I guess it wasn’t meant to be!

Suffice it to say, my life has been extra full lately.  Changing, transforming and becoming something altogether different.  I hope to be able to post about all that drama sometime soon…. In the meanwhile, life, of course, goes on – so here is a blog about my one and only!

André is his usual self.  We recently went to cheer him on as he attempted to run 19km over 3 hills.  Believe it or not, that was the shorter distance!  There was a large hiking group that was going to be out most of the day.  They had it all, boots, walking sticks, giant packs and funny looking plasticky things that strapped over their lower legs (I’m thinking, mud guards?) Also, there was another running race where the distance was 30km.  Not for the faint of heart, or legs, I would say.  Believe it or not, André actually plans to run 28km at an upcoming race in Besancon.  I remember the days when he said he only liked to race in 5K’s….. Guess it is the end of the short distance era.  Can marathons be far behind?  He says it is because they don’t hold 5K races in France.   We were excited to be there to cheer him on.  Even though we got our usual bit lost we still got there in good time.  Due to technical difficulties with the new camera, I was unable to get a good  photo of him leaving, but I figured it out in time to nail the stragglers: A ‘just married’ couple festooned with balloons.  Not my idea of the perfect honeymoon activity, but I guess it takes all kinds.  

Since this was such a long race, André had  prepared by eating a banana in the morning and carrying a fanny pack with him that had some chocolate and pop-ems (sent from the US by my mom!), plus, in case of emergency, his phone. Despite all this, about 10km in, his snacks eaten and continuing tunnel vision, he realized his body was just not getting enough calories.  BONK!  The phone in my pocket rang and my heart stopped!  I was sure he had fallen and gotten hurt since these were rugged mountain trails and there had been a lot of recent rain.  Fortunately, he was OK, but unfortunately he was not going to be able to run his way through the race!    It was very disappointing for him – poor André!   The kids and I ended up waiting about 2 hours for his return.  We spent time practicing our own running skills, playing freeze tag, Mother May I? and Un, deux, trois…. Soleil! (That last one would be the french version of Red Light Green Light 1, 2, 3). 

As you can see in the last photo above, André eventually made it over the finish line.  This was a really neat venue because, after the race, they had a lunch for all the racers and their families.  We all had soup, bread, sausage, applesauce and cheese… .

You’ll get ‘em next time Daddie!   We love you!