Our Long Weekend Stay-cation

What a great long weekend we had!!  We packed up the van on Saturday morning and as soon as we had finished feeding breakfast to the guests, left the B&B in my parents’ capable hands and headed to Halifax so that the boys could participate in the Blue Nose Marathon Youth Run.   Erin had picked up their race kits for us, so we met her at the water stop where she was volunteering and the boys made a quick change before running with D’Arcy to the start for warm-up.

With Aunt Erin before the race

The girls were strapped into their stroller, and we headed down to stake out a spot near the finish line.  Most of the crowd was watching the start, so we were able to get really close and  after the race started, had a visit from “Myles” the Marathon Mascot.  He interacted with them for about five minutes.

The crowd watching the start on Citadel Hill

There were over 1200 kids, Grade 9 and under who raced and the first runners got to the finish line in a little over 15 minutes.  (The Youth Run isn’t actually timed…  

Evan ran the whole way without stopping and Alex finished about ten minutes behind him.  I was so proud of them both!

The girls, being entertained by Myles

 When Evan finished, he went straight into the Metro Centre to get a drink and some food, but I had stayed at the finish line to watch for Alex.  D’Arcy had been watching from part-way through the course, so he came down and met me.  We watched Alex run by to the finish and caught up with him.  D’Arcy hadn’t confirmed with Evan where we were going to meet him after the race was over, so Alex & I went into the Metro Centre to find him while D’Arcy & the girls stayed outside where we had been standing in case he came out to look for us there.

To find a child wearing the same t-shirt that 1200 other kids are wearing is quite an adventure.  I was getting worried that he would be panicking so just went straight to the announcer and asked if he would call Evan’s name to go to the “Lost Kids Bus” to meet us.  He had a big grin as he approached and said he was “just starting” to worry about finding us.

Evan, approaching the finish

Alex, approaching the finish!

Two very proud & happy boys

When we were all back together again, we got into the van to go play tourist. We stopped at Aunt Erin’s for a potty break, then went to Planet Organic to pick up a jar of Sunbutter for Olivia, then to the Italian Market for sandwiches for the rest of us and drove to Peggy’s Cove for a picnic.   We ate on the rocks and then spent the rest of the afternoon exploring.  

D'Arcy & Sarah exploring the tidal pools

Newlyweds, getting their wedding photos taken

Trying to arrange the kids for a photo - Olivia was not cooperating!

The girls had a ball with the hand-dryers in the bathroom!

We convinced the kids to get back into the van (they would have climbed on the rocks all day!) and we started back towards Halifax, stopping in Prospect to show the kids where it all started… We showed them Grandma & Grandpa’s old house, where we had our wedding reception, then drove in to see the church where we were married and the house we lived in when I was pregnant with Evan. I was devastated to discover that “our” house has been torn down and a brand-new two story house has been built in its place. We had the opportunity to buy this house last summer, but decided that it was impractical since it was so small. (One bedroom, a bathroom in the bedroom, a kitchen & a living room.) It had a beautiful backyard and we could see the ocean out of every window in the house! Of course, the memories of our time spent there, getting married and the excitement of our first pregnancy, make it even more special. Evan asked me if I was going to cry. I didn’t quite get to that point, but I was pretty sad…

We got into Halifax in time to pick up our race kits and check into our hotel, the Marriot Residence Inn. They had run out of women’s small t-shirts for me, so I ended up with a men’s small. Oh well. Once we got settled in, we took the kids swimming, then got them some treats from McDonald’s since we were still full from our picnic lunch.  Our apartment hotel room, was perfect – we had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen, a living room with pull-out couch, and three tvs!!  The girls & Alex were happy to go to bed and watch tv, but Evan stayed up with us until after ten.

I didn’t sleep very well Saturday night, as I was worried about whether or not I’d be able to complete the race, seeing as I hadn’t trained. (My “training” was “running” with the P-2 Running Club once a week for four weeks, and one longer run by myself…) D’Arcy took the three older kids downstairs for breakfast while I kept Olivia in the hotel room with me (to avoid the eggs & peanut butter and a potential disaster!) and got our things packed up and ready to go. D’Arcy’s brother, Uncle Mike, came to take the kids for us while we ran. Olivia was not impressed that I was leaving her with a “stranger” (she doesn’t see him enough to know him) and cried until they finally ran into Aunt Erin.   

The energy was amazing.  The full and half marathons started at 9:00, then the 5k at 9:10 and the 10k at 9:20.  We ran into a few people we knew and when the men in kilts shot of the starting gun, we were off! D’Arcy & I ran together for about a km, but I knew that I don’t run as fast as he does so sent him along and we ran separately from that point on. The crowds were amazing and the encouragement that everyone was giving to one another was inspiring. Although I don’t actually like running, it was easy to get caught up in the moment! I ran almost the entire course, stopping to walk a few steps only twice. At one point, as I was losing steam, a man pushing another man in a wheelchair passed me and I decided I had better pick up the pace!

The conditions were great, with just a light mist falling and the wind was at our backs for most of the race. I actually had to take my sweatshirt off part-way through. The end of the race was on an incline which I felt was just cruel! Uncle Mike had the kids all situated near the finish line and I managed to get a smile & a wave into them. I was so proud of myself, I was close to bursting into tears, but I was also wheezing slightly, so concentrated on getting across the finish and using my puffer!

 

 

D'Arcy at the finish - his time was 26:35.7

 

5k in 32:00.7

The runners & the cheering squad, after the race

 

The kids with Myles

 

Sarah wanted to take a photo of my medal

We checked out of the hotel, and because the weather was bad, decided to just head home. We watched the marathoners running over the bridge to Dartmouth and we went to Boston Pizza for lunch.
 

The girls

The boys

The whole family at the end of a fun family staycation!

We got home early afternoon and brought our things into the kitchen and after a quick nap (Mom & Dad!!) started a marathon game of Canada-opoly. Shortly after supper, the doorbell rang and we ended up with two rooms of drop-ins. We got the girls into bed early and the rest of us followed not too long afterwards.

We’re now tentatively planning to run 5k as a family in the Annapolis Valley in October, and I’m planning on running the 10k at next year’s Blue Nose, although D’Arcy is pushing to do the half. I think that might be pushing it…