6k Trail Race and a Weekend in Chattanooga, TN

Last weekend I drove down to spend the weekend with Laura at her college. It was Parent’s Weekend and the school had planned activities for parents. This was my first time going for Parent’s Weekend and Laura is a Junior is college now. Where has the time gone?

I got up at 4am and left home just after 5 am. It’s close to a 4 hour drive for me to get there and I wanted to make it in time to get registered and go to class with her. On the way, my oil light came on and that made me nervous. I knew I needed an oil change but the previous two and a half weeks I’d been out of town visiting my kids and grandkids down in Florida and then spent a week with my parents in Atlanta, Georgia. Getting an oil change just hadn’t happened.

I called my husband and let him know and he told me to stop and get the oil changed on the way. This is something I rarely ever do. My husband, Mykal, usually takes care of all the car maintenance. He was stressed because this was the first time in 25 years the oil light had come on in my car. He’s usually very good about keeping on top of it!

Anyway, at that point I wasn’t near any auto centers and I still have nearly an hour to drive so I ended up stopping to put oil in my car just to be on the safe side. This was something I had never done before in my entire life lol.

I made it to Laura’s school, checked in and went with her to finance class. I was the only parent who came even though it was “parent’s weekend” and Laura leaned over and said, “That’s okay. Their parents just don’t love them.” She was joking of course. Also, she takes the prettiest notes in class!

After finance class we went out to one of her favorite coffee shops. She likes to go there to study during the week. It was Valentine’s Day so it was a nice little date! I got the Lavender and Mint Tea and Laura got a Matcha Latte. We shared a pistachio cream croissant and it was very good!

After that we went to her second class on Friday – World Religions – where they are currently studying Hinduism. The discussion was really interesting and I learned some things I didn’t know about Hindus. Laura made my mom’s famous Best Ever Lemon Bars and I ate three of them haha. Soooo good!

Friday evening we went to Vespers and heard a terrific sermon on Student Missions. I wish I could share the sermon with you. But I can share this one story.

There was a man named Solomon who came to the Pohnpei Island and the student missionaries thought he would be perfect to help them teach 8th grade (the teacher didn’t show up). But when Solomon arrived he said, “I’ve come for a different purpose.” The pastor described Solomon as a tall, African American man, and he would go knock on doors.

When one of the Island ladies would come to the door he would say, “My name is Solomon Sumner. The Bible tells us to go into all the world and preach the everlasting gospel. Can I come in and preach the everlasting gospel to you?”

And it worked! Solomon would sit on the ground and teach the people in the houses. And the pastor (who was just 19 years old at the time and not a pastor yet) said he followed Solomon around and was amazed at how he was evangelizing the people. He asked Solomon to teach him how to do what he did.

The pastor asked Solomon how he learned to do what he did, and Solomon told him that he had been sitting in church in North Carolina one day when he got so frustrated with the argument they were having about faith and works, that he got up and went across the street and knocked on the door.

He said a lady came to the door in curlers and he said to her, “Can I come in and preach the everlasting gospel to you?” And she invited him in. That lady was later baptized! And that’s when Solomon decided that was what God wanted him to do.

It would be pouring down rain in Pohnpei and Solomon told him, “We cannot stop for this rain. There are people waiting for the Good News.” And everywhere he visited, he would knock on the door and say, “My name is Solomon Sumner. The Bible tells us to go into all the world and preach the everlasting gospel. Can I come in and preach the everlasting gospel to you?”

I found this story to be so very inspiring. Some time later, Solomon contracted an illness from the water and died of kidney failure but he never stopped preaching until the end. What a man of God he was.

After vespers, we went back to Laura’s little apartment there on campus. She made us Caesar Salad Chicken Wraps and I slept in Laura’s bunk bed. Her roommate was gone for the weekend so Laura slept in her bed.

On Sabbath morning we went to church and met up with my daughter Hannah. She lives in the area with her new husband, Marvin. Heard another great sermon from Pastor Ferguson. And after church Hannah came back to Laura’s apartment and the three of us ate some delicious pasta that Laura made for us and then we went for a nice long walk on the greenway.

On Saturday night Laura and I watched a fun movie on Netflix and then went to bed. She made me peppermint tea with cream and we ate candy. I hardly slept a wink! On Sunday morning we went to the Parent’s Weekend Brunch and heard a Christian comedian. Bless his heart, his jokes were just okay. But he was a very nice man!

After the brunch I had to drop my car off to get the oil changed and then we came to get ready for the 6k race. It took longer at the auto center than I expected so we ended up being 5 minutes late to the race. In hindsight I would have taken the car in at 7 am – but because I had terrible insomnia, I didn’t want to get up at 6:30 to take it in.

Laura did my hair for the race. That was a special treat for me as it’s usually me braiding my girls hair. I wish I had taken a picture of the back of it! This photo was right before we left for the race right after she braided my hair.

We checked in with the race people and they said they would let the sweepers know we were behind. We left 6 minutes on the clock. Well, being a few minutes late to the race meant they had already taken up the signs. We’re troopers though!

This was a 6k Trail Race with an elevation gain of 440 feet. That first hill was steep. According to my Health app I climbed the equivalent of 57 flights of stairs during the race!

We ended up taking a wrong turn almost immediately into the trail and had to back track which added an extra mile to our race to reach the finish line! Early on I told Laura to not wait for me – I’m slower and while I run on occassion and walk 3 miles almost daily, I had never tried to do a trail like this at a run.

It was about 40 degrees outside during the race. What was supposed to be 3.6 miles ended up being 4.86 for me. But I made it and in relatively good time considering (especially considering I don’t run that often). I was proud of myself for pushing though and doing it.

Laura made great time despite the extra hour and I ended up coming in second to last – which was okay. This was my second race ever – the first was back in October on a trip to Orlando. I did a 5k race there in 100 degree heat (the heat was brutal). So, I’m looking forward to doing more races this year and improving my time!

After the race, I packed up to head back home to Kentucky and Laura got ready to go take photos for client. She asked me to go take care of Theo and put his blanket on since the temperatures were dropping. So I did that on my way out of town. It’s mud season by the way, in case you hadn’t heard.