College tours, Lost and Found & International Love

 If you've been following the blog since its inception, then you realize Mird and I lack planning skills, have absolutely no sense of direction, and we have commitment issues. This means our spouses, friends and family typically spew off a long laundry list of concerns whenever we announce our next racing trip. New York was no exception. I'm sure people were concerned we would get lost and never found, or that we would never actually go, or worst of all, that we would lose a child since we decided to drag a vanload of teenagers with us for the first time ever and make a dual purpose of the trip--visit colleges and run a trail race.  For the record, nobody died, we got lost the perfect amount of times, and we had an awesomesauce adventure.  In general our lack of planning and navigational skills seems to work well for us because we are adaptive, have a sense of humor, and we are committed to finishing our 50 states challenge if it's the last thing we do.  It always proves to be an adventure and there are countless obstacles that try to get in our way, yet somehow we always manage to pull it off with smiles on our faces.  Best of all, along the way we create some of our most wonderful memories together.  

Road trippin'

Sunday morning at 5 am my mission was to get 3 teenagers into my van so they could return to a state of unconsciousness while I drove us to Lansing to meet Mird and Kenny. It seemed pretty straight forward so I took the dog out for a early run and thought the kids could handle getting up on their own and would be sitting anxiously waiting for me upon my return. Boy was I wrong.  After several wake-up calls, I finally got the 3 of them into the van (think herding cats and you'll get an idea of what I was up against).  We were off!  We made it to Lansing in record time and got the Daniels loaded into our van lickety split!  At each stop along the way, I made a deal with the kids that they had to do ten of one exercise and five of another in order to earn a draw from my money bag (a bag my grandma sewed that is full of different denominations of dollar bills. Someone could get a dollar all the way up to a $20).  It kept people active and made it fun for the kids so the money bag is here to stay!

calf raises, squats, jumping jacks and push-ups

workout number 1.

first pit stop

We drove all day and made great time and arrived at our first destination Katonah NY at about 5 pm just in time for happy hour. The drive was fairly uneventful Mird and I chatted in the front seat.  I must say I am amazed at the sleeping skills of teenagers.  I can not sleep like they do! The best part was crossing into New York Hazel the DJ blasted welcome to New York by T Swift and we had a mini dance party! Check it 

Ran and Skip LaPolla were our hosts in NY and they were AMAZING!  They had supper waiting for us and had their 3rd floor luxury suite all ready for us!  We had a delicious cookout with burgers, hotdogs and lots of delicious salads and everyone visited and we rotated through the showers. Kara talked to them about the Netherlands because Ran and her mother Willy both immigrated from there and still speak Dutch!  We got to bed fairly early because the next day was our day in the city.  

Cheers to our gracious hosts-Ran and Skip!

A toast to Ran--a kind, funny and generous hostess with the most"est"!

We parked by the park with the small stairs...

To say we stuck out like a sore thumb in NYC would be a vast understatement.  However, we had a ton of fun so we don't really care.  We didn't do half of the tourist things so we already decided we have to go back to the city possibly on our way to Connecticut or New Hampshire.  We did make it to Times Square, Central Park, the M&M store, The Empire State Building and we rode the subway.  The kids were so enamored with Macy's that I fear we entered some sort of time warp and ended up spending a majority of our time there looking at items we could not afford unless I refinanced our house, maxed out our credit cards, or took out a loan.  We did have a few small purchases and ate lunch at which time we noticed Hazel's phone was gone.   We also did self guided tours of Columbia and Barnard College which was the actual purpose of the trip so that was good.   We returned home after losing two cell phones, our car, my fancy gluten free dessert, a bottle of water and our minds.  Don't worry we found the two cell phones and the van, but my mind is still wandering at large in NYC so if you run into it please send it on home!

Columbia University Upper Manhattan

Goofy college pics

Posing like Greek Gods

Barnard College Upper Manhattan

North Central Park

The coolest part of the M&M store. The prices were absurd, but Mird was the cool aunt and bought a bunch anyways! It ended up being a great snack as we walked through the city and since I lost my gluten free fancy cake, it was good that we had the sweet treat!

The Empire State Building.

We slept another night in NY and woke early for our final two college tours Cornell and Syracuse.  Somehow during the night Kara managed to lose her cell phone so we left about a half hour late after unsuccessfully searching for her phone all morning. As a result, nobody ate breakfast so by the time our Cornell tour was finished we were all on the verge of hangry.  Once we completed the Cornell tour we decided to skip Syracuse since Kara really wasn't considering school there, it was going to add 2+ hours in the car and we were so hungry.  I took action and found an Italian restaurant that sounded wonderful. I hit the directions button on my phone and presumably we were on our way!  After attempting to find the restaurant twice, and getting derailed by construction as many times, we finally stumbled upon it.  Turns out the restaurant was actually on campus and part of the Cornell Hospitality and Tourism program.  

Cornell Red Group Tour 

My peach, goat cheese and tomato salad!

                                                    Hazel is so happy we're eating Italian!

Kara and Eli opted for the buffet!

The buffet was amazing!

The menu: If you ever go to Cornell, please eat at Taverna Banfi. 

It is so delicious.

and you can play a game of chess while you wait.

After our feast we headed to Henrietta, NY-- the hometown of our Run Our Trail race.  We knew we would be early so the kids talked us into a quick round of mini golf.  It was a blast so I am glad we said yes.  We were technically asked to leave because some lightning was spotted, but we decided the rules didn't apply to us since we were from MI and had 3 youngest kids in our group so we finished our game, returned our clubs and changed for the race in their bathroom. It was kinda like Clark Kent going into the phone booth and coming out Superman, only we just came out looking like a bunch of runners.  However, in my opinion, runners are heroes so it's pretty much the same thing!!  It was the perfect way to prepare for our race.  

Rules about the rules.  The oldest follows the rules, the middle is the reason the rules exist and the rules don't apply to the youngest...Our group consisted of two oldest (Kara and Kenny), one middle (me) and three youngest (Mird, Hazel and Eli).  We decided this meant we didn't need to follow the rules because a majority of us were youngest. Possibly a lapse in parenting judgement, but we had a great time and nobody died so I count is as a success. Eli was the winner and he took the momentum from his victory into our race experience leading the pack through the trail adventure!

The race was epic as usual. I am starting to think that Mird and I turn average races into EPIC races because every race we go to turns out so memorable, but who knows it could just be a coincidence.  Anyhow by the time we arrived at the race we had also booked a hotel room in Canada by the Niagara Falls for the night so we knew we wanted to run and then head to the hotel.  It had a pool and hot tub and a view of the falls so we didn't want to waste any time. We quickly talked the race director into letting us start early with a slow lady who needed extra time and we were off like a prom dress as the old saying goes (not that I am suggesting prom dresses should come off. It's just an old saying from the olden days)!  Eli must have really been excited about the pool because he laid down a punishing pace that literally ran me into the ground and I run a lot.  The K team (Kara and Kenny) rose to the challenge and kept up pretty well;  I thirty years their senior, struggled breathlessly to keep up with the lead pack and oftentimes swore although I told the kids swearing doesn't count during races and for the record I did finish pretty much with them and then returned to the trail to run Mird and Hazel in.

Starting line

Mile One: Team Awesome!

Mird and Hazel bonding time

It was a bit of a muddy mess, but we finished!

Mird and Kenny at the finish

Constantine gals

So we've learned hot tub post race celebrations are the best!

We ate pizza and snacks at the finish line and then headed to our boujee hotel in Niagara Falls Canada. The kids were so excited. As I started going through my envelope full of very important papers while Eli drove us ever so closer to the border, I realized I brought Hazel's social security card instead of her birth certificate.  I swore a few times which actually counted because we were done running and then we all decided we just had to go for it and try to get into Canada. If we couldn't get in, Hazel and I planned to sleep in our van and the others were walking to the hotel.  Luck was on our side, the border patrol officer didn't say anything at all about her school id and social security card combo that I passed him and he told us to have a nice visit. We decided we would worry about returning to the US tomorrow, but for tonight---hot tubs, drinks and Niagara Falls!  We checked into the hotel and everyone was in dire need of a shower so we started the process of shower rotations, and everyone snacked and relaxed when it wasn't their turn.  By the time we finished showering, everyone was starving again because we made the mistake of bringing teenagers with us and they are kind of like babies--it seems like they just eat, sleep and poop--so we sent them with my credit card to TGIFs and we headed to get our free drinks from the bar.  At some point during this midnight snack extravaganza, Hazel found Kara's phone and other personal items in her backpack. Eureka, it felt like we won the lottery!!! I know sending the kids to a restaurant unsupervised was not my best parenting decision of recent, but it worked out okay and eventually we found ourselves at the bottom of the hill overlooking Niagara Falls.  The kids LOVED this!

Our crew all smiles

everyone say "Niagara Falls"

Now about that whole return to the US thing, it didn't go nearly as smoothly as our entry into Canada.  First of all, there was a long line so we had to wait about 20 minutes. When we finally arrived at the border patrol station, I handed him the same documents we had used less than 24 hours prior to enter Canada. He went through the passports quickly and then asked about Kenneth and Hazel's proof of citizenship.  I let him know I had a picture of Hazel's birth certificate on my phone. He looked it over and after a short inspection of the picture said that would work.  Then, just in the nick of time, uncle Mark sent a picture of Kenny's birth certificate.  The officer checked that out and said "ok ladies, this will work for today, but next time you decide to take your kids out of the country make sure you have the proper documentation".  We thanked him and immediately drove off before he could change his mind or arrest us.  Hazel cued the welcome to America playlist that I had requested:  Miley Cyrus Party in the USA, Neil Diamond Coming to America, Bruce Springsteen Born in the USA and finally we all sang the Star Spangled Banner.  It was quite a lovely way to return home. 

My debut album...

 This is just a short clip of the celebration, but rest assured it was a BIG party much larger than the one when we got into Canada because we were quite concerned that they were not going to let us in and our husbands were going to have to drive to get us with the birth certificates. That would have been a real buzz kill and would have really fueled the flame of those who questioned our ability to pull this whole trip off.  

Mird and Vern 

Niagara Falls July 2023

 International Love kept running through my head when we were in Canada so here you go!  Now it's running through yours...

                                           

                                                      HaZel, KeNny, KaRa, ELi, VeRn and MiRd

                                                               Run Our Trail Henrietta, New York 

                                                                    July 25, 2023 State Number 19

PS I am trying not to get emotional about this race, but it's hard.  There's already been a few tears.  We've never brought our kids on these trips.  Honestly, until recently, I never wanted to because it was our special sister time together.  Lately I've been realizing I have a senior which seems surreal.  Kara is a senior and in a year she will be off on her own making her way in this big world.  I know she's well prepared. She is smart, independent, tough, determined, kind and just overall awesome, but it's hard.  A part of me wants her to stay with us forever.  These moments together are slipping away and I am trying to make the most of them and make the most moments together for us in this last year if that makes sense.  We're already planning another adventure and hopefully another after that.  SL Class of 2024 is such a great group of kids and Kara is so amazing!  I am so excited for the upcoming year.  

Damn Yankees!

As I sit here writing this, I'm actually still surprised that I have another race to write about so soon after our Kirby's Angels adventures.  The line from Christmas Vacation "If I woke up with my head sewn to the carpet I wouldn't be more surprised than I am right now" keeps running through my head!  This adventure was 100 percent unplanned and yet absolutely perfect thereby reaffirming by belief that planning is over-rated and spontaneity is often unappreciated and unfairly seen in a negative light.

Background information is lengthy yet necessary so don't skip this paragraph, unless you've run with me in the past two weeks then you've probably heard this story and this paragraph is optional.  My Granny turned 90 this past Thursday. It was a big deal.  I guess anytime someone turns 90 it's a big deal, but she had polio as a child and was given a poor medical prognosis and told she'd never have kids so for her it's an even bigger deal.  Well she went on to have 7 kids, countless grandkids and a bunch of great grand kids and she had lived a very active and full life.  She was a single mom for much of her life, worked hard at a factory job, was a granny for the local school after she retired, and has always taken such good care of her family.  Love One Another. is our family mantra and it started with her father, was continued by her selflessness and nurturing personality and will continue on in all of us when she's no longer on this earth.  In short, Granny Groove is just the best most awesome granny I could ask for. And she gets her nickname because she has always loved to dance! In fact, she's likely responsible for my lifelong love of dancing!  When we asked her what she wanted to do for her 90th she quickly said, "go to the dance club!"  Recently, her health has not been great so the dance club was definitely out and we really didn't think there would be a party, but then earlier this week there was a family Facebook event created inviting everyone down to eat cake on Thursday or Saturday with Granny for her birthday. Two options. Two cakes. One awesome Granny to celebrate!  Well the 3 Michigander Smith siblings went back and forth all week trying to figure out if we could pull off a quick visit to wish Granny a happy birthday in person. I nearly mailed her gift about 70 million times this week thinking we definitely would not be making it, but kept delaying because I wanted to go so badly. Then on Thursday night we decided to just go for it. We each waited for one of us to back out and miraculously nobody ever canceled so we inexplicably found ourselves crammed inside Mird's Explorer giddy, somewhat disheveled, and headed south to eat cake and sing to Granny!

Now you might be asking yourself what does all this have to do with running; which is a fair question I might add so here's the connection. As we drove later into the night, we talked about many things unrelated to running and at some point our conversation shifted to running and then we started talking about trying to run a race in Arkansas since we were going to be there.  Of course I had scouted races (just in case) earlier in the month and knew there was a race about an hour and a half from Granny and somewhat on our way. We decided to sign up only to learn that registration had ended on Thursday. Well we are not quitters so I started calling the numbers on the race website and finally got ahold of someone who knew what I was talking about. I explained our crazy situation to them and pleaded for them to allow us to sign up and run the 7k at the time of the 50K race because we did after all have to get to the party asap and the 7k didn't start until 10am while the 50K started at 8 sharp!  The race director agreed to our terms of engagement and actually reopened online registration for like 5 minutes to give us an opportunity to put our money where our mouths were!  I took care of registering myself. Since Rebel was busy driving, I contemplated signing him up for the 50K as a non-binary runner just to be funny, but decided to keep it real and boring and just signed him up for the regular old 7K as a 40 year old male instead.  In a flash, we were running a 7k hardcore trail run in the Ozark mountains the very next morning! This girl was so happy!!!

The southbound trip. Arkansas or bust!

The detour to the race meant we got to take in the spectacular St Louis arch!  

And swing through the town of Licking, Missouri which seems weird to even write and also made us giggle for some reason.  

Once we were signed up for the race, spirits rose even higher which I honestly didn't think was possible because we were already flying pretty high on life not drugs people. We don't do drugs!  Next, we had to find a place to stay. While sleeping in our sleeping bags in the back of the Explorer on the side of the road was a viable backup plan, we were hoping to find an actual bed since we were going to be running in less than 12 hours and we now are old enough to feel the effects of such sleeping arrangements especially when we had to run up a huge mountain the next day!  The race lady had recommended the Norfolk Inn, but said it might be full since we were arriving so late (In our defense, it's hard to arrive early when you plan it last minute during a 10 hour car ride to your Granny's birthday party, but I do get her point).  I called hoping to get lucky and boy did we get lucky. We got the last room available and it had a king size bed--plenty of room for everyone!    

We haven't all snuggled and slept together in the same bed for at least a couple decades so this was just a real nice surprise!

When we hit the Arkansas state line, I'm pretty sure everyone back here in Michigan heard us cheering!!!  We soon found ourselves driving up a mountain trying to park our car on said mountain to get checked in to our hotel, praying our parking brakes held and Mird's car didn't end up in the bottom of the lake along with the town that's buried there (another story for another day but if you're curious Click Lake Norfolk now!)!

This was the race day weather. Not ideal, but I've definitely run in much worse weather. When we arrived we were greeted like celebrities. Everyone seemed to know about the 3 Michiganders and made us feel welcomed.  I also learned that the race director was also a GVSU graduate.  My brother, myself and the race director got a finish line photo together of the 3 Lakers!!  The Star Spangled Banner was probably the best one I've experienced at a race-and I've run a lot of races; It was a recorded rendition, played on a cell phone at maximum volume, and featured a prepubescent asian singer who really nailed the high notes! After she belted out the final note, the race director promptly said "thank you little Asian girl!"  We all saluted the small parade style American flag held by one of the racers near the starting line and got ourselves ready to run. Oh yeah nobody took their hats off because we were informed that,"you don't need to remove your hats for the national anthem both God and Country know how cold it is out here!"    The rest of the pre-race announcements were comical, informative, and overall entertaining.  The best lines were, "dont cross over the caution tape, unless you want to run the inaugural 50 mile race-- alone and by the way there are no awards for that" and "If you see an arrow, you should probably run where the arrow is pointing". An air horn sounded and we were off running our Arkansas race! I started out with my siblings and together we meandered through the beautiful mountain trail with all the other awesome runners (reminder everyone else was starting their 50K adventure) then at some point I said I gotta just go and off I shot. The trail was rocky, steep and went up and down roughly 50 times in the 5 miles we covered.  After I finished, I looped back and we all finished together for our official finish and finish line photo (3rd, 6th and 7th places in our age groups).  This was the first time Rebel accompanied us on one of our state adventures and we had so much fun we're already talking about where else we can go to run a super cool race together!    

Our favorite quotes from this race:

• There's nothing normal about this trip
• Gepp pronounced yip (it's a soft g) and it replaces the "bingo" giggles from our last trip
• I'm having pretzels for dinner...I don't believe in gas station food
• Luxury gas station salads often lead to "turkey trots"
• How did we miss the Mississippi River???
• Maybe we went around it!?!?
• I love Burt's nuts
• I'm the monkey in the middle (of the bed!)
• These hillbillies are straight up crazy
• I was just trying to get to my Granny's Birthday party! (this one was said at the race by my bro to all the race volunteers and fellow racers!!)
• Is it Rocking Chair Resort or Wagon Wheel Resort??...I can never remember!
• Damn yankees

ONE final history lesson. Back during the antebellum years, states where slavery was allowed were not allowed to enter the union unless there was a free state added as well to keep the balance between free and slave states and avoid a civil war. Obviously, we all know how that turned out, but regardless  Arkansas and Michigan were actually known as sister states and were both welcomed into the United States in 1836-37. It is neat because my mom and her siblings have always been split in half between the two states so we've spent our lives traveling to and from Arkansas to visit her family. It seemed so magical to be running through the woods with my sister in the sister state and through the Ozark mountains that I read about a long time ago in one of my favorite books, Where the Red Fern Grows which if you haven't read it click here!     

 The Smith Trio--at the Rocking Chair Resort. Oh and I suppose in this particular story, we are the "damn yankees".

David's Endurance Run 7K

Mountain Home, Arkansas

January 21, 2023

State Number 18

We did actually make it to Granny's 90th birthday party. Several family members we haven't seen in years showed up to hug her and wish her well. There was plenty of food, cake, coffee and beer. Plenty of everything!  We visited until we wore poor Granny out and then headed for home.  

Cousins picture 6 of the I don't know how many cousins with Granny 90 years young! It was so nice to catch up and hear what everyone has been up to and to see Granny's big smile. Her eyes lit up when I walked over to her and she said "Vern's here!!"

Four Smiths and a Groovy Granny. Gotta love that...

The angels are back baby!

 After a few years worth of a hiatus, we're back!  Kirby's Angels are B.A.C.K-Back!  This most recent race experience was built on a quick split-second decision I made back on Thanksgiving Eve. Just moments before we raced out the door on our way to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family in Fremont, I clicked submit. Thereby committing to the Frostbite Marathon Relay in January.  Inside my head I said to myself, "Well if nobody else will run it, I will just run the entire marathon myself!"  Thank God the angels showed up yesterday because a full marathon might've killed me and then I'd be the only angel around and everyone else would've been really sad and that would have been a real buzz kill!  As it is, I am still feeling exhausted and sore today from the 9.6 miles I ran and I even took a four hour nap last night before I went to bed for the night!!  

Anyhow, after I signed up on a whim, I kept bothering everyone until I nagged (I mean encouraged) everyone enough and finally had all 5 of us once again committed to the torture (I mean fun) that is Frostbite Marathon Relay!  Alan Martens really does a TON of work to make sure this race is one you don't want to miss. He is a fantastic race director!  There's great food, nice shirts, and a carefree fun-loving environment for everyone to enjoy. Plus you're getting a killer workout!

Alan Martens Race Director

 Frostbite Marathon Relay

That split-second decision to sign up pushed us all to train super hard this past two months.  Super. Hard.  We've been super serious about our training too. Super. Serious. We've been following strict running schedules, researching the best ways to complete marathon relays and eating super healthy all holiday season long!  Now I hope you are picking up on the sarcasm in my voice in all of this because I think we all did train as hard as we could given the circumstances and also I think we were all somewhat unprepared for the occasion because life happens and the holidays happened and also we drank a lot. We have all been doing a lot of LIFE lately which can really interfere with training.  I think we can all agree the holidays just do a number on any semblence of eating healthy that one could have strummed up the past two months.  So fueled by christmas cookies, vodka and leftover Christmas ham, we dove headfirst into this event.  

The night before the Frostbite Marathon Relay is typically team dinner night and arts and crafts time (aka we make a ridicuous and perverted relay baton for the competition).  The baton competition is the only actual prize awarded at Frostbite so it is kind of serious.   This year time was tight so we had to forego the baton battalion and we just drank too much and played cards instead.  It's called going with the flow people and sometimes you have to do that. This was one of those times.  Also during our drinking festival, we learned that Amy was sick which was not ideal because we were like 8 hours until race time. We scrambled for a couple seconds (or hours) and then luckily found Happy Mary who was willing to sub for our team!  Yeah can you really do any better than someone who has a nickname that starts with "happy" when you're desperate for someone willing to run a bunch of miles for you? I don't think so.  We were happy!

The "addition of Mary" and "subtraction of Amy" somehow "equalled a change" in our Sunday morning plans. It was some kind of bizarre algebra equation that you could spend hours contemplating,or you could just take my word for it and move on in the story... We rerouted our messy van and headed into Spring Lake to fetch Kirby and then Grand Haven to pick up Mary and then we were southbound and down; Ready for some serious running, drinking, freezing fun. We were off to run Frostbite Marathon Relay!!! About five minutes into the drive I realized I forgot our meal tickets, but Mird remembered our pudding shots so it was ok.  Kirby smooth talked the race people and got us new meal tickets when we arrived and we all had plenty of pudding shots all day long!  Everyone beat their planned times too.  Courtney missed the turn into the final stretch home which cost us first place so we had to settle for second, but other than that the entire race went off smashingly. 

Don't worry Courtney you're still the best anchorwoman we could have asked for--you made up for it with your talking (about deep feelings) and your superior beer drinking skills. If things had gone just a little differently, we would have won the whole dang race. Just kidding, but we did do awesomsauce out in Holland for 26.2 miles (actually closer to 28 since Courtney got lost, but I don't think we get bonus points!).

After the chili and beer, we all headed home to our various responsibilities (volleyball practice, FFA meetings, naps, and dog walking)  

Kirby's Angels 2023

We're just little Angels...

The whole team and Kirby's at the heart of it!

Gibson Church in Holland was exceptional...                                                              The food buffet was so wonderful

Gibson Church had a spread of food and drinks to keep any runner going strong all morning long.  They had a changing room so you could get your sweaty clothes off and dry clothes on which when it's 30 degrees out and windy is key to enjoying a relay race of this magnitude. They even had gluten-free banana nut muffins and best of all they actually tasted delicious which is actually impossible so it was a miracle!  Their pastor was outside welcoming everyone as they arrived and their members were scattered around cheering, serving and otherwise caring for the runners.  If this church were closer to my home, I'd be considering switching churches to join them.  That's how amazing they were!

The Curragh After Party

The The Curragh Holland was once again an exceptional race location and the staff took such good care of us.  The chili was as usual out of this world delicious and HOT and of course for beer drinkers the ice cold celebratory beers were second to none.  

So while us sisgters didn't get a new state off our list this past weekend, we did have an unforgetable race experience with a bunch of angelic friends. Amy we missed you terribly and we are so glad you're feeling better. Mary we are eternally thankful for your happy spirit, your willingness to jump in at the eleventh hour, your flexibility, and of course for running the longest leg of the race!