A Family event!

This past weekend was the first official race of the year. To make it even better, it was a family event.  I convinced DH and DD to run the 5k too.  My husband has been doing awesome with his running going from couch to 5k in only 10 weeks!  Woohoo - go honey!  This is even more shocking because he has not been consistent with exercise programs in the past. 

In addition to DH, I convinced our 8 year old daughter that she could do the 3.1 miles also.  She is a swimmer and plays soccer so she has base fitness but running is a whole new beast. She had started training with us but got knocked done by a bad cold and cough so her running time was limited. She only had a few mile, mile and a half sessions in prior to race day.  I told her I would stay with her no matter what and that we could walk, the only goal was to finish!

A mile into the race she was doing awesome and passed the split at 12:00 min exactly.  She was beginning to feel it though with her "I don't think my little legs were meant to go this far Mom" comment.  After tht first mile she decided she was dying of thirst and of course I didn't bring any water but the water sation was at the 1.5 mile mark. Let me tell you - that was a long half mile.  She made it to the lovely lady with cups of cool water and downed hers and mine.  It refreshed her and we were off and running again. Mile 2 was mostly down hill so it was an easy break. We walked, jogged our way to a 26:00 min split at mile 2. Slowing down but still moving along.  Mile 3 is of course uphill and this is where it got tough. It was a very long mile for her and at this point she got mad at me.  She thought the race should be shorter and I was talking too much! So to prove her anger, she ran up the hilly parts and walked on the flats. So there Mom!  Gotta love the mind of an 8 y.o.  The final challenge was a significant uphill (which she ran up of course) and ended up with a tear generating side stitch.  We walked it out and then headed for the finish line.  Her teacher also ran the race and he came back out to cheer her on in that last stretch and made her feel so special.

She crossed the finish line in a full out sprint and finished in 40:54.  She did an awesome job and she was so happy to just finish it.  We went and congratulated Dad who rocked his first 5k and finished in 35:28. On the way back I stopped by the results board in time to see them fill in DD's name for 1st place in the 9 and under girls age group.  I told her that she won and then the tears started.  That trophy was the best thing ever for her. She worked really hard to get it and has been beaming about it since.  I'm glad someone in the family gets awards for running!