Firecracker 5k

After the race: Ty, dad and Carter, me, and Jeremy

We started our 4th of July morning off by running the Firecracker 5k.  The race is on a golf course so we figured it wouldn't be a good one to do with the stroller.  My mom is still recovering from her knee surgery and isn't up to 3 miles without walking yet, so she took Carter in the stroller and cheered for us.

Our cheer section

My training has been going pretty well, but I've only been running about 12 miles a week.  I knew the race wouldn't be fast, but I hoped to run around 23 minutes.  The last few races I've run my first mile too fast and then got progressively slower with my last mile being the slowest.  That's just not a good way to race and leaves me feeling out of shape and disappointed.  I wanted to avoid that at this race.

I planned to run the first mile in around 7:30 and then try to pick it up.  My first mile was 7:26, mile 2 was 7:16, and mile 3 was also 7:16.  It felt really good to finish strong.  I didn't get passed in the 2nd half of the race and was able to pass quite a few runners.  I finished in 22:50 which I was happy with.  Hopefully if I can build my weekly mileage up to 20-30 miles a week I can get my time back down to where I'd like it to be.

Running toward the finish line.

The course is a loop you run twice.  My mom was standing at the part of the loop where you either turn to finish or keep going to start your second loop.  On the second loop she had Carter out of the stroller and was cheering for us.  I guess Carter thought she was cheering too loudly because as I ran by he began to cry.  My mom joked he was upset that I wasn't winning.

Jeremy finishing strong.

We stayed for the awards ceremony figuring dad, Jeremy, and I all had a shot at a medal.  They did the women's results first.  I finished second in my age group.  Next they did males.  None of our men finished in the top 3 in their age groups.  We had signed up late and the only shirts they had left were mediums, so dad and I were the only ones to get shirts.  My mom thought it was funny 4 people ran the race and we only came back with 2 shirts and 1 medal.  Normally we would get 4 shirts and 3 medals. 

Dad finishing the race.

Jeremy and Ty were both sore from their soccer game a couple days earlier, but still ran well.  Jeremy finished in 20:36.  Dad finished in 22:41 and Ty crossed the finish line in 29:15.

Ty nearing the finish line.

Carter enjoyed cheering for everyone, but had gotten up earlier than usual for the race, so he fell asleep soon after we all finished.  Ty is now talking about training for a fall half-marathon.  I'm excited for him.  Half-marathons are so much fun!  I'm excited to run another half-marathon too. 

I'm linking up with Ashley at "The Domestic Wannabe" for Move it Monday.