The Lone Star State

This is long past due, but in my defense I have been gone a lot in 2016; Our laundry actually has a zip code of its own, work is really busy and remember I have 3 kids and a husband.  The good news.... along the way we somehow fit in a sisterhood race!!!

Anyhow, the whole Texas thing was last minute and was the result of our Spartans playing AWESOME football the last few weeks of the season and landing themselves in the Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Texas! Yeah!  Arlington just happens to be a mere 6 hours from our Granny's house where we would be that very same week...I think you see where the story is heading...

That's right, TEXAS and The COTTON BOWL!  

This was before the game so Jeff was still smiling!

Mird and I being the excellent wives that we are bought our husbands tickets to the game!  And then, of course, we signed up for a trail run the following morning so that we could get Texas off our list.  We recognize a great opportunity when we see one!

If there is one thing you take away from this story it is this; You must understand, the Lone Star State was not kind to us: it kind of chewed us up, swished us around for a bit in a nasty smoker's mouth and then spit us out, dirty, exhausted and beaten down.  Not kind at all, but through it all we kept our heads held high, our spirits in check (for the most part) and most importantly we finished the damn race.

Here's what "chewed up and spit out" meant for this trip:

• The Cotton Bowl was a big part of it; 38-0 is just painful 
• Driving 6 hours with 5 kids to be blanked... in Cotton Bowl... by Alabama
• Hotel evacuation: 5 kids, pajamas clothed, 12 flights of stairs, without beer 
• Our beer got warm during the evacuation
• Trail run modified to a road race because of wet trail conditions
• Texas temperatures colder than MI
• We hoped to visit Jeff's cousin and that didn't work out
• The Daniels detoured through Oklahoma accidentally
• Did I mention the Cotton Bowl!?

State Number 5 Texas Cedar Hill State Park

Post run picture with our medals (made of cedar!)

Despite all of the chewing, swishing and spitting during this trip, it was a great start to what is proving to be a great year!  We ran the race together just the two of us and while it sucked being on pavement instead of rugged trails, we started our new year together running so we can hardly complain.  We have more race adventures in the planning stages so stay tuned for our next running domination dream...State Number 6!

 Happy New Years 2016

GO GREEN!!!