Day 3 in Boise: Saturday

Saturday Tim and Kelly had to go to a funeral for a relative of Tim's, and they took 10 of the children with them. Wilson and Parrick were scheduled to run races that morning with the Idaho Christian Running Club, so Curt and I went to cheer them on. The race was held at Camels Back Park in the foothills north of Boise. It's a large, very popular park, and despite the damp, chilly weather, many families, teams, and individuals were there for exercise, recreation, workouts and classes.

We found this mural painted on the wall of the Boise Food Co-op:

And you can see from the hill in the distance how the park got its name:

Wilson (12) and Patrick (10 1/2) are new to the running club scene, but in their first races a couple of weeks ago they both finished in first place by wide margins...so they were excited to see how things would go this day.

Before the races, they were running and chasing around with other kids all over the huge park. I would have been saving my energy for the race, but for these two active guys, tearing around the park just barely warmed them up.

 

Though they were both interested in running the 4k race (the longest available that day for their age group), they worked out a different strategy between themselves. They decided that Patrick should run the 3k and Wilson run the 4k. That way they wouldn't be competing against each other, and they would both have the possibility of winning first place. Pretty smart guys.

Patrick's 3k was first. There were about 13 kids in his race. There he is in the green shorts, just before the starting gun.

Patrick stayed in about the middle of the pack as long as we could see him after the start. Then the runners were out of sight for quite a while. The next time I saw him, in about the last kilometer of the race, he was running across the base of the hill in the distance all by himself, with no other kids in sight.

And here he is, driving in to the finish line, at least a minute ahead of the next contestant:

Wilson had a chance to congratulate his little brother briefly before his race was called.

Here's Wilson (teal shirt and red shorts) with the 17 other contestants for the 4k race:

And Lo and behold, he did the same thing Patrick did! Started in the middle of the pack, and about 10-12 minutes later, he crossed the base of the hill all alone:

A few minutes later he crossed the finish line at least 2 minutes ahead of the second place runner:

Two brothers enjoying the feel of victory:

And once Wilson caught his breath, congratulating one another. (There, now you can really see the Camels Back Hill in the distance.)

What a thrill it was for us to be able to watch their great running, and to cheer them on. The amazing thing was that just minutes after their races, they were back at running and chasing with friends all over the park again. Where DO they get that energy????

In the afternoon, we met our friends Nan and Kevin Kelley at Jessica's shop. Nan is also an avid knitter, so we figured that would be a great place to meet and visit for a couple of hours.  It was a busy afternoon at the shop, with lots of people in and out to browse, purchase yarn, sit and knit a while, or just visit.

Curt and Kevin weren't in the mood to knit that day (!), so they escaped all the estrogen and went off and did guy things... Visited a gun shop, a micro-brewery, stuff like that.

When they returned, Curt had to show Kevin the cool glow-in-the-dark yarn that Jess had pointed out to Curt yesterday. Kevin looks utterly fascinated.

The afternoon's next event was to visit Rand at work.

MotoTech is an outdoor motor sports shop, with motorcycles, Can-Ams, snowmobiles, and ATVs. The perfect place for Rand to have fun while working!

He's the "yard guy," so he pretty much does everything that's outside the realm of the sales staff or service techs.

When the new "toys" come in, Rand uncrates them and sets them up for their final assembly.

He is constantly rearranging vehicles around the yard as trade-ins and consignment vehicles come and go, as well as the stock of new machines. Here he's moving a motorcycle....

....to make room for a Snowmoblie, on the tines of the forklift:

After seeing Rand's great work set-up, Curt and I headed back to the motel for a dip in the pool, hot tub and sauna. Then off to Rand and Hudson's place for dinner. Brenna cooked a delicious meal: shrimp amd pasta, and roasted carrots. We had a wonderful long visit with all 4 young people living in the townhouse (Rand, Brenna, Hudson and Sarah), and Jessica joined us as well. It's so much fun to see our kids sharing friends. For years Rand, Hudson and Jessica have enjoyed the same large circle of friends and have done most of their recreation activities (as well as Hudson and Rand doing much of their work) together. It's wonderful to see them enjoying each other's company so much!