September 8 was our second race of the season. Colorado Springs Dirty Dash was the week before at the Pikes Peak Raceway. So the crew put on that race, packed up and drove to Albuquerque and set up. I flew in on Thursday and helped at packet pick up at a really cool running store. Justin's parents also drove in and we stayed at "our spot", Hotel Parque Central.
The day of the race was 50 degrees, after a week of 90. Needless to say, sweatshirt sales were awesome. I couldn't believe people still ran through the mud as if it wasn't freezing. Jared, who is over production, did an awesome job and the race went off without a hitch. We even had mounted police help with the parking. Justin and I ran around talking to people, taking pictures and just watching everyone play in the mud. To be honest rolling around in the mud just doesn't do it for me, but it's really freeing for a lot of people, I think. They feel like a little kid again. After all these months of hard work and wondering how it would turn out - this was a great race and I'm so glad I could be there. The best part was watching Justin's dad walk around with a huge smile on his face - he had no idea how big these races are. His mom and dad had a blast and it was so fun to have them there.
I think this race will be especially memorable because of venue and the charity we worked with. The race was held at Wildlife West Nature Park. It's We Bought a Zoo in real life. The owner is this old guy that tells the funniest stories and lives on the property, saving endangered species. He's so great. The charity we worked with is NMX - a place that gives underprivileged kids a place to go to learn graphic design, event production, lighting, film editing, etc. They gave us a tour of their warehouse and it was incredible. It was inspiring and humbling to see how passionate the some people are about giving back and improving their communities. They were so grateful to partner with us and it really gave them a boost. That's what I love most about Justin's job, it's very synergistic and win/win for everyone involved.
sundance . tree swing in vineyard . cute school girl . snowbird with taytay
notes from ellie . she stayed
"birds on a traffic light" by cody . tay in the tub, photo by lauren vancott . kisses in the kitchen . snuggles in bed
tootie . shower for mike thomas'girl stefanie . ellie conquered her fear . cody and dad at dirty dash in midway
I took the kids down to St. George for the weekend. We were having a blast at the dinosaur museum, red rocks, and the playground until....
A quick bike ride turned into an epic day of hiking back to my car by myself, crying on the phone to justin, and ultimately getting help packing up the car and driving home. A couple days later I finally got it x-rayed to confirm what I knew, a broken wrist. It's been 5 weeks now and the cast is off but it's far from better. I've been doing dangerous sports my whole life so I guess I was due, just glad it wasn't worse.
I think this race will be especially memorable because of venue and the charity we worked with. The race was held at Wildlife West Nature Park. It's We Bought a Zoo in real life. The owner is this old guy that tells the funniest stories and lives on the property, saving endangered species. He's so great. The charity we worked with is NMX - a place that gives underprivileged kids a place to go to learn graphic design, event production, lighting, film editing, etc. They gave us a tour of their warehouse and it was incredible. It was inspiring and humbling to see how passionate the some people are about giving back and improving their communities. They were so grateful to partner with us and it really gave them a boost. That's what I love most about Justin's job, it's very synergistic and win/win for everyone involved.
