Real Cross Country

I ran a race this morning! This was my first race since the Bedford 12k in mid-May, so I felt rusty and slow. It wasn't all from being out of shape though: the race was a cross country style "5k-ish" race. Someone said the course was 3.2 miles. Someone said 3.7 miles. I think it was somewhere in between. Anyway, it was longer than a 5k and definitely slower too. It was out in the boonies of Massachusetts at Great Brook Farm State Park. The course had rolling and steep hills, skinny trails, and a zillion little holes and rocks that just about broke my ankles. It wasn't muddy, but the dust from the trail combined with the sweaty humidity made me look quite dirty afterwards. You don't get this awesome sock-line from a track race!

The race went well considering my fitness level and course difficulty. Everyone went out fast - except me. I thought I'd have time to make it up. Then everyone funneled into a single-file skinny path where it was impossible to pass people. This was about a mile and a half long! So by the time I got out of there, I had a lot of catching up to do. I ended up third female. I'm not sure what my time was, but I'm not sure of the distance either so what does the time mean anyway?

Scott was helping some friends move this morning, so Bruce came with me. I borrowed a guy from the track club and his kids to watch Bruce while I ran. I strapped Bruce in his stroller to make it a little easier to watch him. I finished my race and took Bruce for a few miles of cooldown in his stroller. By the time we were done, he was ready to get out.

At this park I ran at was an active dairy farm with a few other animals. I put the stroller away and let Bruce run up and down the hills and then up a big hill to the farm. We checked out the tractors and a front-end loader hauling manure around. We looked at goats, rabbits, honeybees, sheep, ducks, roosters, and very loud pigs. And cows. Lots of cows.

There was an ice cream stand/barn, so we went inside and ordered a glass of milk and some lemon sorbet for me. I ate my sorbet; Bruce tried one bite and made a nasty face. He hates cold stuff - like ice cream. Strange, yes. He took a few sips of his milk and decided he was done. He'd rather watch the cows. I wasn't about to dump a $1.50 glass of milk, so I drank it. There goes my cholesterol. It was sooo good to have a cold glass of milk. Perhaps I should have splurged on real ice cream (although the sorbet was amazing!).

Anyway, inside the ice cream stand were big windows that looked in on a row of cows about to be milked. There was a "maternity ward" of a few enormous heifers just about to burst, and then a few dozen other cows lined up and ready for milking. Bruce was enthralled. I must say, so was I.

That was today. Earlier this week was our 4-year wedding anniversary. It has been a wonderful four years! Scott, I'm glad you married me despite my limited knowledge of protein-folding and fluorescence tomography. And despite my worst-ever grade at BYU, a C+ in Child Development in the Marriage, Family, and Human Development department. Hopefully that class isn't a grade on motherhood!