Racing day, it's racing day,
Racing day, it's racing day!
It's not sausage casing day,
Today's the day we race.
~ from Born to Play by The Backyardigans

For us, it was more like racing weekend! On Thursday, after dropping off Benjamin with Grandma Chris and Grandpa Ed who graciously watched him for us, Mike and I began our busy racing weekend. As I mentioned before, I had volunteered to be a part of the Ragnar Relay Race as a SWAT team member, which means that I managed a major exchange of the race. I had to be in Modena, Wisconsin, which was a tiny town in the middle of the Wisconsin side of the river.

View Modena Town Hall in a larger map
I got there at about 8am, met with my volunteers, receive instructions from other SWAT team people and began setting up the exchange. It had rained my whole drive out there, so we were all afraid of the possible weather, but it turned out to be a great day. Dark clouds would roll overhead, but they'd break up before getting to us. It was sunny on and off all day, but apparently more sunny than I thought because I came home with an unexpected, horrible sunburn. The whole day was a lot of work, but so much fun. Basically my job was to make sure everything was running smoothly, that the volunteers were doing their jobs, and that the runners were staying safe. I was there late into the night, my feet hurt, I was sunburned, tired and sore - but I'd gladly do it again!

As I was just getting to sleep (or so it seemed), Mike was waking up to get himself out to the Rochester Half Marathon, a big race here in town. He was using the race as part of his training for the Twin Cities Marathon. Luckily it was a gorgeous day and he had a good run. Later in the day we were able to enjoy lunch before heading out to Red Wing to pick up Benjamin from Mom and Dad. On Sunday we took the time to recuperate from our vacation, catch up on housework and just relax.

We have just one week before Benjamin starts orientation at his new school. We are all nervous and excited. This weekend all three of us will be experiencing a Minnesota tradition by attending the State Fair. Benjamin hasn't been there since he was small enough to ride along on Mike's back. It should be interesting!