A Family Affair, the Sequel: 5 year old completes 5K Again!

The 5 year old and I completed a 5 K this morning. His second one! This time we had a strategy, we were going to run for 5 min, walk for 1. And then run 4 walk 1 (to make time-keeping easier). And we did that, with a few extra walking breaks for good measure in the 96% humidity.

Here is how it went down:
3.21 miles
43:49 (13:39/mile)
Temp: 57 Humidity: 96%

Mile 1 - 12:40
Mile 2 - 13:47
Mile 3 - 14:12 (we had a thrilling sprint to the finish, my boy & me, BUT....

...I forgot to shut off the Garmin for about a minute while we wandered cluelessly out of the chutes, but I am not going to try the fuzzy math to figure out the "real" time that might have shaved a minute or so off:-))

I was so proud of my son, he listened and stayed with me, and was polite to everyone and just loved the whole thing. We had our matching tye-dye shirts, and when the Finish Line came into site he took off! Folks at the finish were yelling at him, "Come on, beat your Mommy!!!" just the cutest thing:-) What a great morning. (edited to add: And this 5K added a "7 and under" age group, my son earned second place!! I was verklempt, I tell you! [Photo is blurred on purpose for safety sake])

Our last 5K in June on the same course was 48:40-ish. I think a 5 min improvement is a good accomplishment for us, no??

A Plan: Hal Higdon Intermediate 5K - Week 1, Day 1

Back out there today!

3 miles
39:20 (13:06/mile)

Here is a link to the plan, we'll see what we can do with this. I dig that it has an elementary crack at "speed work" (in quotes because it's ME we're talking about, "me" and "speed" are not usually used in the same breath...). Many thanks to Jeanne, for wisely talking sense into me, recommending that I stick to 5K's for awhile while my nights and mornings are booked.

Glad to have a plan again. Here is the 5K I'm aiming for--it's the one year anniversary of my first 5K:-)

A Family Affair: 5 year old completes 5K

Our 5 year old son was adorable this morning in this, his first race. He loved wearing a number, he loved all the people around, he loved being allowed to run in the middle of the street with no cars coming, he loved "winning the race," he just loved it all!

The race was very walker friendly:-) The 5 year old and I wore the same rainbow tie-dyed shirts because, as he put it, we're on the team:-). He & I started off the race jogging and DH walked with the 2 year old. I kept reminding him to take it slow, and we didn't walk until close to a mile, when he said, "Mommy, I am getting out of breath." So from that point on, we walked when he wanted to. We had a 14-ish minute first mile (very little walking) then much slower miles 2 & 3.

But what a fun running partner he was! We talked about beginnings, middles and ends, about saving our breath, about our race numbers, about walkers and runners, about my school and his school; we ran under morning sprinklers, ran up & down sidewalks and I even caught him doing the "balance beam" on a curb once. We turned from time to time and waved to Daddy & Baby Brother from afar (they sure could spot us in our matching tie-dye shirts), then Daddy & Baby Bro caught up in the third mile...and we all finished the race together. Daddy suddenly ran at the end and said he was going to beat us, and the boy & I poured on the "speed" to keep our lead:-)

My son was in heaven. No pressure. He said "I won the race!" and I said, "Yeah, you won the race for our family!":-) They even had a raffle at the end of the race and must have given out about 50 prizes--and MY SON WON A ROAD ID!!!!! :-) The local book shop also made a donation and let the 10 youngest finishers pick out a book. I didn't realize it till tonight when I checked the results online that our boy was the youngest finisher. All the rest of the finishers in his age group were 8 year olds!

This was a fundraiser run for a local mom who became very ill and after a long battle passed away this past year. And so it was emotional and already for a great cause. But this day was a beautiful one for our little boy. He loved every second of it. Never complained or got sassy once.

And just think, a year ago, *I* couldn't even go this far...today my whole family did. What a great gift running is giving to my kiddos--it is teaching me to be a good example to them, and encouraging them to try as well.

Great day. :-) Here's a photo of us at the finish:

Desperate times....

...call for desperate measures. Had a night off from rehearsal today, yippee. But had to go to a school meeting to be recognized for achieving tenure (yay!). So the ONLY way to fit in any sort of run now that it finally cooled off was to dust off the jogging stroller, grab the five year old and jog to pick up the 2 year old. We jogged a total of about 15 min I would gander. Slowly, but happily in the 70 degree heat & humidity.

[can I just say kudos to anyone who regularly runs with a stroller? Holy cow, my arms were killing me at the end of our little one miler!]

We left the Garmin at home and just did the mile-ish; it was kind of good to not look @ HR and pace, to just run how we felt. When we tired, we slowed down; when my son wanted to "run like Lightening McQueen," he did that once or twice, too. We had few rules (stay with Mommy, stop when I say so, run slowly, walk when you need to), just wanted to get out there on the road to simulate what this weekend's 5K will be like for my son. He is so excited. I am running with him in the race, and dh will be pushing the 2 yr old in the stroller:-)

Grateful to get out there, if only for a short time. Short is better than not at all. I think I need to start learning that.

No stats, just went out for about a mile with kiddos

2 Time 5K-er!

I beat my last 5K time by 10% :-) I finished in 36:xx (didn't get a look at the clock, my little guy was running to the finish with me). Beautiful day, lovely flat (mostly) course through a suburban neighborhood, crunchy-color-changing leaves, crisp air...and I ran (jogged) the whole way.

Ok, so the ladies with strollers finished ahead of me. The old guys did, too. And yeah, so did the children. Ok, and even a walker beat me, lol. But alas, I didn't finish completely last, but pretty close...with head held high and smiling the whole way because I ran my race.

Can't thank my dh enough for coming out with the kiddos and entertaining them for the 40-ish minutes I was away from them. He deserves a medal, because these kids were bored silly. So here are some pix, thanks to dh for taking them, too.

DS #1, I think he actually stole that balloon from someone, but we won't talk about that....


DS #2, wanted to run around, not sit in a stroller for a half hour! Balloon kept him busy for a few minutes, anyway.


Me, coming into the finish--I'm running, do you see that? Yeah, not many people behind me.


I finished! Woo hoo!!


Thanks for looking! And btw, if you have a moment, head on over to MNFirefly's blog--she is training for PF Chang's R&R Marathon in AZ and fundraising for Team in Training having had Leukemia affect her family and loved ones. Looks like a good cause, support a fellow running blogger with a donation if you can, and/or certainly by sending some supportive vibes her way!

HH 5K Nov. - Week 8 (Pt. Deux), Day 1

Repeating HH Week 8 because the race I want to run is this coming weekend and not last weekend, needed to extend the program a week...

Class was cancelled tonight, woo hoo, ran at sunset, how refreshing to actually see the sidewalk for the first 1/4 of my run!

3.03 miles
34:22 (11:20/mile)

Temp was 70, humidity only 40%. I started off too fast, paid for it about 1/2 way through the run with some tummy cramps and general wind-sucking. But all was salvaged once again by slowing way down and I fell into a good, slow rhythm the last mile that guided me to the end.

Am I the only "runner" who feels, at the end of a run, when I'm walking the cooldown, like my legs are simply attached at the hip, that they are little rag doll appendages that basically hang off my hips. I always feel, I dunno, like I'm walking on stilts, or guiding two long wet noodles for legs as I walk home. Not pain, just temporarily empty of life. They always feel like part of my body again after one minute or so of walking. Just thought I'd share my newfound insight...

Good runs, all!