The last few weeks have been a tedious exercise in energy management, with the energy in question being my own. And while I could go into a long and rambling (and just a little bit whiney) tale about aging parents and Hallmark holidays and children and work, I’ll spare you. Besides, you likely have your own version, with some of the details changed but the end point being more or less the same: wrung out like a sponge that’s seen better days and should likely be tossed before it grows some kind of lethal bacteria.

More than once (per hour) during the last two weeks, I’ve dreamed of stocking the fridge full of frozen pizzas, jumping in the car, and driving away. I’ve held off, because I’m an adult, damn it. And also because I knew I’d have a chance to do just that Memorial Day weekend.

I’ll be on the coast above the skier’s head. Hopefully, there won’t be snow – but one never knows in Vermont in May.

Nearly three years ago, some knitter runners and I took on the Vermont City Relay. A few months ago, one of those same knitter runners, who I will call Carol because that is her name, decided she wanted to take on the full 26.2 this year. Carol asked if any of us would like to run some of it with her. Lisa (who is my go-to BRF and has turned up in posts on more than one occasion) and I said “sure.”

Carol is in the red/pink hat; Lisa is in the white hat; I am #teamvisor in the back.

Carol’s marathon training went well over the winter and into early spring. Bodies, however, are fragile and marathon training excels at teasing out all of your personal fragilities and laying them bare.

The good news is that what the doctor thought could be torn cartilage in Carol’s knee isn’t quite that dire. While the marathon is no longer in her plan (this year), she has been given a cautious OK to run the half. So we three will still run, just in a different configuration than planned.

Given the way Vermont City organizes its race, there is no official half. Instead, two runners each take on 13.1 miles of the marathon course and run it as a relay. Lisa and I will be a 2-person team. Carol start with whichever one of us takes the first leg; then the third runner will pick up at the second leg. I might make a play for being the second leg runner, if only because I’m told there will be ice pops and drag queens on that part of the route. Priorities.

It appears that I took zero pictures when I last ran this race so I’ve stolen this one to show you how pretty the course is. It goes right along Lake Champlain and is lovely, if brutally sunny in spots.

My only goal for the race is to finish — and I’m 100 percent willing to let that go if Voldesun drops in or if I get hungry or if my shoe feels weird. I do like Sunday morning that ends with a medal, though. That plus finish line Ben and Jerry’s will likely see me through.

More than the race, what I’m really looking forward to is four hours in the car on the way up (and the way back). I love a solo road trip, especially one that won’t take me through any major city centers. Once I get past Albany, it’s mostly cow country, which means more time with my thoughts and my podcasts and lush, rolling hills. It’s one of the ways my batteries recharge and the power is currently low.

Add to that the knowledge that I’ll be able to spend 48 hours or so with two knitters — we’ve already been talking about the projects we’re bringing — and no rigid schedule, well, I couldn’t look forward to my road trip any more. Any other mother runners going to be there, too?

A simple question this week, how do you recharge your batteries?