Ohio 008 na Blog.cz

On a rainy Wednesday evening, the whole bunch of us went to a nice dinner in a fancy restaurant named Amish Door in Wooster. There were Kelly's parents - Tom and Sheila, Dorothy, Ryan, Kelly, Trent and Cole, and the six of us. It is really unique how our employer's family treats us!

After the dinner we left to Burton. It was a cold, wet and cloudy night, a little bit depressing, though I was looking forward to five days we were going to spend at one of the most beautiful fairgrounds. Geauga County Fair likes to be called Great Geauga County Fair, because more than 200 food trailers, lots of rides and a great number of various animal barns make it really humungous. My favorite place at this fair is Natural Resources Area. You need to walk quite far, almost out of the fairgrounds to get there, that's why some people don't know about that place at all.

There was a party in a "Polish camper" (as I call the camper where Polish girls who work for Mr. K stay), which I didn't participate. Actually, there were at least two of them; one on the very first evening and the other one on Friday night. On Thursday hot afternoon I ran 5 miles on a horse track, but it didn't feel very good since I ate a big lunch just a while before that. When Ryan asked me if I was going to participate Saturday's morning race I was hesitating. Its start was scheduled for quite early morning plus somebody told me the "admission" was some 25 dollars, which was quite a lot for me. On Friday afternoon I told Ryan I wasn't going to participate due to the reasons mentioned above. But then Tereza encouraged me not to miss such an opportunity, such a challenge, and I realized that for the peace of my soul, for satisfying my desire for competition, I just have to participate, no matter what it would cost me. I felt kind of nervous when I was still awake at 3 am and finally got asleep about 3.30. My alarm clock went off at 6.08 and I got up soon after that. It was chilling outside. I ran around the fairgrounds to warm myself up. I had a breakfast in a dining room where I met a nice lady who remembered her former Hungarian student and pictures from all over Europe she got from him. Then I ran again, changed into my running outfit, and did some exercises. At 7.50 Ryan got out of his camper and led me to the place of start, which was Geauga YMCA building less than 10 minutes of walking far away. I was quite surprised when I saw all those sporty looking people - kids, teenagers and youngsters as well as their parents and also an older generation - in perfect expensive outfits, shiny brand new running shoes etc. Ryan told me not to be scared. He experienced this "Am I at the right place here?" feeling last year. Many of other competitors had T-shirts suggesting what races they had participated before. As I said - scary. We registered, received traditional yellow "The race at the fair" T-shirts and personal numbers. I ran several little laps around, stretched, and talked a bit to a girl who was stretching at the same bench. All runners who wanted to do the 5 mi race gathered at 8.30 on a big parking lot. After singing the American anthem we clapped our hands and moved to the start line. Last deep breath in, encouraging words from my boss, some advice about the tactics, countdown, and RUN! I didn't start crazily fast, but though I was surprised how relatively slow everybody (except several top runners in the very front) ran. Before the race I heard many people saying excitedly how hilly and demanding the route would be. Well, there were hills, but none of them comparable to the way from Jicin to Prachov :-) I tried to keep the speed, just gradually accelerate a bit. Take it easy, Kate. The weather was perfect. Warm sunny morning and peaceful countryside all around. After a while we passed a "1" sign (which I considered a "1 K" sign, due to previous talks with Ryan who somehow messed kilometers and miles last year) where some runners took a drink. Funny. I just ran and ran, enjoyed the motion, enjoyed the countryside, enjoyed running over other girls and some boys and men as well. Every other minute, I checked how far in front of me I could see Ryan's grey T-shirt, because I knew I should have been able to keep up with him on 5 mi distance. Besides him, I tried to keep up with some other guys too, and finally possibly run over them. When we were between "3" and "4" sign, we got to the place which I knew from my Monday morning run - Farview Farm. I was kind of confused by the time, because we must have been either pretty slow for running just 4 K, or pretty quick for running over 3 mi. So far I had saved my energy for four more kilometers, but I started hesitating whether we were really just in half of the race. I knew how far (actually close) from the fairgrounds we were. If there was no "detour" in the race's route, it was high time to accelerate and perform as great finish as possible. I eventually started running really fast and ran over one guy after the other. They looked a bit surprised as they panted up the hill. After a while I reached Ryan. I wanted to ask him whether we were really just one mile from the finish, but as soon as I started the question he goes "Yes, Kate. Go ahead! If you can, just go ahead and run!" And so I accelerated again, excited and enjoying running every meter. When I entered the final lap on a horse track I saw a girl running in front of me. Obviously, it was a great challenge for me. I needed to run over her. I just had to beat her. And so I did. I ran through the finish line 38 minutes and 27 seconds after I started 5 mi ago. It was just wonderfu!! :-)