Winner, winner, chicken dinner! Okay, no actual chicken dinner, but we do have the winner of our Lola Getts Active $100 Gift Card.
And the winner is….Ashley S!
We really hope Ashley loves Lola Getts Active as much as we do!
What’s not to love, right? And for those of you that didn’t win, please remember you can still get 40% off your order through 2/28 using the code Scoot40. Enjoy!
If you read Scoot a Doot on the regular, you know that we surprised our kids with the trip to Disney. Well, the surprises just kept on coming throughout the week.
On Wednesday night I picked Aunt Victoria up at the airport, only to have her scare the living daylights out of them the following morning. Seriously, I wish I had video of her jumping out of the bed from under the covers and their reactions. I’m so mean. After their heart rates slowed, we surprised them with a breakfast at ‘Ohana.
And we also surprised them with the runDisney Kids Races on Saturday morning! Ever since the kids caught wind of mommy heading to Disney World and Disneyland for races, they wanted in on the action. I mean, duh, who wouldn’t?
While I was at packet pick up the previous day for the half, I also got their shirts and bibs. runDisney is really good about getting the whole family involved on race weekend, with Kids Races and 5ks (along with the longer races). The Kids Races had Donald as their mascot, wrapped up in Christmas Lights – the boys were thrilled to see this! Little was signed up for the 200, while Pooks was in the 400 (one of his favorite distances during Track and Field).
Each of the kids bibs had a little tear off strip for us to collect the kids after their race if they were running alone. The plan was for me to run with Little and for Pooks to run alone with Jay stationed near the finish line to take pictures.
It was a nice plan. It didn’t exactly work out that way. More on why in a bit.
We got there with plenty of time to spare so the kids danced to the songs and limbered up before they went to their respective starting areas. The plan was for all the 100 heats to go, then the 200 heats, and then the 400s (I believe the mile and diaper dash were to follow). I walked Pooks over to the 400 starting line and found a nice family for him to hang out with, pointing out the volunteers in the purple shirts.
Little Dude and I headed to the 200 start area and waited as the 100 waves started going. Then, in the midst of the 100 heats… the 400 group began to round the track! I guess one of the kids misunderstood, there was a false start, and they all took off. Whoops!
Little and I both cheered for Pooks as he passed our area of the track.
He was pretty focused as he made his way to the finish line but there was a bit of a snafu as some of the little ones doing the 100 were still finishing their race. Jay snapped this picture of him just before he crossed the finish line.
The rest of the 100 heats still needed to go and Pooks got a little worried when he didn’t immediately see Jay after his race so he went up to a grown up who looked nice and asked if he could use their cell phone. He was wearing his Road ID with our phone numbers on it so he called Jay’s cell and told him where he was.
Of course, while Jay was off collecting Pooks, Little and I were running the 200. So, there aren’t any pictures of that! The logistics just weren’t in our favor but Little couldn’t have been happier. This was his first race ever and he had big plans. “Momma, we’re going to hold hands during the run. And go really, really fast! And then we’re going to cross the finish line and put our hands in the air and then I’ll get a medal!”
Naturally, that’s exactly what we did!
I think that they did a part two of the 400 but Pooks was content having done it once and being awarded his medal. Yup, my kids are all about the bling.
While we were walking toward the car I asked them their favorite part of the races. Pooks said, “Running!” and Little proclaimed, “Holding your hand!” (Insert the “awwwww” here!)
Once we got home their bibs immediately went up on their walls and their medals were hung right along side. They’re already asking when they get to run another race again. Mission accomplished!
Back in 2012 at the inaugural Atlantic City April Fool’s half marathon (my birthday race) Cam, Bec and I were up with the sun, prepping to run the boards. As we made our way through the casino floor we were chatting quietly, getting into the running mindset, we came across Drunk Dude.
Drunk Dude clearly had not gone to sleep and was wandering aimlessly around the casino floor, beer in hand. Anyone who’s gone to a casino knows that it’s somewhat difficult to find the doors (they hide those suckers so you can never leave and they continue to get all your money) so while we were struggling to just get out, he was struggling to converse.
Maybe we were asking for it with Cam walking around with “half virgin” on her back.
Us (we speak in unison – or at least we think in unison with one person responding what we’re all thinking): Whoa, look at this dude. He’s wearing the same clothes as last night.
Him: (random loud display) Hey! What’s going on here? What’s happening? Why are there all these people around here?
Us: We’re running a race, a half marathon. (Bec was doing the 7k but we figured Drunk Dude didn’t need the details. From experience as both the drunkee and the soberee, we knew the shorter the answers, the better.)
Him: Oh, a race? You guys are runners? How long?
Us: Yep, 13.1 miles.
Him: So, what, are you guys nerds or something?
Us: Yep, only nerds run. We have to go. (Eye roll)
Him: Oh you’re leaving? What? What’d I say?
Us: (walking away) Bye!
Him: (shouting after us) NERDS!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZEdDMQZaCU&w=640&h=360]
And listen, I get where Drunk Dude is coming from because at one point in the not-so-distant past, I wouldn’t have chosen waking up at dark o’clock to run a significant (read: any) amount of miles. In fact, when I ran a 5k through my college, I went past my old residence hall thinking “Girl, if your 20 year old self could see you now…”
You might not be able to surmise this about me if you don’t know me well but the truth of the matter is… I AM a Nerd. With a capital N.
Oh, yes, I’m a nerdfighter, too. If you don’t know what that is, here’s a video. (You can thank me later.)
I’m a running nerd and I’m damn proud to be a running nerd (all running nerds are – just look at their Facebook timeline/pictures for proof). I wear my Garmin proudly, logging my miles on Daily Mile so that I’m then able to talk about running with my friends. I talk about running with people I don’t know too, because they like running and the only thing better than running is talking about it! I wake up at 5 in the morning to run or I run when my kids are at school. Laundry and dishes wait because running needs to come first, so I can get through the mundane tasks. I’ll gladly not partake in alcoholic beverages because I’m training the next day.
My days revolve around when I can run and I get cranky if that plan gets derailed. I spend my money on Mizunos and cute running clothes and race entries. I’ll gladly travel to races, the further the better. I connect with other runners via Twitter. I read running blogs and I genuinely care how that blogger is feeling after their run and what their next event is going to be. I encourage newer runners because I remember what it feels like to be a newer runner. Sometimes I still feel that way.
My friends and I discuss things that happened during runs together and reminisce about things like Drunk Dude. Or the guy that shouted “COLOR RUN” as he bombed us with yellow color from behind as we were taking a selfie. And I like to dress up in costumes to run because as you know, many nerds like a good cosplay.
I like seeing people’s Instagram pictures of their food and their tracks and their playlists and gladly share mine as well. (Oh, and I like seeing their nail polish too, for the record.)
Through running, my confidence has gone up. Something I once believed was impossible is not only possible, it’s possible in great lengths. I can and I will to the fullest extent. I’m proud, enthusiastic and yes… a NERD about it.
So let’s all raise our glasses (mine is a 13.1 tumbler filled with water and Nuun) to all the running nerds. Long may we run.
