Hops Props

A few weeks ago, Jeff set up our TV antenna which receives about one channel in English (the rest are telenovelas and Spanish spiritual channels). We can pick up the channel that counts though--NBC! Cue Olympic fanfare. Jay keeps asking to watch the local news so every now and then Jeff turns it on and watches some news with Jay. One day this week when they were watching the news, a commercial came on for the Moxee Hops Festival, advertising various forms of live music, a parade, a 5k race, and other activities. We decided to go! Moxee is a tiny town about 45 minutes northwest of us, and its claim to fame is "The Hops Capital of the World" --hence the hops festival. I had NO clue what hops were before we moved here. Wikipedia says that hops are a plant used "primarily as a flavoring and stability agent in beer." The fields are everywhere around here--rows and rows of poles with strings stretching down to the ground for the hops vines to climb up. Right now the hops are flourishing--perfect time for a hops festival! 

Saturday morning at 7:15am, we picked up Grampa Dan and Grama Leslie and drove to Moxee, WA to the Hops Festival. It was a gorgeous, cool, and fresh sunny morning--the kind that makes me love living in the Yakima Valley. We registered for the festival's 5k at a tent and then wandered around some large farm equipment on display and over to a big fun playground. The kids played under Grama and Grampa's supervision while Jeff and I warmed up for the race. Then we were off, running at high speeds through the quaint small town of Moxee, and off into the hops fields. It has been YEARS since I ran a 5k race, and I could tell. But it was still super fun to do such a short race after all the 10ks, 15ks, and half marathons I've been favoring in my "old age." It was also fun standing next to Jeff on the start line. I don't normally get to do that because he's so much faster than me. But this was a very small town race, with less than 80 runners, so there was space and I snared it right next to that handsome hairy husband of mine. 

After the first quarter mile, I settled into a comfortable, heart-pumping 7:10 mile pace and did my best to hold it. Miraculously I did, even among the dry dusty rutted paths through the hops. I am currently training for a half marathon, so the 3.1 miles of this 5k flew by and were over practically before I could even huff and puff. The last quarter mile or so was along the Hops Festival parade route, and people were already staking their claims to watch the parade along both sides of the wide road. I was running alone by the end of the race, but I did my best to kick it in and not feel too self conscious running in front of so many people (who were hardly even watching/possibly unaware that a race was going on). I pretended I was at the Olympics with all those spectators--haha. I saw Jeff waiting near the finish line cheering me on, just like he has for the past twelve years, and I managed to cross the line just under 23 minutes--22:51. Wahoo!

Jeff and I Adam and Eve'd the race--we were the first overall male and female finishers, and we're married, so that makes us the Adam and Eve of the race, haha. Jeff ran a respectably speedy 17:21 (first place overall finisher) and felt rather pleased with himself. I got 6th overall with my 22:51 (first woman). We have both been doing rather a lot of running this summer, because we can (since Jeff is off work) and because it's fun. Jeff has been running 50-60 miles per week and I'm almost up to 40 mile weeks. It's satisfying to be getting into good shape again after so many years of off-and-on, iffy physical fitness between babies and pregnancies. Since I'm training for a fall half marathon, I do a long run every week, usually on Friday or Saturday. Since I didn't want to do my long run the day before our 5k race, I opted to run 12 miles on Thursday instead. I failed to consider how running 12 miles two days before race is still tiring! 

This race had a fun quirk: they crowned the first overall male and female finishers with hops halos, Julius Caesar style. It was the BEST race award I've ever received. Thankfully the crowns were woven out of plastic hops vines, not real ones, so we didn't have to deal with the smell or ticklish bugs. They also insisted on giving us plastic and faux marble trophies AND medals. It was a bit overwhelming and what do you DO with stuff like that? Ours are stashed in the basement for now, but we hung the hops halos over our bed. Bahaha! 

We had to go back up a second time to get our medals--I hate going up in front of people! And the medal wouldn't fit over the giant crowns, so we kind of snagged them Christmas tree-style in the foliage and let them dangle by our chins like beards. I wish I brought our good camera and took pictures of the cute kids playing on the awesome playground under the big bright sky, or of the wide leafy hops fields stretching around the edges of town, but this was a morning to soak up the moment and not worry about documenting it...until they crowned us with these ridiculously amazing halos and I scrounged out my cell phone for a quick picture. Somehow between the first and second pictures, my phone's camera lens got a big ole fingerprint on it so the second picture turned out blurry. Let's pretend it's an artistic choice rather than a misplaced sweaty finger.

On the way home from Moxee on Saturday, we swung around to Union Gap and went shopping for back to school outfits for Jay and Rose--Grama Leslie likes to get her grandkids an outfit for the first day of school every year--and then we stopped at McDonald's for lunch on our way home. The kids had a great day, romping all over new playgrounds and climbing farm equipment at the Hops Festival. It was so nice having grandparents to come with us and watch the kids while Jeff and I both ran a race, and even better--we all fit in the same van together. We crammed the three kids in the back row, the grandparents in the middle captain seats, and Jeff and I took the helm up front. Family outing supreme! When we got home we showered and then collapsed in front of the Olympics to watch other people wear themselves out in athletic endeavors.