We drove over to Houston last Friday night, leaving at the same time as everyone else who was on spring break. We did pretty good getting out of town and nearly to Katy before we hit traffic. We got to our friends house around 7:30 and just chilled for a while.
Saturday morning was the Sprint Spartan Race for me and the 1 miles kids race for Sidney. The weather was fabulous (not really). It had rained all night and rained off and on (more on than off) all day. The venue was just north of Houston in the Hempstead/Waller area. We took off from the house at about 8:30 and arrived by 9:30. We got parked and trekked to the bus. Then we reached the mud.....
Just to get into the venue you had to go through mud, some ankle deep. Sidney did her race first. She did great and had a fun time. Then it was my turn. I was so very nervous, which is super silly. I had myself all worked up. It was a waste of my energy. It was a super short and flat course. 25 obstacles with nothing any harder than obstacles I had seen before. There was a new obstacle called Olympus. It was really just a sloped wall that was tall enough you couldn't touch the ground with your feet. You had to cross it using holes, grips and chains and using only your upper body. It was pretty slippery but not too bad. Otherwise there were traditional obstacles including the javelin, dunk wall, barbed wire, pulls, carry, bars, nets, walls and ropes. I did manage to do the Herk Hoist for the first time by myself. I did a happy jig.
It was amazingly muddy. I never fell while running. But I fell into some deep mud twice at the Atlas carry. It was pretty funny. A total mud bath, the whole thing. You could make a mud pie out of what was in my clothes.
I finished the race in 1 hour and 15 minutes which was 13 if 172 in my age group, 122 of 1683 women, and 664 of 4622 overall. It was a really great if not muddy course and I will definitely do it again even in the rain.
I finished and looked for Sidney and my friend for an hour in the raining cold without any of my stuff.... They had gone back to the car and I didn't know. A very nice gentleman gave me a trash bag to wear to get warm and let me use his phone to track down Sidney. An hour later I hauled my muddy self into my friends car and blasted the heat and seat heaters.
On my way out I watched all the people trying to get out of the VIP parking. You could pay $25 to park at the venue versus park at the Waller Stadium (on pavement) and ride the bus for 15 minutes. I think everyone, even the 4 wheel drives, who parked at the venue had to be pushed by racers or pulled by tractors out of the mud. I might have giggled a little.
I disappeared into the shower when we got home to wash the ten pounds of mud off and my friend went to get Lupe Tortillas for dinner. It was too cold and wet for Sidney to swim so she was a little sad but we watched a movie and had a quiet evening.
We went to church Sunday morning at our old Katy church. There weren't many people there because of spring break. But it was nice to visit. After church we stopped at Whole Foods for grilled cheese before heading home.
Sidney had the week off from school but I still worked Monday through Thursday. We went to the San Antonio Food Bank on Friday morning to work in the garden. We worked in the orchard this time planting trees and then helping load trees onto a truck to take down to a new orchard south of town. They were planting 200 citrus trees. I think every tree we touched had thorns and I have the evidence all over my arms.
We headed in from the garden to wash up and use the restroom before we left and were met at the door by a couple of food bank employees. They were looking for the owner of a blue Prius. That would be me. My car had been hit in the parking lot resulting in significant damage to the front. The person who hit it was insured and left his information. He was very apologetic. The food bank people felt bad too. I spent the next 30 minutes on the phone with his insurance. The representative was very nice and helpful. Then Sidney and I nursed the car over to the collision center and I got a rental. It will be two weeks until I get it back.
After all that, we met Kirk and Mary Anne in Boerne at the courthouse to apply for a passport renewal for Sidney. Sidney then went back to Mary Anne's and spent the night there with Kirk. This was the first time she had stayed overnight with Kirk since the accident and it went very well. He had a big bump earlier in the week and I wasn't sure she would be able to go. But he never remembers the bumps and was home and doing fine. Apparently she slept on the floor by his bed and he slept all night, which he never does. I think it was really good for her and I will try to make it happen more often. It is also very nice of Mary Anne to let her come over. Today was church and homework and getting ready for a real 5 day week. We don't have to go back to swimming until Tuesday so we will get a small break tomorrow.
