Norris Bunch: April 2012

This weekend was the Tar Heel 10 Miler in Chapel Hill. My brother drove down from DC to run the race making it the third race we've run together since last October (first was Marine Corps Marathon in October and second was Krispy Kreme Challenge in February). Hopefully we'll be able to run some more races soon in the future.

I did a couple of things differently this race and they all worked out. I think they will become part of my racing plan.

Stopped at Dunkin Donuts for coffee and munchkins as pre-race fuel
Wore Vibram Five Fingers during the run (vs. normal running shoes)
Didn't look at my watch during the race
Gave a high five to Meb Keflezighi before crossing the start line

Below are some pictures from the race. The full set of pictures can be found here.

Five Fingers - 1 for each mile

Start of the race

Action shot while running.

Franlkin Street

Laurel Hill Challenge

Right turn to the finish. A welcome sight.

Finished!

Blue Ridge Relay teammates

We call ourselves the Norris Bunch because there are 5 people in our family (not counting the cats). Almost all the time we do things as a bunch. We go shopping together. We go to football and baseball games together. We go hiking and biking together. What we don't do enough of is activities with each of the kids alone.

Roughing it...as a bunch.

Over the years we have been camping together either on our own or with the cub scouts but still it was always as a bunch. I've wanted to take each of the kids alone and finally succeeded in doing that when I took Olivia camping earlier this month. I don't have much to say in this post but wanted to show pictures from each of the kid's first trip camping alone.

Alex - Bristol Spring Races, March 2007

Alex is the oldest which has given him the benefit of doing many things alone with me. I used to attend the NASCAR races in Bristol, Tennessee and one year I brought Alex. We camped in a family section of a campground and attended the weekend's races.

First step in setting up a camp site is to put snacks front and center.

Second step in setting up a camp site is to play with toys while dad sets up.

Bad news: Alex fell and scraped his knee.
Good news: an officer noticed it and drove us all the way to the track.

Working hard to keep up with the action.

It's so loud you can't hear your neighbor talking but Alex could still fall asleep.

Standard shot in front of the sign.

Yes we had to visit the Home Depot hauler.

Andrew - Umstead State Park, September 2011

Andrew has asked me several times to take him camping. I wasn't getting around to it which wasn't fair to him. Last September I finally reserved a weekend at Umstead State Park for just the two of us. We spent the weekend there and packed quite a bit in. We hiked, rode bikes, fished on the lake shore and from a canoe. Fortunately we were able to stay in the canoe. Last time Andrew was in one he was with his mom and they flipped over! I was lucky.

Andrew wishing it would get dark so we could start a fire.

Some cool rock structure.

Mushrooms were everywhere.

We rode bikes on the trails before heading home.

Hiking along the trails.

Cheese!

Andrew's big catch.

Olivia - Umstead State Park, April 2012

After taking Andrew camping alone Olivia started asking me to take her camping too. We hear "me too" a lot from all of the kids. We didn't do any more camping over the winter and she quickly forgot about it until February. In February I went with Alex and his cub scout den on a trip to the NC Aquarium. After this Olivia stepped up the "me too" pressure. Just like with Andrew I reserved a site in Umstead and took her camping. She was so excited that for the days leading up to it she would tell everyone "I'm going camping with my Daddy." She told the Walmart cashier, people in parking lots, basically anyone who would make eye contact with her. It was great.