We came, we ran, we conquered

before runzing iv

We came. The kids and I at City Hall, on the way from opening remarks to the starting line. We were inside because of weather. The projector made the race route clear to everyone. Loved that.

The kids and I ran a 5k yesterday. 8 AM, light rain, 3.2 miles.

The swag was AWESOME — a wickify shirt and a camelbak. Everyone also got a pack of trail mix from Shive-Hattery, certificates for lemon ice and pasta dinner at Fazoli’s, a 7-day pass to Prairie Life Fitness, and some running information. The registration price was excellent (The rate for a family of 4 was $45. We paid for one family and one adult. The adult rate was $20 early bird, $25 after early bird date.). We’ll be sure to re-use the plastic bags from the Running Room in a prominent fashion to thank them.

We ran. We didn’t practice more than twice a week for the month prior, and I didn’t have the kids go more than 2.5 miles per practice. “G” of GAIN’s heart wasn’t really into the run with the rain and all. You can tell by his attire. He didn’t feel that he should race if he couldn’t run the entire distance. But he ended up saying that he wanted to do it, so we got his number out and he finished. I did have to flag down Mr. TellBlast and leave the race route to get an inhaler — “G” started the first 400m running ahead of the pack with his older sister, then switched to walking and requesting the inhaler. But he made it to the finish line in the arbitrary time that I set of 40 minutes. He just made it with a wicked sprint. In his heavy denim jeans. The rest of us “ran him in.” And then the clouds parted and the sun came out. Really, that happened.

g finishing

We conquered. The younger three had a big feeling of accomplishment and empowerment afterward. Once they realized the distance (no matter how many times they were told before the race, “3.2 miles” didn’t stick until they ran it), found that they met their separate goals (“no walking,” “finish in 35 minutes,” “finish in 40 minutes”), and had a race number as a memento, they walked away feeling that they conquered the race. The rain makes their stories all the better.

“A” of GAIN and I had different goals. Had she been a boy like race officials thought (despite their having that information at one time), she would have gotten a second place finish for boys ages 19 and under.  Race results are not available last I checked, so we can’t tell if she hit her goal. My goal was to finish at 28:15. I decided after the first 400m that I would not be racing. The mother in me was too concerned with the younger two kids to race. I finished under 30 minutes, barely. This is the first time that I stayed for the post-race celebration. I am definitely staying afterward for future races.

What are your fitness goals?

Leave me a comment. One more day to enter the Casey’s pizza giveaway! (Click here.)

4 Comments

  1. Nice recap, Julie! I ran in the Runzing this year for the first time with my girlfriend who is from Iowa. It was a fun race, and was nice when the sun came out for sure. I stumbled onto your site when searching for the race results–do you have a URL that you are checking for those?

    Also, coincidentally, I geocached for the first time ever this past weekend with my girlfriend’s family. Had a blast. Will keep an eye on your blog for tips.

    Take care!

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