This past weekend I headed up to Charleston, WV and took Wes and our friends Gemma and Mat with me. My sister, Beth, and my cousin, Jon, signed up for the 5k race, and Gemma and I signed up for the 10k. My parents participated in the 5k walk while Mat, Wes, my uncle Bob, my grandparents, and my cousins Kim and Liz cheered us on at the finish line. The race took place in Coonskin Park, which has a little golf course, a pond with paddle boats, and some great camping and trails.  It was a relatively small race put on by the Children’s Therapy Clinic. The CTC is a local non-profit organization that provides free health care and physical therapy for children with disabilities who may not have health insurance or enough insurance to cover all their bills. It is a great charity to support. The race course itself was on smooth paved roads, but the hills were absolutely brutal. One of the hills had an incredibly steep 7% grade and I definitely had to stop and walk to get up them. West Virginians are really friendly people though, so when I stopped to walk there were always other racers talking and cheering each other on. I did much better than I expected with all the steep hills, and I did it in 1 hour and 14 minutes, roughly keeping a 12 min/mile pace. This was Beth’s first 5k and she managed to do it right around 30 minutes. Gemma and Jon did really well and received 2nd place medals for the age group categories.

After the race we headed back to my parents’ house, relaxed a bit, and then went to the pool. My cousin Kim and her two boys, Nick and Joey, came with us. Nick had a blast playing with all of us, and we all did a few cannon balls off the diving board. Once our fingers were completely pruned up from the water, we headed back home for pulled pork sandwiches and corn on the cob. Overall, it was a fantastic weekend.