Monday, June 7, 2010

Bitter Sweet Weekend!

For months we had been looking forward to our annual MRC outdoor adventure weekend. It finally arrived only to be a combination of extreme highs and lows. With Rob and I showing support for Ken and Bill during the Hospital Hill race, along with rooting for Rob's neice, Annie, we looked forward to a celebration with them after their individual races. With Annie and Bill finishing the 10k segments of the event, we waited for Ken to finish so we could get going on phase two of our MRC weekend, our kayak trip down the Kaw River. We weren't expecting such a dramatic and dangerous ending to Ken's finish in the half-marathon!

Since most of us know how Ken's race ended, with a case of heat stroke, I'll omit the details. However, Rob, Bill, and myself included, came away with a new respect for running when the heat is a factor. This includes training runs as well as race events!

With Ken in professional hands at the hospital, and assurances that he would be okay, we went forward with our kayak plans for Saturday afternoon and the bike trip on the Katy Trail on Sunday morning. Needless to say, Ken was on our minds the rest of Saturday afternoon, even after several conversations with him after being released from the hospital.

The rest of the weekend was enjoyable but just wasn't the same without our bud!

Mike

1 comment:

Ken said...

Mike, Bill and Rob - Thanks for all the support, concern and encouragement. I seemed to have recovered from my heat stroke. It was not worth a PR in Hospital Hill as I put my family and friends through the trauma with me. I will be wiser about running more cautiously in the heat and humidity. - Ken