Monday, March 30, 2015

Birthday Celebration and Bridge Run 2015

The past few days have been busy in the Walker household.  Last Thursday was Andrew's 4th birthday (still can't believe it), Friday we had some outings to celebrate, Saturday I ran in the 38th annual Cooper River Bridge Run 10K and we had a little more fun to celebrate.  Yesterday Jonathan did a 103 mile bike ride - the After the Bridge Run Ride - and we just relaxed at home.

First up - Andrew's birthday.  I ended up having to work from home that day since I had gotten a call at 9:00 the night before letting us know that Andrea was sick (I felt guilty for passing it on).  I got Andrew up for breakfast and gave him his birthday balloons. He was pretty excited:


I dropped him off at school with some oreos to share with his class for his birthday.  I spent the day working and entertaining Elliot.  We played in the back yard a bit:


When Andrew got home we decided to do presents:


Elliot was busy messing with the walkie talkies my sister sent for him and Andrew was making sure no one touched his boxes.  He was pretty excited about his dinosaurs:



Afterward it was time for cake:





It was a lowkey day, but he didn't seem to mind.

Friday we got up and he helped me make pancakes for breakfast:


We had been planning on going to the zoo, but the weather in Columbia was not cooperating. Instead we headed to Monkey Joe's in North Charleston, mainly so I could swing by the Bridge Run Expo to pick up my race packet.  Elliot wasn't a fan of the jump castles, so he spent most of the time playing in the toddler room:


Andrew, on the other hand, loved the jump castles.  We played for a little over an hour and he had a blast on this slide:


After that we headed downtown to the Wonder Fest thing they had going on for kids for the bridge run.  I was shocked when Andrew agreed to ride the pony:


He had a blast in the jump castle:


Played by the fountain:


Climbed up in a tree:


And built some stuff with his daddy:



We had told him that he could take part in the kid's race, but it wasn't until 5:00 and a storm rolled in at 4:00.  He was upset when we had to leave, but cheered up when we reminded him that his grandparents were on the way to visit.  We got home and made a spaghetti dinner so I could carb load for the bridge run in the morning.

Saturday morning I got up and got ready for my 10K:


It was a little cooler than normal for the race so I was wearing long sleeves and running tights.  At 7:30 I left the house to jog down to the start line since it's only a mile from our house.  I took my place in corral C and weaved my way up towards the front to hopefully avoid some of the crowd.  At 8:11 it was time for us to start.  The first mile was probably my best first mile ever in this race since it wasn't super crowded.  At 1.7 miles we hit the hill and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't tough.  Once we reached the top of the hill I felt ok and I pushed as hard as I could running down the hill.  Once we got down off the bridge and hit 4.5 miles I hit a bit of a wall and was so tempted to let  up.  When I got to 5 miles I noticed I had a pretty good time going so I pushed as hard as I could to the end. I stopped my watch as I crossed the finish line and looked down to see this:


I was really pleased and thought maybe this was a PR (I thought my previous best was 51:50), but when I looked it up I realized I had a 51:20 in 2010. 11 seconds from a PR. Damn!  I guess I need to try harder next year.

Jonathan was there to meet me at the end and we hung out at the after party for a little bit until I got too cold and we headed home.  I showered and got Elliot down for a nap. While he was sleeping we took Andrew to Blackbeard's Cove for a little more birthday fun.

First up was go-kart rides.  Andrew loved it:




The whole time he was chanting and laughing.

Then we went and played some mini-golf:




Andrew's form needs a little work  ;)
Jonathan beat me by four strokes - I guess we'll have to have a rematch.

On the way out they played a little basketball:



Then it was time to head home so we could go grab some dinner.

Yesterday was a relaxing day at home. We hung out and played outside in the sun and enjoyed the last of the weekend before it was back to the grind today.

It was a busy and fun weekend and I loved doing some celebrating with Andrew.  This coming weekend we'll be heading to Myrtle Beach for an Easter celebration and a little more birthday fun with my family.  Hopefully all of this makes up for the fact that we didn't do a party for him this year.  He seems to enjoy the prolonged celebration  :)


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