15 days til race day; Green family to travel 1000s of miles from Virginia, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Alton for running reunion at Mud Mountain XV

The Green Family: (back row, left to right) Jessica Kempainen of Baton Rouge, LA, Patrick Green of New Orleans, Jenna Green of Atlanta, Adam and Allison (Green) Estrada of Arlington, VA. Front row: Chris and Jackie Green of Alton, with Yorkshire terrier Gunner, who will not be running Mud Mountain. Photo courtesy Jenna Green.

In two weeks, Jenna Green will travel from Atlanta to run Mud Mountain XV. Her brother Patrick will make the trip from New Orleans with Jessica Kempainen of Baton Rouge. Their sister Allison and her husband Adam will meet them at Mud Mountain all the way from Arlington, Virginia. For mom and dad--Jackie and Chris Green, the journey is much shorter - just a quick drive from Alton to the cross-country course at SIU Edwardsville.

All this traveling just to run in the St. Louis area's premiere cross-country 5K? Well, not exactly. Here's the story from Jenna Green:

"We're gathering in the St. Louis area the weekend of July 24th for the wedding of a family friend. Allison found the race online and suggested we sign up as a family. Our running experience ranges from novice (Jackie and Patrick's first race) to seasoned mid-distance runners (Adam and Allison completed the Cherry Blossom Festival 10 miler in April in Washington, DC, and Jessica has been running since 2006). We're all excited to run as a family and we'll meet you at Mud Mountain!"

How many runners are signed up so far? Here's the breakdown:

2010 online entries 64
2010 mail-in entries 75
2010 total to date 139

2009 online entries: 73
2009 mail-in entries 51
2009 total to date: 124
2008 total to date: 99