Run for it!

My, my, it’s been awhile since we last talked!  Lots of things have been going down around here lately and it’s time for us to catch up!

About 10 days ago, Abigail and I ran in our first 5k race.  She’s run a good bit before as a member of her middle school’s cross-country team.  For middle school, cross-country races are a little less than 3k so 5k was a bit of a stretch from her previous experience, but we were excited to run.  Well, we were excited to run until the morning of the race.  This race was on a Saturday and we had to be there a bit before 9am…her enthusiasm waned with my “wake up holler” at 7am.

Ready to run!

Anyhow, we got to the track.  Being an old hand at running races, Abigail sort of played it cool waiting for the race to start.  I was pretty wound up as I haven’t ever run in a race of any sort before!  I wasn’t sure if I would embarrass my self or, in my excitement, expend all of my energy up front…would my nerves get to me?  Gosh, am I an adult or not?  I should be able to be calm about this but it just wasn’t happening on race day.

We walked a quick lap around the track to warm up our legs a little before the race.  We have been training together and I have typically run faster and farther than Abigail so we decided that if I was feeling it, we would not  try to run together…I could go ahead of her if I could.

So we lined up, jittery and excited and waited for the gun.  I was surprised but they actually used a starter gun rather than a whistle or horn or something.  That was really cool!  My first race and I got a starter gun!  With the shot, we took off and I was feeling good.  I ditched Abigail after a quarter mile or so (don’t judge me) and kept on plowing.  Abigail and I talked about how she runs cross-country.  She sees a person ahead of her…decides to catch and pass them and then looks for the next person.  It’s run one pass at a time.  I decided to do the same.  It was a good strategy as I found plenty of people around me that I could pass.

Pre-race selfie!
Pre-race selfie!

I won’t recount every step but I had a good race and finished in 27:30 which was pretty cool.  Overall, I finished in 17th place out of 115 or so racers.  That was really cool for my ego (which typically needs no encouragement).  I started walking back through the course and found Abigail and finished the rest of the race with her trying to encourage her to keep pushing.  It was a great time as far as I am concerned.

After the race, I am pretty well hooked.  We had been training for a few weeks before the race and now are running a 5k three times per week around the local track.  After some discussion, we have identified a few problems with Abigail’s breathing strategy.  By fixing that, she is running much stronger now so we are getting ready for our next race in a few weeks!  It’s a really cool opportunity to be able to run with Abigail and to have a really awesome thing about which we can talk and plan.  We have just decided to run for it!

5 thoughts on “Run for it!

  1. Very cool. I hope Abigail continues to improve so that she can give “The Old Man” some competition.

  2. We used to run as a family in 5k races and I remember my father never waiting around for us either. Eventually there came a day when we didn’t wait around for him. That day will come for Abigail too.

  3. Running has never been my ‘thing’ but I think it’s great that you’re doing this together. And 17th out of 115??? In your first race???? Good on YOU!!!!

  4. I never was much of a runner for the sake of running until now but I really enjoy it now for some reason…probably because Abigail is doing it too but I think it’s more than that…anyhow, it’s a nice change!

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