Oct. 3: Running CAN be fun

Last night I received an email of the setup schedule for the Fun Run this morning. I was surprised to see my name on the 7 a.m. spot because I don’t “do” 7 a.m. Ever. For anyone. Anywhere. I figgered I must have agreed to this start time on a day when I looked like this:

I should not be held responsible for anything I say or do when I look like this:

Twenty minutes ago I got a clarification message from Fancy Lori™, Fun Run Coordinator Extraordinaire, that “7 a.m. Jennifer” actually meant “7 a.m. Jenn K” and I was not expected until later. Even though by the time I got Fancy Lori’s message I was up and ready to walk out the door, it was still a relief not to be needed yet. See, I tend not to be very nice to people at 7 a.m. and I always feel bad about it later. Later, y’know, when I look like this:

The other thing that makes this schedule change not such a big deal is that I’ve been up since 3:30. Couldn’t sleep. Back hurt. Sucks to be me. Later today, when the sleeplessness hits me like a brick wall, I shall turn grouchy and even achier and I will probably want to bite anyone’s head off who talks near me. Until then, I’ll do my best to look and act like this:

Shouldn’t be too difficult. I mean, I’m spending the morning with my best PTO girls and we’re volunteering for this Fun Run with the YMCA and a bunch of really good sponsors like CPK and Peet’s and Cheesecake Factory. Victor, Katie, Jack and I are “working a corner” (heehee)—we’re doing a water station on the 5k route. There’s a Kids’ Dash and lots of fun prizes too. I hope our turnout is good, because the weather isn’t the best so far this morning. (And I know, because I’ve seen it NOT CHANGE for the last four hours.)

We had a good start to promoting the Fun Run yesterday when we put on a show at the school during Friday Morning Meeting—Heather, Fancy Lori™ and Cassie slow-ran to “Chariots of Fire,” while Dina and Sunshine held out a toilet paper finish line. I played official photographer. I put the succession of pictures on Facebook yesterday, but here’s a good action shot for my blog:

When we first talked about how we’d encourage Fun Run attendance, there was really no question that the “Chariots of Fire” theme was the best musical accompaniment to whatever we did. Yesterday morning I told Vic what we were planning for Friday Morning Meeting and he said, “Y’know, the kids aren’t gonna know that music…” but I scoffed because that’s what I usually do when Vic says things. He went on to say that the movie’s way older than all of them, blah blah blah, but I was all I DON’T CARE, IT’S IN FIVE MINUTES SO SHUT UP, MR. NOT-HELPING McHELPERSON. That was in my head, of course. What I actually said was, “Thank you, dear!” On his way out the door, he said, “Have fun doing your old-timey show!” And in my head, I flipped him off. But only in my head.

The thing is, the laugh was on him, because the kids really seemed to enjoy our show! Several teachers said there was a lot of slow-motion running on the way back to classrooms after Friday Morning Meeting. So we’re all high-fivin’ each other, like WHAT AN AWESOME JOB WE DID! And I celebrated right along with the performers even though I only took pictures.

But just now, as I was looking at the photos again and trying to decide which one was best to post, I zoomed in a little on each one and found some chuckles. In this particular photo, look who’s laughing and who’s not:

Yes, the grown-ups enjoyed our show. The kids appear to be more confused than entertained. We care not. We were applauded, and you know kids don’t clap for just anything…