On Friday, my flight left LAX at 8:15. I wasn't charged to check my bag, so the trip was already off to a great start. I got into Dallas around 1:00 and I spent the afternoon catching up with my Mum, Dad, and brother. In the evening we ate dinner and watched Due Date. Julie came over and spent the evening with the family. On Saturday, we rehearsed for the next day's church service. I was able to lead worship and play my Dad's Les Paul! On Saturday night, Julie and I went to the Galleria. Julie needed to find some clothes for upcoming events and I went along for emotional support. Julie found everything that she was looking for which was cool. After shopping, we met two of Julie's friends, Allison and Lance, and we had a double date at an Asian restaurant called Firefly. It was a really wonderful evening spent in great company. After dinner, Julie and I ate frozen yoghurt. On Sunday, we went to church and then I spent the afternoon hanging out with my brother before he headed back to Waco that night. The weather was awesome, so Willy and I played basketball at the local park.
Monday was a relatively chill day. I hung out with a good friend, Parth, in the afternoon. In the evening, Julie and I had dinner with Doug and Renee. Julie arrived just in time for dinner. It was great to spend some time with old friends and we really enjoyed ourselves. On Tuesday, I hit some golf balls with Parth because the weather was perfect again. Spending time outside was really nice because I feel like I don't do enough of that in LA. On Tuesday night, my Mum and I went to see The King's Speech. I hadn't been to the movies in ages and we picked a cracking film to break that dry spell. It is a brilliant film that deserves every bit of recognition that it receives. I cannot praise it highly enough. I loved it! After that, I spent some time with Julie and we planned our adventures for the next day.
On Wednesday, Julie took a half day, so I drove down around 12:30 to pick her up from work. From there, we drove to Old City Park in Dallas. I don't know if I should broadcast this, but we got in for free! Technically, it costs money to get in, but nobody asked us for anything. We walked around an old-fashioned town filled with houses, a church, a general store, a train station, a bank etc... It was quite an experience to see how people lived just 100 years ago. It really made me think about the future. One hundred years from now, are people going to tour houses, like the one's I have lived in, and wonder what it was like to live in such primitive times? After Old City Park, we went back to Coppell and ate Marble Slab ice cream. It was seriously excellent ice cream! Julie and I then spent the evening at my house. My Mum cooked an excellent dinner and we watched some tv.
On Thursday morning, I woke up early and had a nice run. After that, I went to Dallas and jammed with my band, NOVA. It was great to see Travis again and re-connect. We played our original music and then played some cover tunes. It was awesome to be back again and I am really looking forward to playing live shows in the summer. By the way, if you haven't checked out our album "Love Revolution," it is on iTunes! We are really excited about what the future has in store. Since Thursday was St. Patrick's Day, my little event-planning girlfriend threw an awesome party! We played Telephone Pictionary, which was hilarious! It was another great evening.
On Friday, the three McKee's in Coppell loaded up the van and drove down to Waco. We had all registered to run the Bearathon 5K on Saturday morning. The proceeds from the race went to fund student scholarships, so we thought that it would be a great way to give back and get exercise. I was also hoping that this would encourage me to continue running in my free time. On Friday night, we met up with Willy and Emily, his girlfriend, and we went to Pei Wei. After loading up on carbs and nearly killing ourselves laughing on the way back from the restaurant, we spent some time at my brother's apartment. We watched Land of the Lost, which was actually pretty funny. Mum and Dad and I then went back to our hotel and tried to get some sleep. I didn't sleep very well because I was anxious for the race.
6:30 came early on Saturday morning. We ate a light breakfast and headed over to Willy's apartment. From there, we walked to the starting line. I had been training a little bit, but not nearly as much as I wanted to train. I was aiming for a time of 24-26 minutes, which would have me running an 8- 8.6 minute mile split. Willy and I decided that we would run together and our strategy was to start out fast, settle down, and then kick at the end. Well, we approached the starting line and took our place near the front of the pack. It was a beautiful day and there were people cheering everywhere. The gun went off around 8:12, and Willy and I took off at a pretty fast pace. About half a mile in, I thought that the pace was too quick, but we kept at it. We were in about 15th and 16th place. We took turns taking the wind and we started to pass other runners one by one. With about half a mile left in the race, I told Willy to kick and try to catch some other runners. I was running on fumes and he looked strong. He pulled away from me and passed two more runners, finishing with a time of 21:44 (a 6:58/mile split)! I came in shortly after with a time of 22:36 (a 7:15/mile split). Willy finished in 6th place and I finished in 9th place out of 449 runners. Not bad for very little training! Dad came in a couple of minutes after me with a time of 25:54 and Mum ran the 5K in 35 minutes even. I have always been really proud of my family, but I was even more so on this day. It was awesome to have the entire family get out there and run a race! Bring on the next one! I think that Dad and I are going to run the LA Marathon someday!
Here is a link to see the official race results for the McKee family:
http://www.cadencesportsonline.com/raceDirector.cfm?raceid=374
Saturday afternoon was spent eating Gut Paks at Vitek's and recovering from the race. We said "goodbye" to Willy and drove back to Coppell. I spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch, falling in and out of sleep while watching Top Gear. Saturday night was another amazing meal and then Julie and I watched Paranormal Activity 2. It was pretty scary, but we preferred the first one! On Sunday, we all went to church and then I spent the afternoon packing. It was tough to pack again because I felt like I had just arrived. Julie came over for a while and we got to spend some time together before I had to leave. I ate my last meal in Dallas (an English roast, which was out of this world amazing) and then it was time to go to the airport. I got back into LA really late and my uncle graciously agreed to pick me up from the airport. I got back to my apt and reality sank back in very quickly. I went to Ralph's to buy some essential grocery items and then I called it a night around 1:15 AM (3:15 AM, Dallas time).
Like all of my previous trips home, this one was much needed. It was perfect and I couldn't have envisioned it going any better. I was able to see a lot of my friends, spend time with family, and see Julie everyday. I came away reminded of how truly blessed I am. In about seven weeks, I will be back again. But this time, my stay will be closer to three months as opposed to just three days or three weeks. I am really looking forward to it!
Goodnight and may God bless you.
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