Day Six and Seven of the Baseball Road Trip

Day Six--This was going to be the easiest driving day. Thank goodness for that. We were tired and weary. I still had not fully regained my appetite back so, as much as I wanted to sample the local cuisine, I was just trying to eat to stop me from getting too bad a headache. The heat in Midwest wasn't helping much. But, this was the last long drive of the trip. St. Louis to Kansas City straight across Missouri on I-70.

We got there in less than 4 hours and the hotel was directly across from the stadium. We had our tickets. No need to worry about parking since we could walk to it from the hotel. Needed to find something to do for a few hours before game time. So, off we went to Independence, MO to go see where Harry Truman lived.


Independence was about a 15 minute drive from the hotel. It was a neat little tour of his house. It takes about 15 minutes to go through it and, for me, brought back memories of how my father's relatives used to live. Very homey, kind of dark inside, but you can picture ol' Harry and Bess muddling around the house. Harry's hat and coat are still there by the side door where we last left it. Fun experience. Afterwards, back we went to the hotel, parked the car and off to the stadium we went.

Now, for Phillies fans, Kaufmann Stadium is a bit historic as it was against these Royals that the Phillies won their first World Series. Since, then, Kaufmann Stadium has been refurbished and a nice job they did in refurbishing.

This was the most kid-friendly ballpark I've ever seen. Beyond centerfield, there is a kid zone where kids could play mini-golf, they had a mini-stadium for kids to hit balls, they had a speed gun zone, a carousel, and much more. The stadium looked good too though, if you had a ticket way upstairs you are walking a distance to get there.

And, as quiet as the Cardinal fans were at home, they were that loud on the road. Cardinals took a 10-1 lead and made sure the Royal fans were aware of the score. They were so sure they were going to win that they took their best player out (Albert Pujols) halfway through the game and let the pitcher bat and not use a designated hitter the rest of the game!!! The Royals staged a brief rally but still lost 10-5. After the game, there was a brief fireworks display to round out the evening and the trip. 7 games in a week. We were done.


Day Seven--We were going home today. But, not without a 5k race in the morning!!!! Thanks to Jennifer, author of the blog Life is a Gift. RUN, I found a race in the Kansas City area that she recommended (she lives in the area so that helped). (Unfortunately, Jennifer was out of town so we couldn't get together to do this race).

The race was the Terri Tough 5k in Olathe, Kansas. The race was dedicated to Terri Mathis Zenner, who was a social worker in the area and was killed while visiting a client. It was held in Heritage Park. The course was mainly around the lake. But, it was another hot, muggy morning.

Still not feeling 100% because of the remaints of the flu the week before, I just wanted to take my time on this race. The first mile was on a path through a grassy field making a turn to run next to the lake. I was feeling alright at this point having gone out slowly for a change. The first mile was around the 8:40 mark.

Nice flat course. If I can maintain this pace, I should be good. At a mile and a half, someone threw in a hill. What? Where the heck did this hill come from? It wasn't a speed bump. It was a genuine hill. As genuine as a mid-80s degree (F), 90% humidity type of morning that I was in. UGGHHHH!!!!

When I got to the top, there was a water station. I was ready to take two cups and throw all over my head. Except the water was orange. WATER?, I yelled. 'No, just Gatorade', they yelled back. Good catch by me.

The second mile was a little over 10:00/mile pace. But, then the wheels came apart. My legs were jelly. The sun was out. My not eating right for the week had caught up with me. I was toast.

The third mile was on the other side of the lake from the first mile heading back to the start/finish line. As much as I tried to will myself to run, I was gassed. It wasn't worth any hospital visits as I was going home that afternoon, so I took my time going in. Unofficially, I came in around 30:56.

After 5 cups of Gatorade and some Chris Cakes (the pancakes served after the race), I was feeling a lot better. Actually, probably the best since the trip started. I was starting to get my appetite back. Great. Just in time for work.

I stuck around for the awards ceremony just in case. I didn't see a lot of men my age so who knows? Good thing I did. At the awards ceremony, I was announced as the winner of my age group. Only problem I was announced as winning the female 50-59 division. Which I would have been very proud of if I was a female. (Do they do things differently in Kansas that I'm not aware of?). Obviously, a mistake was made and, as it turns out, I didn't place in the top three for the males 50-59 (though, if I ran my 'usual' race of 25-26:00, I would have been in the top three).

After the race, it was time to go back to the hotel and back home. Our flight was delayed for two hours, so I didn't get home until 11p that night. The next morning I had to get up for an open water swim clinic for my triathlon training.

The trip was great. I didn't 'find' myself or anything like that but it was nice to see parts of America I wouldn't have seen otherwise. We met a lot of nice people along the way. We had a lot of fun at the ballparks and saw some great games. But, it was tiring. I don't think I'm going to turn 50 ever again. It's too exhausting.



(Notes: Below is a picture of where the Teri Tough 5k race was held. This is Heritage Park in Johnson County, Kansas. On the opposite side of the lake, right-side, is the first mile of the race. The left-side of the picture is where you came back for the third mile.

Also, below is a short-video of part of 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame' in Wrigley Field. )