It started back in October when Stephanie and I signed up for the 5k in Commerce to benefit the American Cancer Society. This was our first venture into the 5k world. Stephanie was going to walk and I was going to run. Our goal: finish the race. Literally that was the goal. I didn't care about the time, and I didn't care about prizes. I had started working out during the summer, so I wasn't completely out of shape for the run in October. I ran at what I thought was a pretty good pace and was happy to see the finish line. We were timed by a microchip that was on our bib (the number you see runners wearing on their chest or shorts). After the race there were refreshments of snacks, fruit, water, and Gatorade. They posted the results on a board not long after that. To my surprise I had finished 15th overall and had placed 1st in my age group with a time of 22 minutes 16 seconds, a 7:11 mile pace. So I went in with a goal just to finish and came home with a first place prize in my age group. Not bad huh? Stephanie did good as well, walking with a friend from work averaging a 15 minute/mile pace. Here's the picture from before the race, sorry that's the largest I could get the picture to be:
After that, I noticed there was a 5k in Jefferson. It was the day of the Christmas parade to benefit the Jefferson City Library. Justin was initially going to wait for me to finish and then ride over to the Christmas parade where Stephanie and Katelyn were riding on a float for Katelyn's dance class. Here's a couple picks of Katelyn on the float.
Doesn't she look real excited to be there?
That's when Justin said he wanted to run as well. Ok, the truth is that he decided to run because I told him there would be doughnuts at the finish line. There were doughnuts in the Commerce race, but that was not the case in Jefferson. They let us register him on site and we were ready to go. This one was a little bit different, ok, a lot different than the last one. It was cold, rainy, and mostly consisted of hills. The water was almost freezing on my face as I ran. At one point I am pretty sure I was running slower than I could walk up one of the hills. I had a little boy around 10 years old or so that I was trying to keep up with that flat out smoked me (but that's another story). I told Justin just to try to keep a good pace, to walk if he had to, but at least finish. Well, this time I made the run in 23 minutes and 20 seconds, averaging 7:32 per minute and 11th overall, a full minute behind the last one. I did place 3rd in my age group and got a pretty cool coffee cup for it though. Justin did great and finished at 26 minutes and 50 seconds, He finished 5th in his age group and even finished ahead of someone who runs on the Jefferson Middle School Cross Country team. I'm sure playing basketball helped him with the time, but still that is impressive for not training. I was very proud of him. Here's a picture of the shirts that we received for participating and my coffee cup for third place.
I love 5k races because it's only 3.1 miles, which means it's over fairly quick and it's open to anyone. You can either run and compete or you can walk. Either way you get to support various charities and you usually get a t-shirt and some other goodies as well.
So what's next for us? Justin and I are scheduled for a 5k on Sunday afternoon in Jefferson to benefit the High School Cross Country Team. There will probably be a good amount of fast runners there. They have posted the race course online and our family drove it over the weekend. While it does have some rolling hills, it's nothing like the last one. Hopefully we will do well.
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