Sloppy Cuckoo Trail Half Marathon

Did you ever have one of those days where nothing seems to go your way?
I got up early Sunday morning, dragged the teenie and her friend E out of bed, and headed to Philadelphia's Pennypack Park for the Sloppy Cuckoo Trail Half Marathon. I got to the park with no problems, and found Eileen right out in the street! WOW! I thought that everything was going so well, it's going to be a great day! We found my friend Kurt as well, and walked around and chatted while we waited for the start.

don't we look happy? The race hasn't started yet.

At least I remembered the KT Tape. The race started and we ran across the grass towards the course. This was the easy part. It would not be easy again. Ever. It rained a lot overnight and the course was alternately dry and muddy. There were puddles and lakes and mush to run through. For 13.1 miles.
Oh.my.heck.

Eileen took this, one of 2 bridges we ran across.

Eileen took this! MUD!

Eileen took this! Muddles!

It went uphill, downhill, there were crazy rocks everywhere. I had figured on finishing in 3 hours. Hmmmmm
The first water break was at the 3 miles marker, and it felt like forever before we got there! It was a great stop though, they had water, gatorade, PB&J, candy. We ate and drank and ran on. The second half of the course was more uphills and downhills, twisty and turny trails, swishy skinny paths, and some more rocks. Yeah. I wanted to die. My knee held up nicely but my legs were so tired! I seriously considered stopping at the halfway point, I'm not gonna lie. When I saw the finish line, and I knew that I still had to do all of that again, I considered it. Seriously.
Eileen motivated me through the whole thing, I definitely could not have done it without her. The second lap was less muddy, which was nice, and we stopped to take some photos. We knew that 3 hours was not a possibility, but we were determined to finish!

Ever see Blair Witch? 

Yeah, I slipped in the mud, and landed on my bad knee. Hooray.

We did it! We finished. In 3 hours and 45 minutes (well, for me, Eileen was a minute or three ahead.) I love my running buddy, she kept me going through that whole race!

Isn't the medal cool? It really whistles!
I limped back to the car, my legs ached, my arch was on fire, and I was SO tired. As I am changing into dry clean clothes, the teenie tells me that she listened to the car radio for an hour.
Uh oh.
I ask her to start the car.......nothing. Dead battery. Yikes. We need to drive to Bloomsburg so the teenie and E can see Hunter Hayes in concert.
One very nice guy stopped and checked on us, but he had no jumper cables. Nobody did. AAA to the rescue! I actually needed a whole new battery, but he installed it lickety split, and we were on our way in less than 45 minutes! Hooray!
I drove the 2.5 hours to my Mom's house, took a nice hot shower, and we all piled back into the car (UGH) to go to the Fair. The teenies ran off before I even parked the car, and my parents and I headed over to the Agricultural Buildings. My Mom belongs to a flower club and they usually get in the top 3 each year for their entries.

their table and mantel

2nd place overall! WOOT!

1st place pedestal

2nd place pedestal

We ate some yummy food, and walked around  bit before we all got too tired. I went back to the car and waited for the teenies to come out. SO glad Hunter is a new artist, and only played until 9:45. I managed to get into bed at around 11, after using my Mom's Bengay Zero Degree Stick. I LOVE that thing!

No real pain today, except on the stairs! Time to get *back* in the car, and drive 3.5 hours home! Times like these, I wish we lived closer!

OH

this was race #9 of 13! Woohoo!

Have you ever been to a State Fair?