That's my girl!

So, I had promised Christine that I would come watch her, Katie, and Beth run this community race at a metro-park near their house. This is something that Christine has wanted to do since last year, and she has been running almost daily to prepare for it. My car has been making an unpleasant clunking noise when I drive over bumps, holes, or cracks in the road, so I didn't want to drive it the 22 miles to her house (where we were meeting). I planned to take my husband's car, but his tires were low on air, so half an hour before I had to leave I asked Nathan if he would take the Buick to the gas station and fill the tires. Instead he tried to fill them with his little emergency mini-compressor, and by 4:30 only the two tires on the driver's side were finished. Since I could not drive a lopsided car, my only choice was to drive his car. I don't really like driving anyone else's car. I have very short legs and need to move the seat w-a-y up so that I can comfortably reach the pedals. This usually produces a strangulation effect with shoulder strap of the seat belt -- which it did. It had rained earlier today, and it was very humid, but I unfastened the seat belt long enough to be able to roll down the window and open the sun roof. Eventually, after much tugging, grunting, and grumbling I managed to get my body and clothing adjusted as well as possible and left the house just in time to get stuck in rush hour traffic. About halfway there, it started to rain -- for the second time today. By the time we were all in Christine's van and on the way to the park, it was pouring down with flashes of lightning in the distance. Since "they never cancel this race" and we were walled in by traffic, we continued onward. By the time we reached the park, the rain had subsided and the sun had returned -- but everything at the park was, of course, soaked. There were literally hundreds of people of all ages participating in this race, which comprised three simultaneous events. Some were track teams from various schools, but many were individual runners. The course was across grass, gravel, and dirt; across a field, uphill, through a woods, downhill, around the field again, back up the hill and down again -- 5 kilometers in all. Since it had just rained, not only was the ground wet and, in places, muddy, but the air was heavy and humid. Looking at the trees in the distance was like looking through fog. I was so proud of Christine for completing this event. What a wonderful accomplishment, and what a memory to share with her daughters! Afterwards, as she stood in line to get her T-shirt, I said, "I'll bet you're the only mother of eight who ran this race." She glanced around and kind of mumbled, "Yeah. . . I'm probably the only mother of eight here." Well done, Christine, well done.