Hometown 10K Weekend

Our hometown hosts a large 10K every year the first weekend of May.  It basically shuts down the roads around town, and everyone sits out in their driveways or downtown in lawn chairs cheering on the runners.  Russ and I usually visit that weekend too, because most of his side of the family runs competitively.  We like to cheer them on.  This year, Russ wasn't able to go,  Guess why!  Work, of course.  At the last minute, I loaded up Millie Janalee for a weekend full of festivities with friends.

A few times through the summer, the Main Street Association puts on a family movie night at the depot downtown.  It's called Films on Fillmore.  On Friday night before the race, they were showing Frozen - the sing-a-long version.  We decided to take Millie Janalee and her little friend, Caroline.  We enjoyed dinner before the movie with Caroline's parents and another friend and her baby.  Then, we unloaded the quilts and jackets (it was quite cold that evening) and snacks for a movie night.

The girls had a blast!

When the movie started, it was too cute to handle!  I wish I had it on video.  The girls were squealing and dancing and singing and giggling with excitement.  Who knew these 21 month olds knew the words to these songs so well?!  They never took their eyes off the movie.

The next morning, we woke up early to watch the start of the race near the starting line.  Millie Janalee and Caroline enjoyed their breakfast as we waited on the race officials to give the starting shot.

While we were waiting, we saw some of our favorite runners!  Many of our family members run part of the race course BEFORE the race.  Yes, it is the kind of crazy thing serious runners do apparently.  So, we saw a few of our nieces, aunts, and friends on their way back in to the starting line.

"Wonder Woman Aunt Jenny" ready to run.

When the race starts, there is a stampede of runners passing by you.  I snapped over a dozen pictures just hoping to catch some of our family.  Thankfully, Roan and Leah were waving and yelling so I knew exactly when to snap this picture.  Roan ran with Sam this year.  I think this was his first 10K, so she helped him stay on pace I'm sure.  All the Johnson runners finished with amazing times as always.

Once the last walker passed us to start the race, we finally saw who was singing all those Elvis songs.  It was Elvis himself.  He came over to serenade the girls a little bit.  They weren't real sure what to think.  Ha!

We strolled over to a local coffee shop for some breakfast for the mamas and a caffeine.  Then we watched most of the Johnsons finish the race, before we strolled over to Green Market.  Green Market is a market held the first Saturday of each month in our hometown where vendors bring their handmade items to sell.  We enjoyed seeing several friends we knew and looking at all the handmade goods.

We decided the girls needed some time to run around, so we let them out at the courthouse to play before eating lunch at Borroum's, an old drug store.  They had the best time running around, playing "Ring Around the Rosie", and just being free from the stroller.

After a yummy lunch, we ran into some more family and friends.  We played and changed diapers back at the courthouse before parting ways for the day.  Millie Janalee and I visited Russ's parents' house where all the runners were congregating for lunch and snacks.

Millie Janalee was worn out, so we headed back to my parents' for a long nap.  It was a wonderful way to spent an early summer weekend!