A Day of Races....well sort of!

This past Saturday morning was the 5th Annual Jace Race in New Sharon.  This race is done in memory of a nine year old boy who lost his battle to brain cancer.  This race has become dear to my heart for a couple of different reasons.  First of all this was the first 5K I ever participated in - all because the year before I couldn't walk from complications of my surgery.  So I had decided I was going to train and run because that year I could!  The other reason - this family has been such a big support to my family after TJ lost his battle to brain cancer that I wanted to support them.  Although Jace and TJ's journeys are very different - we both know what it is like to loose a son way before their time.  I get texts on those days that are a little extra hard, every now again when our schedules allow we do "coffee", they can totally relate to how we feel, give us helpful advice and just listen.  I'm really glad I can call them friends - because that is what they have been for us. 
I have participated in this race 3 years.  I was really hoping to participate this year - but with the work in the basement my allergies and asthma are on overload and I knew my lungs wouldn't be able to handle it.  So this year the boys and I offered to help.  We, along with my sister-in-law and niece manned a water station.  It was fun to watch the runners run by.  Some took the water quickly, others skipped it and some stopped by for a drink and a quick hello!  The boys had fun handing out the cups and then later going to pick up all the cups that were thrown along the course.  Charlie even gave some water to a walker's dog!  We ended up running out of water and gave the runners ice on the way back by.  Then we ran out of cups, so we decided to close up shop and walk to the finish line to watch the rest of the runners come in and to watch the awards assembly.  Along the way we picked up more cups and were cheered on by other people!  My sister-in-law and I found that funny - do people really think we would do a 5K in jeans and flip flops?!?!

 

This was before the race started!

 

 

Well later that day we had tickets for the Nationwide race at the Iowa Speedway.  Unfortunately (and fortunately) the weather was great for Jon to be in the field.  So, I needed another person to use his ticket - the boys decided to invite their cousin Matthew.  So, after the Jace Race was over we quickly went home, changed our clothes, grabbed a bite to eat and headed off to go get Matthew.  We stopped for gas and cash and were on our way.  We wanted to get up there at a decent time because the boys wanted to do the autograph session - which started at 2:30.  In previous years when we've gone - we have just made it - so I wanted to be there plenty early.  Well, I guess you could say we got their early enough - the main gate wasn't even open yet!  The boys did well waiting in line and once we made it through the gate we headed off to the autograph session.  I tell you what - we just made it again!  We were the last ones to get wristbands to guarantee to get autographs!

 

 

Here they are sporting their wristbands!

 

 



 

 

The boys with Brian Vickers!

 

 



 

The boys with Trevor Bayne!  Matthew and Anthony were both excited that "he touched my back"!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The boys with Travis Pastrana!  I actually wanted my picture with him - but they had to keep the line moving!

 

 

We also saw Elliot Sadler, Austin Dillon, Michael Annett and Sam Hornish Jr. - they were just in the other line so we weren't able to get their autographs or our pictures taken with them.  I did get some pictures of them alone though!  After the autograph session we walked around - the race wasn't to start until 7pm so we had plenty of time to kill!  There was a booth that said "become a Jr. Pit Crew", so we stopped to see what that was all about.  The boys got their own personalized lanyard, their names put into a drawing for a private tour, their own private autograph/meet the driver session with Eric McClure!  I wasn't even allowed to go in with them - I had to stay on the other side of the fence!  They were also to get t-shirts, but they didn't arrive in time. 

 

 

Meet and greet with Eric McClure!

 

 

After all of that we continued to walk around.  We stopped at the US Cellular both where the boys got to pretend they were on a real pit crew.  They "changed the tire" while being timed.  Those pit crew guys make it look so easy!  After we had walked around and seen everything we wanted to we decided to head for the fan walk.  The kids were free and it only cost me $10!  So we walked down all the while qualifying was going on.  So once we got down there we were able to see a few other drivers thru the fence!  That was pretty fun.  We saw "victory lane", got a few freebies, and decided to head on back up.  This time we decided to take the tram so we wouldn't have to walk all the way back uphill!  It was getting closer to race time so we decided to grab some food and head to our seats.  Pretty soon after driver introductions started.  It was almost time for the race to start and then............it started to rain!!!  We waited for a little while in our seats and then decided to go down and hang out under the grandstands to try and stay a little dryer.  We had decided that we were going to try and stick it out.  The rain finally stopped, we grabbed some kettle corn and headed for our seats again.  This time we all decided that if it were to rain again we were going to go home.  They got the dryers out on the track and it was looking a little better.  We waited a good hour and a half for them to work on drying the track when all of a sudden it started to rain AGAIN!!  We grabbed our stuff and headed for the car.  Once we got to the car I called Jon to tell him we were heading home.  He had heard that they cancelled for the night and it was rescheduled for Sunday at 10am.  We drove back home and headed for bed.  Jon and I were unable to go the next day - we had a team building day with the youth group for our upcoming Guatemala trip.  SO, my brother-in-law graciously took our boys and his son (Matthew) on Sunday.  I think they had a good time - thank you again Ed for taking them!!

 

 

Beside Victory Lane

 

 

 

In the Fan Walk - getting ready to catch the tram!

 

Waiting in our seats BEFORE the rain!

 

 

 

In our seats for the second time - waiting for them to dry the track!

 

 

 

I really had a fun time with the boys.  I was so glad we took Matthew - they behaved pretty well and never even fought!  There was a part of me that felt like I had my four boys again.  Many people would ask - "are they all yours?"  I finally got tired of saying three of them are but this one is my nephew - that I just started saying yes!  Matthew said he was ok with it!  I honestly got to do all the fun stuff with the boys and had a GREAT time!  I love times like those.  As Jon would say, "Making Memories!"