I didn’t see you the first time around
That’s because I wasn’t there. I only ran one lap of this weekend’s 5k because I was busy running the little kids around to basketball practice as soon as the kid run was over.
This weekend I did hit the pavement. (See numbers 3 and 7 on Why I’m Writing a Novel in 30 Days.) The race benefited Ovarain Cancer, and we decided to make a family event out of it. We got the kids up by blaring I-Tunes first thing in the morning while we stumbled around and figured out what to eat.
The little boys ran in the kid run, (2 laps around the track) before I whisked them away to basketball. Meanwhile, back at the race, Dad finished the 5k in 20; our 11 year old ran it in 26 minutes and some change; and our 13-year-old ran it in 25. To me, that’s amazing. My 11-year old said his strategy was to “walk across the intersections, and then run the rest of the time.” Seemed to have worked pretty well. I’m amazed he finished.
When I arrived, I put the littlest boy in the stroller, and we tried to catch up with everyone; except most of the runners were making their way back to the track for the finish. Rather than just call it quits, I decided to run with the walkers, who were just beginning the second lap. I even passed a few at my slow speed. The stroller is much heavier than I remembered. Friends passed out water, and I overheard the mumblings, “I didn’t see you the first time!” If I could have, I would have explained; but breathing was hard. And they gave me updates on my kids, way ahead of me, which was nice.
Of course, as always, my husband finished the race, and gathered the boys and ran back to meet me on the race path. It’s always nice to run in with someone who loves you. These races could be our family “thing.” He always finds me.
When they took my tag off my number and scanned it, it recorded me as 35 minues. Not bad, for all of that “literal” running around.
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