Prairie Fire Half Report and Wichita Weekend

We had a great weekend in Wichita full of fun times at McDonald's, a public library inside a grocery store, playing with cousins, playing with friends at the park, visiting Chuck E. Cheese, and of course, running the Prairie Fire Half Marathon! Here are some of the highlights. 

Breakfast at McDonald's! As it turns out, it's not Cheers where everybody knows your name, it's the McDonald's at 21st and Rock. :) Mom and Aunt Carolyn are rocking the shades below. 

Daniel found a round table for our whole family. It was a great crew - my parents, Aunt Carolyn and Uncle John, and then all four of us.

I introduced the kids to one of the marvels of Wichita...a library inside a grocery store! Heaven.

We had to go in and check out books for the kids for the weekend.

Next it was on to Aunt Carolyn and Uncle John's house, where they have not one, not two, but THREE rooms exclusively devoted to playrooms. So wonderful! The kids can't wait to come back here for Christmas, especially since they suckered Aunt Carolyn into giving them beanie baby stuffed animals to take home. :)

Daniel and cousin Clara are near the same age and size and had a ball playing together!

Clara with her baby sister Saylor - so sweet.

The big reason we were in Wichita was to run the Prairie Fire Half Marathon! This is the event that used to be the Wichita Marathon, where Julie ran the marathon for years starting in 1999. I have such fond memories of watching the race and it is awesome to be a part of now that it has a new course. We headed to the expo to pick up our packets, where we ran into a teacher from the kids' schools and I got the best sticker ever to put up at work.

We moved from downtown Wichita to west Wichita to see my friend Miriam and to visit this Truly Awesome Playground at Sedgwick County Park.

Wichitans are kind of weird about sticking to the "east" or "west" side of town and I would have never known this existed if not for Miriam!

 Playing with the kids! Our kids match up very well in ages and interests.

Back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for...what else? More toys! The kids absolutely love the old Little People sets.

Will, my mom, and I made reservations to eat dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant nearby, Sweet Basil, where Will last went for his stepbrother Tony's graduation in 1989 and I last went before a homecoming dance in 1996.

Maybe it was because this was 15-20 years later or maybe it was because we ate at 5:30 p.m., but Will and I were the only ones in the entire restaurant under 50 years old the whole time we were there. My mom was definitely on the younger end, too. :)

Carb loading! Or should I say, cheese loading....

Meanwhile, my dad offered to take the kids to...Chuck E Cheese! It was entirely his idea and I am not sure he quite knew what he was giving himself into. ;) We all agreed that taking your grandchildren to this loud, sensory-overload place is a grandparent rite of passage.

Picture of Annika and Grandpa!

We met the gang after we finished eating since they were still going strong.

My parents also got to play skee ball for the first time, which is my very favorite part of the Chuck E Cheese experience.

We capped off the night with a visit to Braum's, my very favorite ice cream store. Where else can you get a waffle cone for only $1.35??!?

The next day was our big event....the Prairie Fire Half Marathon! Sadly, I did not take any pictures until we came home. It was an absolutely beautiful day and I loved the route full of so many old memories (running by my old high school, old park, old hospital I volunteered at...).

I ran with the 2:30 pace group until about mile 2, when I ended up ahead of them with some other runners. I met a really nice 5th grade teacher from Emporia whom I ran with until mile 8 or so, a really nice chemistry professor at Emporia State University whom I ran with until around mile 10, and then a really nice girl from Wichita whom I ran with through around mile 11. Around mile 12 I could still talk just fine but felt like my legs couldn't move at all, and the 2:30 pace group passed me. I ended up finishing in 2:30:18 and didn't have anything left to sprint at the end, but I am happy that I put in a good effort and had a PR with my fastest half yet!

It was so awesome having people to run with and talk to during the race. There was also wonderful crowd support lining the race with the best cheerleaders of all - the fam! My mom and the kids were there to see me around mile 6, and my dad was on his bike around mile 10 and then mile 12 toward the end.

Will ended up running so fast and having such a great race that our family missed cheering for him! He was originally thinking that he would try to break 2 hours, but ended up finishing in 1:45!! He ran almost the same pace in the half marathon as he did for the 10K race last month. Will said that doing the 25K trail race on the Konza two weeks ago made a big difference. Way to go, Will!!

Our children were happy that we each ran the race so that they could each get a finisher's medal from us. :)

 After the race, in my finisher's technical shirt!

Yay!

It was an awesome race and an awesome weekend in Wichita!