Today was Harvest Day in Smithfield. This is one of the things I love about being in a small town-there always fun things going on that are easy to participate in. The day was kicked off by the annual Hog Jog, a 5K running through Smithfield. When we heard the race supported Christian outreach, we were pretty set on going. But then we read that they were serving hotdogs and beer afterwards and we were sold (don't worry, only Ben had the beer). When I woke up to a forcast of rain, I was pretty sure no one would actually show up. I'm fine with running in the rain, but apparently so are 600 other people. 
Waiting for the race to start!The race started off going up hill and had 2 more major hills during the race. Running on a treadmill definitely does not train you for hills! The 3 miles were not a big deal, it was the hills and the baby jumping on my bladder that caused the problems.
Poor Ben had the hardest job of the family. First of all, Ben hates running and was a trooper to even join me on this run. But not only did he join me, he pushed an extra 30 pounds against the wind and up and down hills. I didn't ever think going down hills was hard, but then when you're trying to keep a stroller from running over 100's of people, it's a BIG challenge. I was super proud of our family. Daddy pushed baby #1 and I carried baby #2 and we had a blast. It was kinda funny to see people's reaction when we passed them. You could see the thought go across their face, 'Man, that guy pushing a stroller and that pregnant lady just passed me! I better kick it into gear!'. I can't tell you how many people we passed who had started walking would all of the sudden start running when we went by.
Well, we definitely didn't win, but that wasn't our goal. We finished in 35 minutes, which I blame on the hills, wind and babies. Actually, I did have a goal I didn't accomplish. This is going to sound terrible, but every race I run I pick another runner that I think I can beat and well, try to beat them. I picked this lady wearing a hot pink visor this morning and she for sure beat us. Well, maybe next year I'll beat hot pink visor lady.
As soon as we got our hot dogs it started pouring ran. We retreated to our van and had a nice little picnic until the rain cleared. Unfortunately, Alison has had an accident 2 days in a row. Both I take blame for. Yesterday she told me she had to go and I told her to wait. Appparently waiting was not an option. After the run, Alison was playing in some bushes and all of the sudden shouted 'POTTY!'. It was too late, but atleast she was in the bushes. I knew I should have taken her sooner and I definitely learned my lesson. Good thing we got free XL mens t-shirts!
After the rain stopped we headed a few blocks over to the Harvest Farmer's Market. There usually is a farmer's market on Saturday's, but this one was extra special and right up our alley. We never buy things when we go to the farmer's market, we just go to look around. Something about running and hotdogs made us in the mood to spend money. We were really excited to meet a family who sells pork straight from their farm just outside of Smithfield. We picked up 2 different kinds of sausage for our Vareniky tonight, some honey, cheese, an apple turnover and a baby pumpkin for Alison.
We were walking back to the car and a lady stopped us and asked us if Alison "ran" in the race too. We said yes and she informed us that she was told by the race people that she couldn't take a stroller on the race. No one said anything to us, but I did think it was odd that only saw one other stroller. When Ben saw the other lady with the stroller he started teasing me. This lady was 8 months pregnant and pushing a double stroller with 2 decent sized kids in it. Ben said, "And you thought YOU were tough!" Well, maybe next year I'll be that lady, minus the huge belly.
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