Vacation Kansas - Day 3 In which we RUN

Why is it so early?  I feel like that's a question I ask every time I run with Beth.  Today was no different.  We got up around before the crack of dawn so we could meet at Bob's house at dawn and head to Kansas City.  In uniform.

Yes.  I did run in my horns but only for the first leg.  

The race starts off at a brewery (as it's called 'Brew 2 Brew) and the pre-race festivities did not disappoint.  Sadly, I could not partake as I was running the first leg for the team.

WANT!  Sadly, I must run instead.

Baby Bok in the Pink Shoes.  (They're not pink anymore after those gravel roads in the country and 50mph winds)

Team Bringing Up the Bok - sharing pictures on Facebook and getting me ready to run.

We started running at 7:30am.  Hilariously, the first 10 minutes of the run were up a hill.  Yes, I really did go up that long.  Then I had to stop in the middle of the bridge and go down this huge staircase.  This is where the real obstacle course began.  Because I had to follow surveyors tape through the pilings (and makeshift dump?) under the bridge over to the levy.  Then there was a concrete wall at the base of the levy and they had a little step ladder (here, use this) to accomodate runners to get up on top of the levy and keep running.  Then there were all these bridges blocking the path across the levy so we had to climb down what were now boulders to go under the bridges, then run back up the other side and back over more boulders.  I so wish I had my camera because it was unbelievable.

This was my favorite leg I'd run in any relay because I kept passing people.  By the time I passed the sixth of seventh person I was thinking "this is way less serious than Ragnar". By the time I passed like the tenth person I was thinking, "hell yeah, I'm really good at this".

It's almost Beth's turn to go!

I have no idea how I made it look like Bob is in a funhouse mirror but the effect is nice.

Anyone who's run Ragnar knows: The Wisconsin State Patrol would never have allowed this in that race.  Like I said, this race was way less serious than Ragnar.  And it was a total blast!

As the day progressed it got hotter and windier.  The first leg was really windy, mostly a crosswind, but not so hot because it was early.  My second leg was actually leg nine of ten.  By then apparently it was 91* and winds in the 30mph range with gusts up to 50mph.  It was only predicted up to 84* but like I said, Kansas put on a show.  My second leg was on a gravel road and the hills did not stop. Mercifully, I didn't know it was 91*, I thought it was still somewhere in the 80's.  (Hey, it's 50* warmer that in Minnesota, I can only gauge so much here.)  I legitimately ran the first two miles and started walking after that.  I ran all of the downhills because running fast down hill is my favorite thing ever and used telephone polls as landmarks to help me gauge how much of the up hills to run.  I did run up some of every hill and averaged about a 13:00 mile.  I met Beth at the end and just wanted a hug.  Sadly she had the same look of dread I'd had on my face 4 miles ago and she was not in the hugging mood.

Because of a weird parking situation at that exchange, runners get into whatever automobile is there dropping off a team member so I headed into Lawrence and the finish line with some girls from Topeka. I lost my other three team mates due to not having a cell phone with me (good thing too or I would've called for a ride at the bottom of one of those hills) so I waited around the finish line and ran Beth in the last 100 feet.  She was barely speaking to me after the race.  Luckily I had a big bottle of water for her and that helped.

After the race we headed back over to the brewery for our free beers and to hang out and celebrate.  Random piece of information - my hair was caked with sweat and dirt and was totally immovable.  Not even hair spray could've made that effect.

Yum.

Still smiling after running in 90*

We had three 50-year-olds on our team.  They drank me under a table.  (Not quite that much, but they put me to shame.)

Last call!  Almost time for a shower and clean clothes.

After the beer was gone we found out Team Bringing Up the Bok (that's us) won second place for 'best name' and Kathy got our prize for us.  Then we headed back to the car to drop everyone off and I got my last look at downtown Lawrence.

This is the guy who told us we got second place for our team name.  Watch as Kathy dances around in the background. 

One more for the road.  Note the sunburned shoulders.

In addition to the Magnolias, the Pear Trees are wonderful.

Beth's mom got us all Chinese food.  Beth drover her mom over to the restaurant to get the food and I stayed home with the girls.  (Probably good since I couldn't move.)  While at home, I got an impressive Hannah Montana concert from Beth's youngest.  Fantastic.  She really does know all the words.

This is the longest she stayed still for me to take a picture.