Networking at literally the "hottest race in the south"

My friend Kendra and I decided (at the last minute) to run the 10k instead of the 5, and finished in 1 hour and 3 minutes! Not too bad for being 4 months pregnant (if I do say so myself :) ).

The run was definitely hot and I was so concerned about dehydration that I drank at almost every water stop. Therefore, by the end of the race I had to pee more than I think any human has ever had to pee. There were no porta-potties anywhere! Don't they know pregnant people run races too! At one point, at around mile 4, I decided I was going to have to knock on someone's door because there were no woods nearby in which I could discreetly drop my pants. I sucked it up though, not wanting to make Kendra wait and make small talk with some poor people who opened their door for me and we made it!

At mile 4.5, Kendra and I decided that since we could no longer make conversation as we trudged up one of the last hills that we would walk. We'd been walking no more than 30 seconds when a man came running by us in his mid-forties yelling:

"Come on ladies, I've got 50 pounds and about 20 years on both of you, pick it up!"

To which we replied,

"WE'RE PREGNANT!"

He stopped in his tracks and started laughing and let us know that he'd been walking up all of the hills. We gave him hell, because even we hadn't done that!

Turns out he's the Director of Armed Services Communication for the American Red Cross at its headquarters in Washington DC. What a guy to meet! We exchanged information at the end of the race and he gave me the contact information for the Fayetteville chapter's Executive Director, who I've contacted and I'm hoping I can at least get some meaningful volunteer time in while here in NC. I told him my husband and I are still up in the air as to where we'll be in a couple of years when he gets out, but that some arrows are pointing back to DC. Pretty serendipitous!