*COMMUNITY*

I think this word describes this weekend perfectly.  The first thing I think about when I hear the word 'community' is, of course the hilarious TV show, that I probably shouldn't admit to watching.  I kid.  Anyway, I think of where I live.  It's a small place with no stop lights and a lot of good people.  This Saturday was the 2nd Annual Apple Harvest Festival.  There was talk last year of a run to start off the all day festivities...but it didn't happen.  But the tides changed a bit and they had one this year.  I decided on Thursday that I would do this 8K jog through picturesque Onalaska.  So, I went for a little 3 mile run and had second thoughts about doing it.  But Saturday morning rolled around and I was up and dressed.  We got a call from our good friend, Ron Lambert (who, by the way, is training for a half marathon) saying he had also decided to do the run and was pretty insistent that Doug do it as well.  Well, there went my babysitter.  Thankfully, Ron's wonderful wife, Jill was willing to wrestle my kids while the rest of us....ummm...ran.

One of the main reasons I decided to do this run, on this day, was because it was officially LiveSTRONG Day.  With my mom having had ovarian cancer and now still undergoing after effects and testing for thyroid cancer... I wanted to do this for her.  LiveSTRONG is a 'community' of people who have been effected by Cancer in one way or another.  I wanted to share that with the people that were there and passed out some wristbands. I am wearing 6 of them along with my LiveSTRONG shirt.  No...I didn't over to it.  I probably should have been decked out head to toe in yellow!!

My friend, Kim was there to run as well.  Hi, Kim!

Always the joker, Doug had to break the incredible nervousness by being silly.

The course was...interesting and a little confusing at times.  Several people went the wrong way and ended up running further than expected.  Oops!  Doug and I were together pretty much the entire time.  Except I decided to ditch him so I could use my last bit of strength and energy to sprint to the finish.  My official time was...54:51 and Doug's was 54:56.  I felt a little bit better about that time when we found out it was 5.3 miles, instead of just 5.

Who has two thumbs and won 1st place overall???  THIS GUY!  Jesse was speedy mcspeederson and took the coveted Apple Plaque for the guys.

I think one of the reasons Ron wanted Doug to run is so that he could beat him and then tease him about it! 

 Ron did so amazing, finishing 8 minutes before us.

And what's that in our hands you ask???  Why, they are 1st place ribbons.  That's right, sister (or mister) we all got 1st place in our age divisions!!!  OK...so there wasn't that much competition, but you know we will brag about this for a while.

Yep...KIM TOO!!

After waiting around hoping to win some of the cool raffle prizes after the race (where Doug, did indeed win something...a coffee mug!  I know, you're all envious), we ran home for a hot second so Doug could shower and then hustled back for the parade. 

 The kids enjoyed all the candy that was thrown at them.

A camel???  I guess so.  His name is Curly.

After the parade, we wondered around the town a bit.  The kids insisted on going to the petting zoo.  Doug went back for the car and I took all the kids with me.  There were a few baby cows, chicks, Curly the camel, guinea pigs, alpacas, one nice goat and two mean goats that I wanted to punch.  Isabelle and her cousin Gabe were the first to reach the furry bullies.  As soon as they got there, it was like bumper cars goat style.  They started head butting them!!  I was not happy and bolted the 5 feet distance to kick me some goats.  I picked my belly up and her blood curdling squeals were intense and drew in every one's attention.  Thankfully it scared them more than anything and there was no permanent damage done.  Isabelle, however was very timid around the other animals the rest of the time.  "But they will beat me up!"  Poor thing.  After that we headed into the schools for some craft browsing and song listening.  This A' Capella group (above) was so good.  I got super excited when they started singing Rag Time Cowboy Joe...a song that my Grandmother taught to me and I now sing to my kids.  I have never heard it anywhere else.  It made me smile and of course I sang along.  It was a good morning in Ony and felt good to be a part of something like that.  I look forward to it next year.

We made it home in time for me to shower quickly and head up to Rochester.  I think another part of 'community' is supporting friends.  My fabulous friend, Traci informed me that her daughter was in the play Wizard of Oz.  I didn't think we would be able to make it, but it worked out.  We went to the 3 o'clock showing and witnessed Raquel being a cute little munchkin!!  Unfortunately, Traci had decided that her husband would go to this showing and she would go to the 5:30 one.  So, I didn't get to go be with her, but it was a cute play and my kids have been singing the songs and reciting the lines from it for the last 2 days.

After a quick bite to eat at DQ...chicken basket with gravy and Texas toast, yummy... I headed back home to drop the kids off at my sis-in-laws and change into some fresh running clothes (which included killer tube socks) and I went right back into Centralia for another run!!

I think 'community' also includes doing things for people you don't know.

Tressa and Jesse (whom I DO know) organized a 5K run (3.1 miles) to help raise awareness for Joubert Syndrome.  A fellow blogger they know has a son fighting it.  

 After driving around Borst Park for a while, trying to find everyone I was beginning to think I was in the wrong place.  Soon my friend Heidi showed up and we were lost together.  Thankfully we received a phone call and were lead to the starting line.  Apparently my vision is worse than I thought.  They had been there the entire time.

Anyway, all was well and we were happy.  Tressa had put together some fun swag bags complete with glow in the dark necklaces and bracelets so we could be seen running in the dark, a whistle...just in case you got lost (and I'm surprised no one did, cause it got pretty dark out), some FunDip and awesome hand stickers for our rear ends.

The course was sort of a loopy back and forth thing.  I was a little sore from my run that morning but soon fell into 'auto pilot' which usually happens around mile 2.  I will admit...I am afraid of the dark.  So when the light really started to fade and the path became harder to see, I got a little nervous.  I took careful strides and hoped to not trip over the speed humps!!

Heidi's son, Drake was a running machine.  He kept up with the big boys the entire time and ran the whole way.  I was super relieved to cross the finish 'light' (car headlights) and got the time of 38:something and waited for the rest of the awesome people to come in.  As Raya came in, she informed us that the course was actually 6.2K, so just shy of 4 miles.   Everyone else came in and stellar awards were handed out.  I'm glad that I decided to be a part of this great little event.  Thanks Tressa and Jesse.

Yeah...we are all awesome!

~

And last, but certainly not least...our church 'comminity'  It was General Conference weekend.  What more can make you feel like a part of something then that?  It still floors me when I am sitting there singing or listening to those amazing speakers, that millions of other people are doing the same thing...at the exact same time.  Community, indeed.