Taking One for the Team!

My son (age 10) and I went to my hometown Adairville, KY, to do the tiniest 5K today--only 30 runners this year. We agreed to run separately since he hadn't trained for it at all. (He has done at least 2 other 5K's on little to no training as well.) He wanted to run/walk and I wanted to, well, RUN. I thought maybe I could beat my time on the course last year.

I warmed up and ran alone until 2.5 miles in, then something told me to stop racing and turn around and go find my son. I just had an uneasy feeling I couldn't shake. (Mommy radar or guilt for leaving him behind?) I started worrying, "What if he's feeling sick?" "What if he's too hot?" "What if he gets lost on the course?" "What if he falls down?"

I found him about a quarter-mile behind me.... in last place. He was a little upset. I ran/walked with him to the finish. In the last stretch he asked me if I'd let him go ahead so HE wouldn't be last. So, I did. Yep, I was #30 out of 30 racers. I took one for the team! On my Garmin, I was at 27:56 at the 3 mile point, so I wouldn't have PR'd anyway, but I'd have had a pretty good time for me. But I'm absolutely glad I went back. I can handle being last (it has actually happened before), but it might have made him not want to run anymore. It IS kind of traumatic! I'm just so happy he has embraced the sport I love!

He was proud he wound up with 3rd in his age group (I didn't point out this was out of 3) and got a medal. I actually got 1st in my age group by default as the only 40-44 year old female in the race. This is the 2nd time I've come in LAST in a race, but still won my age group. (Look in the archives to February of 2008 for the time that happened in my first 10K!) Funny how that keeps happening.... Does this happen to anyone else, or is it just me??

So, my 5K was not what I had planned for including the extra 1/2 mile in there-- 3.61 miles. The medal is kind of cool. I felt silly taking it though. 1st place out of....... one!

Then I ran the 1-mile fun run with my 4-year-old Julia. She had trained for this for a couple of months with a once-a week 1/2 mile training run. She even missed her last soccer game to run the race! She was so excited to finally do a race. She was a trooper. She ran HARD and never once complained. She got 3rd out of 5 runners in her 4-6 age group and she was the youngest! Those little feet were flying! She ran the first quarter-mile at an 8:45 pace until I MADE her slow down. She walked only 3 or 4 times for about 30 seconds and finished in 11:24. I was very proud of her.

Next weekend is the Scenic City Trail Half Marathon! I finally registered and got some trail shoes just last week! If I can run it slow and easy and not break my neck, I'll be happy.