AC/DC or Bust

Many of you who read this blog also followed this journey on Facebook, but I wanted to save it for posterity. Kyle and I went on a road trip to Charlotte, NC for an AC/DC concert on Thursday. This started several months ago when, after many years of trying to figure out what he was "into", Kyle decided he dug rock music. It has been such a joy to help him discover what he likes--Led Zeppelin, Def Leppard, Journey, Boston and the likes. But his favorite was AC/DC--the ultimate cliche in rock music, of course. And then he found out they were going to be touring. Unfortunately, the closest concert was either Charlotte or Atlanta--we chose Charlotte. (Interestingly, several weeks later, they decided to add a Tampa show, but by the time we found out the only tickets left were in the nose-bleed section almost behind the stage.) The deal was that he had to earn the money for the ticket, a t-shirt and a portion of the gas--$150. I'd let him skip school and we'd go.

He was looking forward to the concert, but I was looking forward to the road trip. He was so grateful that I was taking him, he said he'd talk to me the whole way. 16 hours with my 13 year old just talking and sharing--that is gold!

The road trip was AWESOME! 8 hours straight of AC/DC music. He set up my new iPhone and we read about AC/DC on Wikipedia on it. We learned about the history, the musicians and odd ways of dying (the old lead singer died by choking on his vomit while drunk). The night before we went to the dollar store so that on the ride we could munch on cookies and he could drink fake Mountain Dew. We made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to save money on Fast Food. He updated my Facebook page with cheesy puns of AC/DC titles. And we played the music really loudly.

After checking into the hotel (thank you Marriott points--the golden lining to all my traveling), we went out to dinner and we made a rule that--for that night only--we were not mother and son, just two people going to a concert. He told me stuff that I'd never heard (nothing dangerous, just more of a glimpse into the life of a 13 year old middle schooler). And we laughed. I let him drink Red Bull (I NEVER let him do that) and he let me try some in my beer.

And the concert--it was loud. Really loud. But the theatrics were fun, the music was decent and the staging was amazing. The concert was sold out and all the 40-something rock fans were in heaven. No one sat down the whole concert. The show was full of rock cliches--devil horns, rock trains, guitar solo tricks, video clips of babes and sexual innuendo.

Our ears were ringing after, continued ringing the whole trip home and Kyle's were still ringing today, 2 days after. But another memorable moment came on the way home when my son--after 24 hours of being an adult rocker, asked in his sweet, tired and kind voice, "Mom, I know I said I would talk to you, but do you mind if I just tune out and watch a movie?" I said fine. His choice after a hard day rocking and rolling? Disney's The Incredibles. Ahh....13 years old.

Reindeer Run Rules

So yesterday was our second 5K race and it was good! I had a crazy week--two projects in two cities, about 80 hours of work and a midnight flight home from NYC on Friday. But I was up naturally about 5:30 before my 6am alarm.

The big challenge was that it was COLD. Those of you up North will laugh, but it was in the low 50s and it was very cold for us. But I didn't want to overdress because as soon as my body warmed up I would be cold.

I was excited about the Reindeer Run because they give really great shirts. It was a long sleeve Under Armor kind of shirt. So that was going to have to do.

My goal with this race was to run--more than what I did on the last one where my times were pretty embarrassing. I wanted to lengthen my stride a little bit more and pick up my feet more.

We got off to a good start. I got kind of paranoid when just a little into the race I heard something drop on the ground and it was my car key that I had tucked into my sports bra. After that, I kept checking my bra, making anyone who was watching possibly wonder what was happening.

At the first mile, I was thrilled to see my time. 13.25. For those of you who run (who are some of the only ones who read my blog), this will make you laugh. But for me, it was a full minute off my time during the last run. I was thrilled.

The run went through some gorgeous home areas in Maitland. Once my body warmed up it was a PERFECT temperature to run. And no turtlenecks or santa hats this time--just comfy running clothes.

There were lots of people dressed up--like elves, Santa, snowflakes, etc. But the highlight was the Orange County firefighters who ran the whole race in their fire gear with heavy tanks on their back. For the last 20 minutes, one of them ran with Kyle (who was ahead of me, of course) and told him that Kyle wasn't to let him pass him. He especially encouraged Kyle on the last stretch to give it his all. He did and came in at 37.51.

For me, each mile was almost exactly 13.25. My second mile was at 26.5 and my third at 40. I ended up the race at 41.55. As I came across the line, they said "And here's Christine Haskins from Oviedo, FL" which cracked me up.

My lungs felt this race, which made me feel good. I didn't want to coast through it. I felt better about this race than the last one--ironic. Even more ironic since I had such little sleep and a flight the night before. I felt real good.

By the time I found Kyle at the food table, he had eaten at least 5 Rice Krispy Treats (of course). I had a banana and then we had to rush home because the poor kid had a football game for an hour as soon as we got home.

2 down. More to go....

First Step to the Tri--my first 5K

So, I ran my first race last week--the Turkey Trot 5K. I was actually feeling quite confident about it because I had run 3.5 miles earlier that week without much incident. I'm actually finding that the first mile is hard for me, but then, as long as I don't get bored, the rest comes pretty easily.

Kyle did this with me and that made it six times more fun (Much more than twice as much fun, not as much as 10x).

We went to go pick up our friends at 7am (as I have access to the parking garage across from my work, right by the race start). At the start, people were dressed up with Turkey hats, Xmas gear, etc. I had a Santa hat (which was terribly impractical--I stuffed it in my waist band within the first quarter mile). There were about 5,000 people. Kyle wanted to start right when the race began--I wanted to wait to let the crowd thin out a little. It was hard to let him go--I wanted to see him succeed. And there was that feeling that if I let him go into that crowd, I may never see him again!

I started three minutes in. Got a pace faster than what I normally run and realized that I was winded by the end of the street already. So I slowed to my normal pace and went from there.

It was a beautiful run. Gorgeous cool day, cute houses along the way, really nice people out watching everyone and waving. I hit the one mile marker and it felt like 2 miles already, but I was enjoying it. And then, before you knew it, I hit the 2 mile marker. Where'd that go?

The amazing feat of the race was "de-layering." I know understand why runners layer their clothes. But I, the newbie that I am, put a holiday turtle neck UNDER my race shirt. And, of course, when my body started to warm-up, I was stuck. So, I took my arms out from both the shirts, put them back in the top t-shirt and pulled out the turtle neck and tied it around my waist. ALL WITHOUT EVER STOPPING RUNNING.

At the finish line, this all felt very anti-climactic. People were cheering the whole length of the street, but my time was very slow. There were speed walkers who were passing me. But then I realized it. I ran a race. I ran the whole thing. I never stopped. A few months ago I couldn't run a mile. I sped up a little bit the last bit and a woman running next to me started congratulating me. Then I felt good.

Kyle finished about five minutes before me. He ran really hard the first mile, stopping once. But then he was burnt out and stopped like 10 times during the second mile. He was waiting for me at Panera, quite pleased with what he had accomplished that morning.

As for me, I finished. I've already forgotten my time (isn't that pitiful? Aren't I supposed to be a runner and obsessed about my time?), but I think it was around 45 minutes. I was running 14-15 minute miles. That's barely jogging. I need to speed that up. But I ran. A race. A whole race.

That's step one...4 months to go to the triathlon.

Quote of the day for the strong women in my life (and those who love strong women):

"Whatever you give a woman, she will make it greater. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.

So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit."