Day Fifteen: 5k Run

I'm considering myself really lucky that I remember anything from Saturday.
I woke up at 4:30am so I could shower, eat, and be at the New Kent Winery by 7am for the Virginia Derby 5k Run that morning. Molly and I sat around while we waited for Darrell to arrive thirty minutes later, and then we did nothing but register runners for the race for the next two hours.
At around 9:15am, Darrell told me to head over to the track because I was to give a tour at 10:30am. He figured I knew the backside pretty well since I had worked there two years ago, and wanted me to give a 2 1/2 hour tour to an attorney and some boy scouts. That sounds easy enough, but there isn't anything about horse racing that can interest some 7 year olds for 2 1/2 hours. Basically, it was horrible. I arrived at the guard gate ready for the tour and, thankfully, they were late and shaved some time off the tour. There were four adults and three boys, and they had all been to the track before and had all taken backside tours before. Thankfully, trainer Stephanie Nixon talked to them for a good half hour, showing them what blinkers are and what poultice felt like. She let them feed some of the horses and pet them, which really entertained them. She also had some silks laying around that they got to try on. After that, I got track superintendent J.D. on the phone and he had some time for us, so I walked the group across the track to the shop. J.D. was great with the kids, showing them how a starting gate worked and what the dirt track is made of. He then loaded the kids in the starting gate and I got to push the button that opens the gates (I'm suprised the little guys didn't go deaf). They loved it, and went running out of them several times. We then had about an hour until the first race, which they were supposed to view from right beside the starting gate. The timing was going great, since horses head over to the paddock about forty-five minutes before the race and the group still needed to eat lunch, so I was very grateful for Stephanie and J.D. Once the group got their lunch at the track kitchen, Darrell gave me a call and told me he needed me in the picnic area a.s.a.p, so I instructed the group on what to do next and headed over to the frontside.
By the time I got over there, the picnic area was under control and Molly and I headed back up to the Press Box to watch most of the races. I called Delaware a few more times with no response, and I was still undergoing my futile search to get Darrell some Derby glasses.
By the end of the night, Molly and I were absolutely done. She fell asleep sitting up at the computer, and we seriously considered taking shifts sleeping on a couch in the TV room where some guys we know work. Keith and Bill, the Equibase guys, felt awful just looking at us and our slow motion movements. So by the time I had to sit down and write a story on the Punch Line Stakes, I was really gone. I sat for a few minutes and tried to think of how to start it before Keith came in, took one look at me and said "Ah jeez, get out of the way" and had me get out of my chair. I told him he wasn't writing it for me, but of course he wasn't going to listen. The title and first paragraph of this story are all thanks to Keith, and I guarantee the rest wouldn't have happened if he hadn't had started it for me. Molly and I are so thankful for how those guys look out for us.
I clocked out at about 10:30pm and I have no idea how I drove 1 1/2 hours without completely falling asleep (I scared myself a few times), but I managed. It's a very good thing I took off work at my other job the next day...