Being Irish is Half the Fun

Seamus was very dutiful this year. He made a cypher wheel and we decoded many messages from him. (Most reminding us how great he is and how he still wants gold.)

We made our wishes as usual. It is a silly tradition, but I love looking back at all the pictures with coins on our foreheads.

The day before we ran the Vineyard 5K again. Let's compare our results to last year:

	2012	2013
Tyler	16:55	29:37
Maleen	41:45	29:35
June	40:22	39:49
Robyn	40:43	38:37
Ivory	Rode in the Stroller	40:57

Everyone improved, except Tyler. But if you recall, he missed part of the course last year and his time didn't really count. Also, this year, he pushed the stroller. You will notice that he stayed right with me during the race. (Who am I kidding. I was trying to keep up with him!!)

Tyler was a good coach. On the last straight away we picked up the pace. And then he told me we would sprint at the finish. I told him I was already going faster and I wouldn't have anything left. But amazingly, I still was able to push it at the end. Charity, a friend of mine who finished in 26:??, snapped a picture as we crossed.

And here comes Tyler.

After I crossed the line, I took a breather and then went back for each child. Robyn was the first to show up. Another kind soul, Mandy, took a picture. Robyn was sprinting/walking at the end. But the thought of being passed by her friend helped her make a strong finish. (Wait, are they holding hands? Maybe they were finishing together.)

This is also where I could point out that Robyn is a head shorter than all her friends. Yep, we grow them in miniature around here.

June was the best to encourage. I could see the timer and told her that she needed to keep going to beat her time from last year. She told me that she couldn't do it, but she kept running the whole time she was telling me this. And she crossed the finish line in plenty of time.

And Ivory was not far behind. McKenzie came to run, but she had Adi in the stroller, so she was already planning to run at a slower pace. But she was such a trooper to pick up Jane and Ivory and keep them going the whole time. And I was very proud of Ivory for running the whole thing. Last year, she tripped at the beginning and sat in the stroller the rest of the time. McKenzie would be the third person to take pictures for me. It is lucky I know so many reliable people with cameras on their phones.

It was a great race. We all had a good time and went home feeling like we accomplished something. For me...it was my second race of the year. Only one more to finish my goal. Piece of cake. (This is where I probably break something that puts me out of commission for months. Let's hope I didn't just jinx myself.)

Love this lady.