Moving Day

My parents moved last weekend. The saga began long ago and couldn't be explained in any kind of time frame that would be conducive to anyone actually reading it all the way through. Bottom line, there was one weekend out of 52 to get this done. Ready, set, go!

It's nuts how much stuff you acquire over a lifetime. It was like Jesus himself, came and did unto their belongings as he had done to the loaves and fishes. It was as if their stuff now had stuff itself. But, regardless of the quantity, the keys were being handed over at 4pm on Monday afternoon. It was a lot of work, but we probably did more hem-haw'n than we actually did work. And because the process was a little unnerving (moreso for my parents and especially my poor Mom) it never really sank in that the house I've known as "home" for the majority of my life was no longer going to be the destination upon entering the "Center of Opportunity" - aka, Piqua. And Erica even asked on Sunday night after our last load was packed and in the multiple vehicles transporting it, "Does it make you sad to think this is the last time you'll pull away from that house?" And it did, but only for a little bit. I have to think that it's because I never wanted to leave the first house I knew, 1614 Nicklin Avenue. I think I still held some resentment over that move. Yes, it was for the space but that move took my world away from me. I was certain that I'd stay there the rest of my life. I never did make new friends on the south side. My brother did and so did the Queen Bee of Mulberry, but I never quite made it click. So I'm not going to lie... I'm almost a little happy to see it go. The only thing I might miss is the maple tree I planted in the backyard and maybe that front yard where my dad made me run out-routes because his arm couldn't handle the "Tweetie Birds" (our version of the Hail Mary) I kept trying to throw into the play calling. Now it's someone else's front yard and that's okay by me.

Somewhere in the middle of all the moving, I got to run my 2nd Minster Oktoberfest 10K... one of the best races in the state. I ran it last year and did pretty well and afterward, we stuck around long enough to hear the awards being announced and after they announced the "weight division" awards, I thought I might be able to beat some of those times. So I went into this year's race with two goals... run a sub-40 and get a place at the table with the fat boys. Sunday morning wasn't the best weather-wise, but that's never stopped a race before, so the gun went off and so did we. I was running solo this year but my dad came up to watch me finish, which worked out great. We headed west, right into the wind, for the first half of the race and after a 22-miler on Friday morning and no recovery run in between, I was feeling it a bit more than what I would've liked. I hit the 5K mark at 20:10 and knew I'd have to suck it up in the 2nd half if I was to go under 40. I was pretty conservative with the "push" as I still wanted something left for the last .2 miles (you turn right at mile 6 and head up a hill to the finish... I think 100 people passed me there last year). I wasn't sure how things were going but I didn't really care. I just wanted to go and pick up the pieces in the end. Hit mile 6, saw my dad, gave him a wave and took it to the hill. I actually passed some guy with about five feet to go. I looked like hell and hope no one took a picture, but I'm glad I got him. A little revenge. Final tally was a 39:36 (20:10/19:26). The time was good enough for two hand-painted clogs... 7th in my age group and 2nd in my weight group (I weighed in at 200.8 lbs. Had I been under 200, I would've gotten 1st in the 185-199 group). The guy that got 1st was a runner at Ball State and whipped me by three and a half minutes. And we ran into a bunch of people we knew as Minster's only 30 minutes north of Piqua, so it was a great race... again. I'm already looking forward to next year. The battle between my brother and sister will be epic.