Chunky Monkey 5K & Kids K

Sunday evening was my second 5K.  I also signed Lauren up to do the kids' K, and she was so excited about it.  I got her a running outfit and we pulled her hair back so it "looked fast" and she wanted to stretch and then practice running in the back yard.  She did so many laps back there.  I wouldn't have been able to race afterwards, but I guess I don't have the energy of a three year old.

Sarah and I left for the race first so we could go get the time keeping chips on our shoes and get lined up and ready before Lauren, Lissa, Skipper and Natalie got there.  We didn't want them to have to wait around while we did the boring stuff.  Like stretching.  I always feel so stupid doing it, but it is important.  My calves will ache so badly if I don't.   Sarah and I are stretching it out and Skipper is taking our picture.

Then the race began.  Last time, Sarah ran the whole thing with me to keep me motivated and on pace.  This time she left me in her dust.  Here's Sarah taking an early lead:

And here I am behind her, apparently breaking through a brown shirt gang.  (The race t-shirts were nice enough, but I did not want to run in a cotton shirt since it was well over 90 degrees.  Wicking tanks are awesome, thankyouverymuch.)

For the next half hour, Lauren had fun playing at the park.  She was up and down this rock wall and looking forward to her race.

About 26 minutes after she started, Sarah crossed the finish line.  The girl just in front of her was using a strange scissor hands run technique.  I don't know what that was about.  But there was a group of like 10-15 girls that were sprinting before the race doing that.  Weird.

Another 12 minutes later, I crossed the finish line.  My time was 38:40, a full 1 minute, 4 seconds faster than the last run.  Not bad considering how much hotter it was this race.

As soon as I crossed the finish line, Lauren came up and asked if it was time for her race.  She was ready to go, had Sarah pin her number on, and would talk about nothing else until start time.  I asked if she wanted me to run with her, and she said, no, she was going to do it all herself.  I told her just to follow the other runners, let me know if she wanted me to come run with her at any time, and if she fell, just to get up and keep running.  Most importantly, she should just have fun.  She lined up at the starting line with all the other kiddos.  They had a bike that lead the way of the course.  Skipper started off running behind her so that older, faster kids wouldn't trample her out of the gate.  

As soon as the crowd cleared, she turned to him and said, "No grandpa, I am doing this myself!"

She did let Sarah run just inside the course with her.  She did trip and fall at one point, but she got up and when a man asked her if she was ok, she said, "My mommy said to just get up and keep on running!" and that's what she did.  She ran the whole kilometer and crossed the finish line.

She got her very own medal.  This picture just makes me so proud!

Her race was not timed.  She did great.  There were older kids who were crying or being carried, but she not only finished, but ran the entire thing.  As they were running, she kept telling Sarah that she was so fast and that everybody was clapping just for her.

After the race we got Ben & Jerry's ice cream (Chunky Monkey, of course) and pizza.

The next morning Lauren woke up and told me she wanted to go run another Kids' J.  I guess she's working her way backwards through the alphabet to the A race or something.