Doin' the Du

Taz, Rainbow and I volunteered to help at a water station during the 3Sports Duathlon yesterday. I was a little surprised to find it snowing when I got up! I knew it had been forecast, but hey we haven't had any snow all winter so I didn't believe it.

It was what Jodi's husband Bruce would call "a dusting" - although perhaps it wouldn't even qualify! We were at their house in Waterloo, Ontario, for a visit one November and went snowmobiling on a "dusting." What is even less than a dusting, I wonder?

The kids popped right out of bed, thrilled to see the snow and longing to get out in it. I bundled them in their ski bibs, coats, and boots and we headed off. What a difference a week makes! Just last Saturday, we had beautiful weather for the Monument 1ok.

We were a little late arriving at the volunteer check-in, primarily because I had to shlep two kids from the parking lot to the check in spot which was a good distance away for them. When I arrived, the volunteer coordinator was clearly pissed. She told me that the water stops were fully manned and that I could hang around to work the finish line. C'mon, chica, I was 10 minutes late or less! Plus when I volunteered, I had clearly stipulated that I could only be there until 10:00.

The kids and I walked over to see the long distance race start, then we wandered back. At that point, I told my friend Joe who was manning the volunteer check-in that we had volunteered to be with a group and that we were going to the water station. He said that was fine.

We also say TriGirl Renae at the volunteer check-in. She was volunteer extraordinaire from what I understand. Way to go!

Dumb me; I thought we could walk to the aid station. And we did, but it was a long damn way. We stopped a few times along the way, teasing Rainbow and calling her "little legs," and also cheering for the runners. The kids got a lot of smiles from race participants. There were two racers in Va. Tech jerseys that we particularly liked and cheered for.

We finally finally made it to the water stop to see smiling TriGirl faces Annnnn, Theresa, and Mary. Ann had brought some tunes, cowbells, and tiaras. It was a festive station! I think Taz and Rainbow drank more Power Aid than they distributed, but they did get into the spirit. We had packed snack and activity bags which came in handy as well.

By far the biggest highlight for Taz was seeing TriGirl Melissa run by. The first time, they cheered for her; the second time, Taz joined her for a bit of her run. He was so excited! I suspect that my boy has a little crush working. He was very curious about whether she is a kid or an adult. I tried to explain that while she is a kid to me, she is an adult to him. He also wanted to know if she is married and seemed quite pleased to learn that she isn't. I don't know, M, he might be worth waiting for! : )

We hung out for longer than I thought we would, then thank goodness Annnn gave us a ride back. Rainbow had lost it that point and was sobbing as we walked the rest of the way. I ended up piggy-backing her. She was much better once we found a bathroom and got some heat working.

Once we got back home, my little crazy people staged a snowball fight and built a snowman. Then we sipped some hot chocolate. The snow didn't last too much longer, but we enjoyed our winter day while we could.

Now I'm ready for spring to return!