joined another family ;)
I love this photo. Thatcher was so proud of himself at the finish.
These kids earned those medals and those power bars ;)
Sweaty, rosy cheeks had by all. They were all so proud of themselves.
It was fun to see Drea (in the blue) run in the elite category clocking in at 4:38!!! Crazy, right? I am lucky if I am half-way through a mile at that point.....
I also entered Lollipop and myself in the dog mile. Since I stayed to watch Drea's race, I only had 10 minutes to run back up to the starting line. That was totally doable and all except for the fact that Lollipop kept going into full on statue mode and would literally plant all four of her legs and I had to drag her. I finally ended up carrying her in my arms and ran as fast as I could but the gun went off about a street before the start so we cheated..... We just hopped in the pack and started running back down. I suppose I should have just taken the shirt off of her but I was really hellbent on representing Team GSF! ;)
Normally Lollipop is dragging me, it was a total roll reversal. I was a little embarrassed of my running partner.....
A congratulatory kiss from a little fellow.
Okay, this is the Birthday Weekend that just kept going..... Mike Paskin and I share a birthday so we celebrated with a little joint birthday party at a polo match deemed the "Average 35th". He turned 34, I turned 36. Get it ;)
This photo cracks me up. What could Holley possibly be saying that has us all looking so intrigued?
Look, we are 35!
A little divot stomping.
Us birthday kids were chosen to throw the polo ball in at the half (not sure if it is called a polo ball as well as I am not sure this all happened at the half? I need to brush up more on my polo ;) )
I honestly have no idea what I am doing here.... Um, Mike, aren't you supposed to be helping me here?!?!?
I sort of bowled it in.... I guess that was fine?
Even without the sunshine, we had such an amazing day. Thank you everyone for making our birthday WAY ABOVE average. I actually think my age went down after that day. So here's to turning 30! ;)
