Saturday, February 27, 2010

star struck

a few days ago, i read a random tweet: tony hawk mentioned that there was a race in memory of his friend ray underhill in NC. and anyone in NC should check it out. i assumed that it would be in raleigh. or charlotte. or winston salem. no where close to me.

but when i found out that it was being held at a Nature Park 15 minutes from my house, i filed it away as a potentially fun thing to do on a Saturday morning. we could donate some money to cancer research, check out the new Nature Park, feel somehow connected to a (in our minds) mega star.

there was only the one tweet, with a link to the race site. my brother-in-law, who has taken up running mentioned he was planning on running. (i was not planning on running. oh, no! i was just going to "attend." take some photos. enjoy the great outdoors.) we joked that my nephew keeps calling tony hawk "@tonyhawk" (read: at tony hawk), t.h.'s twitter name.

this morning was gorgeous, and i woke up 18 pounds lighter than i was two months ago! i found myslef dressing like i was going to participate in the event. i laced up the new shoes matty got me just a week ago. and the, before i knew it, i was registering! and getting the t-shirt!

let me tell you, that 5K kicked my butt! i have never run on a trail before. heck, i haven't really "run" since that 10K, two hears ago. seriously, i have NO idea what possessed me.

it was brutal. the guy in the guatemalen belt and hiking boots beat me. i got a stitch in my side. my shins were SCREAMING! i don't even know what my time was, but thank you very much to the little girl who handed me a medal at the end. it made my morning, i tell ya.

that is, until i recognized who was standing by the water cooler. until i realized that he was actually there, at this off-the-map trail run in Brunswick County, NC. until i shook his hand and felt totally star struck.


(@lelly28461 @tonyhawk and adrian)


(doesn't jack look totally nervous next to one of his idols?!? do you think this kid could have asked for anything more cool for his birthday weekend?!?)

freakin' AMAZING morning!! ah, the power of twitter...

6 comments:

Kim Sue said...

pretty cool stuff {and wow for you!!}

carlo said...

WOW!! now that is cool. almost makes me want to check out twitter. *almost*

congrats on the run, on making the bday boy so happy and for a cool pic.

ps- at first i was shocked to see shorts/tshirts. i can't wrap my mind around the fact that the entire country is not covered in snow.

The Monkeys said...

So very cool! And how amazing for you to run with @tonyhawk! Congrats on the 18 pounds too! What are you doing different?

carlo said...

hey just emailed and it bounced back to me? can you email or text me the email i should be using? :)

Jill said...

I emailed you too and had it bounce back, but I need to ask you something today.

Jill said...

Wow, what a surprise weekend and great gift for Jack!

I am so impressed that you were able to run that without training for it...I would have died!

Why do I always expect Tony Hawk to be 18 years old?