End of the Season

I’m back!  Did you miss me??  Well, actually, I didn’t go anywhere, I was just busy with a capital B last week!  And actually, I’ve been busy for the last several months, between marathon training and then all the hockey pictures I’ve been processing and tagging.  It all culminated with the two end-of-season parties my boys had last weekend (one Saturday, one Sunday).  If you’ve been reading my blog for at least a year, you’ll know that the end-of-season parties are a big deal for me, because that’s when I actually make use of all those pictures I’ve taken (as well as videos) to create a slideshow/video of each team’s season.  This is my fifth year in a row doing it, and my third year in a row doing two (one for each son’s team), but this is the first year that I’ve had to have both done within 24 hours of each other!!  (Blame the coach who manages both teams and scheduled the parties one day apart. 😛 )

I took Thursday and Friday off work so I could work on them, but in the meantime, I’m still marathon training, and I didn’t want to slack off there (which I did last year when I was training for my first half).  My long run on Saturday was scheduled to be 19 miles (!!), and to ensure that I didn’t skip it, I actually switched it with my 5-miler on Thursday.  That meant I got up at 7am, dropped the kids off at school at 8am, and then headed out to run.  Because I am a die-hard, clearly!  It was another toasty morning…

Ha.  It’s pretty sad when 13 degrees doesn’t seem that bad. (Thank you, Polar Vortex, for putting things in perspective this winter.)  I parked my car at the local community center with the intent to run into the Metropark to start, then back to my car, then back out to the main roads through a couple of cities.  Upon second thought, I ended up running the main roads first, because I knew I’d need all my mental capacity to avoid the traffic, and I was right!  There wasn’t a lot of room on the road, since the shoulders are all covered with snow right now, so I had to be very alert.  I ran over the freeway at one point, and I chose to run on the raised median in the middle of the bridge, which was kind of neat.

Snowy, but neat. 😉

A little ways after that, I came upon a joyful sight…

A cleared path!  For over a mile!  It was truly an hallelujah moment, with angels singing and everything. 😉 I enjoyed that while it lasted, but sadly, all good things must come to an end, and that path was no exception.  Eventually, I ended up on sidewalks, and those were not quite so runner-friendly.

Why do people not shovel their sidewalks?!   At any rate, I ran along the roads when I had to, and eventually made it back to my car for a mid-run break.  I tried to get into the community center to use the bathroom, but it was locked.  Lo and behold, though, the community van driver was in the parking lot and he cheerfully let me in.  It’s amazing what a mid-run pitstop can do for your running psyche. 🙂

I had actually stopped at a little less than half-way, so I had ten miles to go when I restarted.  I plugged along for the first five miles and then took a walk break at the half-way point, where I took a few pictures.

The paths were cleared pretty well, although once I got by the river, the water that had blown over the path and then frozen made things pretty tricky.

That particular spot was the first spot in all my winter running this year that nearly did me in.  I came perilously close to wiping out, but with a lot of comical flailing about, I kept my balance.  I walked over it on the way back.  😛

I have to stay, those last three miles were surprisingly hard.  Nineteen miles isn’t easy by any stretch, especially in the cold. But I did it!

Once I got home, I took a hot bath and then rested on the couch for an hour.  I wanted to take a nap, but I had a job to do…Jamie’s video was due in 48 hours, and since his team was officially disbanding at the end of the season ( 🙁 ), I wanted to make it extra special.  I started on it about 4pm, and at 5pm, Jamie remembered that he had to run his last long run of his 10k training program, 5.5 miles.  Normally, he’d run on the treadmill in the barn, but because the sun was out and it was warm-ish (27 degrees, ha!), he begged me to allow him to run on the road.  There was no way I’d let him run 5 1/2 miles on the road by himself, but I could hardly say no to him–he’s worked so hard to keep up with his training despite all the hockey and schoolwork.  So I put on my freshly-washed Under Armour (thank goodness I’d washed it!) and followed him out the door.

It was colder than he expected (the sun is so deceiving), but he braved the weather and ran 5.5 miles.  His knee began to hurt him about 4 miles in, so we walked more than usual toward the end, but he did a great job!  The sun was just setting as we neared home.

We still had enough daylight for a post-run pic, though!

He is such a trooper…and, well, after 24.5 miles in one day, I think I am, too! 😉  I was darn tired when I got home, but I started on the videos right away and spent the next 72 hours (with a few breaks to sleep) working away.

Though I complain a lot about doing the videos when I’m in the thick of it, I’m always glad I did them when I’m finished.  The kids on Jamie’s team enjoyed viewing it at the party, and since it was extra-long this year (30 minutes!), they had plenty to watch.  Those kids had seen my video work last year, though, so although they enjoyed it, there wasn’t quite the awed wonder that I got from the kids on JJ’s team. 🙂  What a treat it is to watch as 8- and 9-year-old boys see themselves in a real “video” for the first time.   It just melted my heart and made it all worth while.

As the hockey season ends, instead of sharing my kids’ stats, I’ll share mine:

*Games attended: 72+ (I lost count)
*Videos recorded: 34
*Pictures taken: 14,211

Pretty impressive, I know, but remember…I’m double-rostered.  😉 I hope you don’t mind indulging me as I share just a few of the many pictures I took this year.

The last three are of Jamie in the penalty box…three different times…during the same game! (It was actually four penalties, since one instance was a double minor.)  I showed the pictures that way on the video when I showcased that particular game, and that segment definitely got the loudest laughs. 😉

People always ask me why I spend so much time on the videos (hours and hours between the picture processing and then the three days straight actually putting the videos together).  While I know my zealousness seems crazy to many, when I see the kids smiling, laughing, and singing along as they watch, and then so sweetly asking me if they can have a copy…it makes every bit of effort worth it.  I’m sad to see this season end, especially for Jamie’s team, but I know that no matter what, my kids (and their friends) will have some wonderful, tangible memories that they can look back on in years to come, and I hope they smile, laugh, and sing along then, too.

Thanks for reading!