Miles to Smiles

There were a lot of miles covered today – both on foot and in vehicle.

Figures the one morning I am going to sleep in but set my alarm to 9 a.m. "just in case," I end up wide awake by 8 a.m. Guess it's as good a reason as any to get a run in before the day's activities. With all the rain lately, I am off my run schedule so only went 2 miles. Better than none, right?

By 11 a.m. we were on our way to state cross country... just down the road. It's weird but there are two state high school events that are always held in Wisconsin Rapids – state cross country and state gymnastics. So when we go to state, it's not an exciting road trip! Since they close off all parking around the golf course, though, we had to park at the Grand Rapids Lions Club and ride a bus over.

Our boys were pretty nervous but excited. I tried some reassuring words like, "Hey you did the hard part. You are one of the top 16 teams in the state. Have fun out there." I don't think I was effective. I think they put a lot of pressure on themselves to do well. And you just never know who's going to have a great day and who isn't.

With 151 Division 3 male runners, it was hard to tell how our team was doing. With thousands of spectators, it was also hard to get a close look, too! Got a few photos and then cheered my lungs out near the finish.

Our team ended up finishing 6th, which is right where we finished last year!

And 3 of the senior runners from last year were there to cheer them on. Carter is in Madison this weekend so we kept him up-to-date.

After the final results were in, within minutes after the finish, Jim and I hopped on shuttle bus back to our vehicle and hit the road for more miles. My oldest sister Rayna was throwing a birthday party for her husband Paul in Hudson. Got there a little late but they saved a corner piece of cake for me! Ha.

Now that Rayna is living here and not Texas, I am the one who is the far one from "home." If I am there, it's not so unusual that we have a full head count. Mom and her 8 R's. Above we have Raylene, Mom and Renell in front and me, Rayna, RoAnn, Rachel, Ron and Romey in back.

There were also numerous nieces and nephews there, along with my Aunt Gwen and some cousins closer to Rayna's age category. Haha. Picking on her and it's not even HER birthday. I'll be nice since she sent home cake with me.

Got to spend some time with my twin and my nephew Tony, too, who is enjoying his first taste of freedom in a long, long time. Glad we had the whole gang there to greet him.

Hit the road sometime after 7:30 to come back to Rapids. It's less than 3 hours and slightly closer than Platteville. That's how I judge distances now. Rained the whole way home. I hate rain in the dark. Thank goodness hubby was driving and got us home safely. We also were rewarded with listening to a Badger win on the radio.

Now I'm going to reward myself with a snuggly warm bed. I think we're mile-d and smile-d out.