I once was 39 again

They say age is just a number.  They say 40 is the new 20 and orange is the new black.  Well I say to hell with all that. Who are they anyways?  I say you are only as old as you act and feel and I for one refuse to act like a real grown up and I feel like a million bucks, not a 40-year old mother of three. I refuse to act old, or wear the color orange.  I say you only live once so make the most of it!  I am basically a teenager in a 39 year old's body trying to squeeze every ounce of joy out of this thing called life.


But before I share all the joy-monade we made on our latest adventure........Check this out! 

 Did you know????   Maryland's official dinosaur is.....drum roll please.......

 Astrodon Johnstoni!  Sounds famous doesn't he? Like he should be performing in the circus or batting for the Yankees or something.  However, Astrodon is just a regular old, run-of-the-mill, sauropod who looks quite similar to a Brachiosaurus, his long lost cousin. 

But enough about dinosaurs. How about we talk running?  And check in on the sisterhood while we're at it?  The trip to Maryland was obviously incredible.  It is part of the deal.  We always have a grand time and this time it all started with a memorable experience at GRR.  It's not everyday you can say an experience at an airport is super fun, but that day it certainly was!  Seriously, I had so much fun at the airport, I almost felt okay about the beer prices!  Even though none of us had a plan, or bothered to check to see if our flight was on time, Courtney, Mird and I arrived at the airport check-in within seconds of one another.  Thank you God! Of course, we were bubbling over with excitement for our trip and I may have quietly mentioned it was my birthday and that we were running a half marathon in Maryland for the occasion. When we left check-in, the entire American Airlines crew serenaded me a solid rendition of Happy Birthday!  It was spectacular and I realize most people would not like such a fuss being made about their birthday, but me, I just rolled with it and savored the moment.  Oh yeah one more thing about check-in, we also learned the flight was in fact delayed so we felt a trip to the bar was in order.  We skated through security with no troubles (This was certainly unexpected given our behavior during check-in and our questionable reputations).  We landed at the bar a few short moments later.  It was an eventful bar outing too.  In one short hour, we learned that a DC jogger had been attacked (not the best news when you're headed to DC to run) and the weather looked rainy out east (equally not great news for the same reason). However, we did not let this disappointing news lessen our giddy nature or ruin our joyful moment.  We drank on, which resulted in an epic bathroom relay a short time later as we rushed to catch our flight! BTW, I think we won!  About this time, an announcement played over the loud speaker regarding someone who had left their unmarked pills at the security check point. This one, we found interesting, intriguing even. Why would TSA want to return unmarked pills to someone?  It seemed especially peculiar given TSA wouldn't let my brand new jar, of unopened and clearly marked Massachusetts honey through security on my way home from Boston last year!...This unmarked pills announcement was definitely questionable.  I think maybe it was a sting operation and they planned to arrest whoever showed up to claim them. This announcement did lead Mird to realize she'd left her deodorant at the check point so it wasn't a completely useless announcement because she later grabbed her deodorant as we passed by TSA.

Does this picture say adventure or what?!

The rest of the trip to Dominica and Ivar's house was uneventful.  For the next couple days, we hung out and enjoyed time with Dominica.  She has always lived far away from us so time together is at a premium.

One thing I need to address briefly is just how awesome our older sister, Dominica, really is. She doesn't like to talk about feelings, or be publicly thanked, or any mushy stuff like that, but I just want to acknowledge that she is one of the most amazing people I know.  She is tough. I could be wrong, but I believe she is made of the same blue twisted steel our dad is. She is logical and methodical and has a great sense of direction (and sense of humor which was later on display at the grocery story, but the deli boy didn't crack a smile).  She is smart and adventurous and never quits.  So she is quite possibly the perfect travel match for Mird and I who lack planning and directional skills,  are equally adventurous and who likewise never quit.  I guess not quitting runs in our family! We keep dragging her to these crazy race adventures and even though they aren't really her thing, she trains and not only comes along, but she participates at a high level; She packs us snacks, creates agendas, figures out directions, and plans 5-star restaurant quality meals that are out-of this world delicious while she is at it.

So when Dominica said she was out for our original birthday idea of Kansas and Missouri races on back-to-back days, I decided to rethink Operation Birthday 2018. I gathered all the best races on September 23rd from across this great nation and we threw the top 5 into a hat and let fate take over.   As you know if you read  This story, on Mother's Day we drew out Linganore Winecellars Race in Maryland. As a backup, we drew the original  KS/MS combo in the event that Dominica was uninterested or already busy on my birthday we figured we should have a plan "B".  When I approached Dominica and asked her to host a birthday weekend for me that would include the Linganore Race, she was in without hesitation.  As they say, the rest is splendid HISTORY!

After running the Linganore Vineyard Half Marathon, I feel absolutely 1000 percent BAD ASS and I am pretty sure everyone else who actually showed up and ran does too. Given the crappy weather and trail conditions, over 24 people didn't show up!  I guess I have to toot our own horns for a second, we had to run in constant rain, up and down muddy hills, through bullshit grass (*Bullshit Grass is not the scientific name, but rather a name given by our brother in law to an invasion species of Japanese stilt grass that is prevalent throughout the DC area), rugged woods and mud puddles the size of small ponds.  I feel totally justified in calling me and Mird Badasses because we totally killed it! Here are the results if you want to see for yourself! Mird and Vern Killin it!

Dominica and Courtney did the 5-mile option (It was bad enough weather that Mird and I both gave serious consideration to dropping down to that distance) and even 5 miles on that course in those conditions qualify as bad ass, or at the very least "not good" ass, in my humble opinion.  Domin and Courtney's Bad ass results!

As fate would have it, I was number 39 and Mird she was 42 so for one amazing birthday morning I was 39 and Mird was 42 and I got to be the little sister!!  I was transported back to a time not so long ago when 39 represented my number of years on this earth!  Thanks for the awesome birthday gift Linganore Half Marathon! It truly was a small birthday miracle and when you're my age you really appreciate a gift like this!   Dominica packed us the snacks (did I mention we love her) so once we traversed those hills countless times and dragged our exhausted legs through 13 miles of it, we did wine tasting and snacked for a couple hours.  Since Ivar was our official chauffeur, we napped on the way home which was pretty much essential to our being functional the rest of the day. Thanks IVAR!  Dominica cooked us a fabulous fish, wild rice and salad dinner which was the perfectly delicious ending to a perfect day!

Birthday Post Race Wine Tasting

Obviously AWESOME doesn't really do justice to this year's birthday trip.  I am working to make up a new adjective that is awesome enough and worthy to be used to describe our weekend...I'm thinking maybe....

AWESOMAZINOTEWORTHYHEARTSTOPPINCREDIBLEGENDARY,  but that was just something I made up in two seconds so it is subject to change.

The point is this year's birthday trip was indescribably awesome and now that I can move again (because I was so sore for three days that I did pretty much minimal movement) I am feeling ready for Motown in a little over 3 weeks!

Linganore Winecellars Cross Country Classic 

Mt Airy, MD September 23, 2018

PS I try not to swear too much in here, but I honestly toned it down quite a bit because there is something about over 5000 in elevation gain and rainy, muddy, hardcore trails that brings out the sailor mouth in me!

PPS The TSA lady was super impressed that I was dragging avocados on our birthday adventure!  She giggled and shared freezing techniques with me and other helpful avocado tips.  She was the first friendly TSA person I've encountered so I offer this as proof that avocados are a great ice-breaker and also there is hope if you've never met a friendly TSA employee keep on being nice to them some day they may just provide you with helpful food storage tips...

One final thought:

 and for one fun morning I was!

Vern out