Mini golfers

On Sunday, August 25, we hired a babysitter for Ryan after church and took the older boys mini golfing at Overlook using our free family passes. It was a beautiful day, and there weren't too many folks there.

Shawn showed both boys how to line up their feet and their hands on the club, etc. at the practice area before we went to the 18 holes. He is such a good Daddy! I should add that the entire day before he was in bed with a severe head/chest cold that gave him ear infections and a sinus infection. He went to the doctor and was prescribed antibiotics the day before and rested the entire day. But, that didn't stop him from coming along on a family date day when I suggested it the next day.

Then everyone tried to get their ball in the hole before entering the course. Joshua got his in, but eventually we told Caleb just to come along. We made the rule that you only get six tries before we had to keep going (since we saw another family paying for their clubs and balls; we knew it wouldn't be too long until they'd catch up to us).

Joshua went first, and he did pretty well for not having mini golfed before (or at least for a long time; he has gone before with us, but he didn't remember).

Caleb got a hole in one on his first try! He was SO excited and we were all legitimately surprised. :) :) :)

Joshua was FURIOUS that Caleb did better than him. Why is my boy so fiercely competitive? I think we all have it, though, to a degree. But, we asked him to be kind and say congratulations and show good sportsmanship. It's part of life!

Thereafter, Caleb still struggled on most of the holes. On occasion he got it in after several tries, but many times he took his six and called it a day. But, he was still having fun and trying. Joshua typically got his in on his fifth or sixth try but did occasionally have to take a six without actually getting it into the hole. That was the exception rather than the rule for him, though.

Shawn & I decided to do a little bet. I had been beating him by a stroke here or there, but there was one where he got it in in two tries and it took me until the sixth to get it in. We decided to bet who would win. If he won, I would not run the half marathon course that night with friends. If I won, he'd have my ice bath ready for me when I got home.

I should know better than to ever bet Shawn. He ALWAYS wins. He has more luck and more skill than anyone else I know. Even though I had been doing slightly better, he pulled away and won by a stroke or two.

Caleb got another hole in one at the end of the course. He jumped up and down for excitement. But we told Joshua he won the entire game (okay, it was a little white lie, but it didn't hurt anything and it made his mood a whole lot better). He was THRILLED to hear that he beat Daddy and Mommy and everybody by trying his best.

My husband let me go running, even though he won. He wasn't thrilled with the idea, but I so desperately wanted to go and see if I could actually run a half marathon. I have two friends training to run the actual Hands On House half marathon, and one of them is training to run a full marathon in November. I told him I'd call him from my cell if I ran into problems.

Here's Caleb's final shot and dance:

We had a great time! When we returned our balls and clubs, I asked the worker to take our picture. It was dark because of how bright it was outside, but here we are:

I suggested we end our date with Sweet Frog frozen yogurt since the boys love it so much. Shawn agreed that it was a good idea and away we went!

After our treat, I went to BodyFlow (which is like yoga) at the gym to stretch good. I took all three kids with me to Universal so that Shawn could get some work done before I left to run. When I got back from my stretch, I got my favorite running sneakers on, filled my hydration belt with water, turned on my cell phone and left for the Hands On House. I met my two friends and another gal who ran part of the course with us. I put my phone on to track our pace and distance and kept it in my belt. And then I enjoyed chatting with my friends.

The one gal and I ran ahead of the other two. She had one of those fancy GPS watches (which I would love to have but would seem like a waste of money since my phone does basically the same thing). She told me that we were keeping to about a 9-min mile. I felt good and like we could keep that pace going long-term. We stopped every so often to get a drink and let the other gals catch up to us. At about the half-way point, we stopped where my other friend dropped a gallon of water in the bushes so we could all refill our hydration belts. I was so thankful because my water was already gone. The gals also shared some "nutrition" in the form of cliff blocks. I'm so not used to longer distances and the need to refuel. I had them a couple times, but I felt like I'd rather burn my fat than eat more calories to sustain me. These are skinny girls I'm running with, I told myself.

The three of us continued to run after the water break whereas the other one took a side road to call her husband to come pick her up. She was only planning on doing that many miles from the start. I felt good and wanted to see if I could finish. My friend that hadn't been keeping up with us struggled to do so, so we tried to slow down. But, I realized that running slower than your typical tempo makes it more pounding and hard on your joints. This course is a TERRIBLE course. I wouldn't pay money to run this race for that reason. I've heard from other folks that it's an insane course, but you don't know what that means until you experience it. It is literally straight UP HILL and then straight DOWN HILL. I don't mean a steady incline. I mean a steep holy-cow hill and worse (believe it or not) is the steep straight down. There are leaves and stones on the side of the road and I feared that running full speed might make me trip and fall. I also felt my toes getting crushed in my shoes each time we would go down another hill.

We came to a spot in the road where we couldn't decide if we should go straight or turn left over what looked to be a rickety bridge over a river near a cow field. I offered to cross the bridge (because I thought it was the correct way to go) and tell them the next road name while my other friend ran ahead the other direction to see what was that way. I discovered I was correct, so I had to run back to tell them and then we ran together. So, my final distance was closer to 14 miles than 13.

 

My friend who wasn't keeping up eventually stopped running altogether. She said her knees had had enough. She was going to walk the rest. I offered her my phone, but she didn't accept because she didn't have a place to put it. We agreed as a team to run ahead and go get the car to pick her up. So, the other gal and I sprinted off. Since we were getting tired, we played a game where we would try to get in front of each other and keep the other one from getting in front. Then at the next hill, I said I couldn't play the game; I was just trying to keep up! She had been training for a full marathon and I'm not used to the longer distances even though I was keeping up at that point. 

Around mile 12, I felt like I could die. My toes were sore, my body was sore and I was tired. I had gone to an hour long class before this and we were nearing the two hour mark of running. I would have called Shawn, but I thought with only a mile to go, it wasn't worth it. I was almost back to my car. I continued to run but when we were super close to the parking lot, I told me friend to go ahead and run as fast as she could to get her car to pick up the other gal. It was going to be dark soon and I knew we should all get off the road since we didn't have any light-up gear and there were no sidewalks in this area. She agreed and sprinted off. She had run a couple miles before we met her, so she was on mile 16 or so. WOW! When I got back to my car, I headed home without stretching. Thankfully I live about a mile from there. Then I when I got home, I took off my shoes and socks. My feet had swelled to the point that they were no longer comfortable. When I took them off, I realized that my toes were black and bruised. UGH! Stupid course!!!

I would have been proud of myself for running that far if I weren't in such bad shape. My feet hurt so bad. I asked Shawn to help me with my ice bath anyway (did I learn my lesson from not winning and taking my winnings anyway? You bet!). He graciously did. My stomach hurt. I ended up throwing up and issues with the other end. Was that from running? I'm guessing so. I didn't feel sick until I got home and stopped. Maybe I should have walked a little afterwards. I stretched. I did the ice bath for as long as I could stand it. Then I got a shower. And I iced my hip and achilles thereafter for a little bit. My stomach hurt. I ended up taking a sleeping pill to get to sleep.

My feet were more than excruciating for the next week or two. My toe nails are still black (and they weren't overly long). I told myself I would never run that course again. But I do think I could run a half marathon. I promised Shawn I wouldn't do any more long distance running until I had trained better for it. But now I know that I could. And that's worth something, right?

This was our last day before school started...