Clash of the Clans

My mom had read about a race in conjunction with the Scottish Fest called Clash of the Clans.  You had to sign up as a member of a 2-person team, no individuals in the race!  We talked it over and decided my dad and I would run together on a father/daughter team, Ty and Thomas would run together on a male/male team, and my mom would run the 1 mile fun run with Carter because strollers weren't allowed in the 5k.  Partners didn't have to run together in the race as the winners came from the fastest combined times.

The race also had a costume contest so my mom made kilts for all of us including Carter.  I wasn't sure I wanted to run in a kilt.  I was afraid it would slow me down and I was really gunning for a postpartum PR.  The kilt turned out not being too bad.  I wore spandex underneath it and the only problem I had was the kilt kept sliding up my waist and twisting around so my race number was no longer visible.  My stomach also got hot and sweated more, but not too bad.

Waiting for the 5k after Carter finished the mile fun run with Grammy.

My goal going into the race was to run a postpartum PR.  I had run a 22:50 at the Firecracker 5k on the 4th of July.  I really wanted to run 22:30 or under and secretly wanted to break 22:00, but didn't tell anyone that goal.  I hadn't run a 5k since the July 4th race.  I had been running some really great training runs and was getting excited to see how much faster I had gotten.  At the July 4th race I averaged 7:16 pace so my plan was to go out in 7:00-7:15 for the first mile and pick up the pace from there.

I went out a pace that felt comfortable and figured I would be around 7:00 for the first mile.  When my watch beeped after the first mile I looked down to see 6:55.  I had gone out a little faster than expected so my goal was to hold it together during the 2nd mile which is usually the toughest mile of a 5k for me.  We hit the turn around and I looked down to see we had only covered 1.4 miles.  Since I was going for a PR I decided to continue running past the finish line if the race was short.

Heading toward the finish line.

Mile 2 I hit in 7:05.  During that mile I passed quite a few runners and realized I was now in the top overall female position.  I could see a few men in kilts ahead of me and decided to pass as many kilted runners as possible so I could be one of the top runners wearing a kilt.  I felt awesome during the 3rd mile and kept pushing the pace.  As I approached the finish line I saw the clock read 19:30.  I knew the race was short and looked down to see how much.  I was at 2.8 miles.  I ran through the finish line and kept going.  I hit a huge fence intended to keep people from sneaking into the Scottish Fest without paying, turned around, and had to weave through people meandering around.  I quickly hit stop when I reached 3.1 miles and was elated to see I had finished the 5k in 21:30!  Over a minute faster than my goal and much faster than anticipated!  Now I'm excited to run another 5k that is actually the correct distance so I'm not weaving through people to finish!  I was proud that my last mile was my fastest in 6:45.

My dad and I finished 2nd in the father/daughter category.  We were only 9 seconds behind the 1st place group.  The dad in that group finished right in front of me and the daughter finished right in front of my dad.  Ty and Thomas were surprised to find they had also placed 2nd in their category.

Waiting for the award ceremony.

All night long we had gotten compliments on our kilts and everyone was impressed my mom had made them.  When it came time for the costume contest no one else came up on stage.  We figured they had all seen us and knew we would win, so didn't even try.  Looking at Carter, how could anything beat that!

Our sweet boy looked so cute in his kilt!

Linking up with Ashley for Move it Monday: