1 Weekend, 2 Races

A while back my mom called and asked if we were interested in running a couple of races. One in the morning and one in the evening. She said she'd register us and pay for them if we were interested. Ty quickly agreed and I figured if he was in, I would do it. I've run back to back races at track meets and I've run a Friday 5k and a Saturday 5k the next day, but I've never run two 5ks in one day. When a new challenge is presented to me, I typically can't resist. That's how I got myself into a marathon, a Polar Bear Plunge, a Tough Mudder, and a half marathon pregnant. Most of the out of my comfort zone races were Ty's ideas. Now my mom was presenting me with a new challenge.

Our race shirt picture from the morning 5k.  Dad has Carter because he pushed him and mom has Harper because she walked with her.

I wasn't looking at the camera, but I had to add this one because Carter was smiling so cute!

Our race shirt picture from the evening race.

Ty with Carter because they missed out on the evening race.

Saturday morning we got up early and drove to a town a little over half way to my parents' house for our first 5k of the day. Since we drove from home we took Harper with us and my mom walked the race with her. I knew I wanted to run one of my 5ks in under 22 minutes since I'd run the Firecracker 5k in 22:16. I hadn't decided which one I wanted to try harder in. I figured the morning race would be smaller and less competitive because it was the inaugural running. I also figured I had a better chance of running fast in the morning with fresh legs and most likely cooler temperatures. I still hadn't decided on a race plan when we arrived just minutes before the race start so I jogged to the start line figuring I'd take off and just go with it.

As we turned the first corner I counted 6 females ahead of me. I picked off quite a few of them during the first mile and was feeling surprisingly good. I was shocked when my watch beeped for the first mile and I saw my split was 6:45! I decided to hold back a little bit to save my legs for the evening, but gun for an under 22 minute time. During the 2nd mile I worked my way up to 2nd female and was slowly catching up to the top overall female. I went through the 2nd mile in 6:59.

With about 6/10ths of a mile left I caught up to the top female. As I pulled up beside her, she looked over, saw me, and took off. I decided to attempt to speed up and stay with her. When we reached the last quarter mile we went downhill and then around a turn toward the finish. I pulled up next to her again at the bottom of the hill, she sped up around the turn with me on the outside of the turn and got a bit of a gap on me. I decided to let her go and save my legs for the evening race. Then with about 50 or so meters to go I suddenly decided maybe I could catch her and took off sprinting as hard as I could, but it was too late. I was running stride for stride with her as we crossed the finish line, I was just one step back. She beat me by less than a second. I was pleased to see my finishing time was 21:25, 6:54 pace. I was significantly under my goal! I ended up 2nd overall female and 1st in my age group. 

I watched Ty finish in around 29 minutes. His foot was really hurting because he stepped on a seashell at the beach in Florida and had a pretty nasty cut on his foot. Then I jogged back to mom and dad to walk back with them. I cheered for runners as I went and they enjoyed making jokes about me "running the wrong way" and "running home". It was fun. Mom walked with Harper and dad, only prepared for one race in a day due to surgery slowing him down, walked with Carter. There were a couple of sections with color powder on the course which we all opted out of except for Harper. She looked so cute with a blue, purple, and green tail and hind quarters!

Mom walking with Harper.

Dad walking with Carter.

Harper finishing her first 5k!  Look at her pretty tail!  I know it's silly, but I'm so proud of her!

We went home and relaxed before our evening race. Carter decided he wasn't interested in napping for whatever reason. Not sure if it was teething, the room being too hot, being in a different place, eventually being overtired, or simply stubbornness. After 2 hours of quiet time and attempting to get him down, we gave up. As 7:00 neared and it was about time to leave for our next race Carter was miserably exhausted and I couldn't bring myself to take him along. It seemed cruel. Ty agreed to stay home with him since his foot hurt so much. I texted Ty when we arrived at the race and he said Carter was already asleep. Carter even went up to his crib, held onto the bars, and whimpered to get in. I was so thankful Ty stayed with him. Since I held back a little bit in the morning race to run the evening one, I really had my heart set on running.

Trying not to notice my soreness before the race!

Me, Jeremy, and mom before the start of the race.

I was sore all day long and my hips were even aching. Jeremy and I ran a warm up which started off horribly for me, but by the end my legs were feeling much better. Jeremy was in the 10k which started 5 minutes before the 5k. My plan was to take off at what was comfortable and just try to hold on. I knew the last mile was going to be rough. My legs felt great during the first mile and I counted 7 women ahead of me. I was disappointed to see my first mile was 6:53. I planned to be closer to 7:20 and knew a fast first mile would only make the next 2 more difficult. 

Jeremy taking off at the start of the race.

Looking strong!

The race was an out and back course on a gravel trail. The softer surface undoubtedly led to my legs feeling better that first mile. At the turn around I had worked my way up to 3rd overall female, but I was beginning to lose steam and my legs were getting heavy. I went through the 2nd mile in 7:26. Going into the last mile I was worn out and I could feel my legs turning over slower. I kept telling myself not to slow down because I didn't want to get passed back. I was shocked when I turned a corner and I could see the top female ahead of me. She had almost a minute lead on me at the turn around and must've gone out too fast because she was really fading. I couldn't believe I was gaining on her with as much as I was slowing down. I knew she had too much of a lead for me to catch her but I decided to try my best to continue reeling her in. It was getting pretty dark by the time we finished and the lights hanging over the finish line were a welcome sight as I came off the trail and into the parking lot toward the finish. I crossed the finish line in 22:39, only 23 seconds slower than my Firecracker 5k time and 15 seconds behind the first female finisher!

Dad and me taking off at the start of the 5k.

You can tell I was tired!

So glad to cross the finish line!

I grabbed a water and walked back in time to see dad finish in a bit over 24 minutes, pretty impressive for his 2nd race back! Then I jogged a mile cool down and came back in time to see Jeremy finish the 10k 3rd overall in about 45 minutes. We all walked a ways out on the trail to cheer for mom as she finished. She walked her fastest time and counted that she passed 20 participants during the race! We stayed for awards and really did well. Jeremy and I both won our age groups and dad was 2nd in his.

Dad looking strong!

Running 2 races in one day was challenging and my legs were really worn out during the 2nd half of the evening race. It was fun to run 2 races and be the 2nd overall female finisher in both. Physically it was more challenging running the 3200 meters at track meets minutes after racing the 800 when I had also run the 1600 earlier in the evening. It was mentally more challenging to run back to back 5ks because I had to run farther and I was so worn out. I could feel the lactic acid built up in my legs especially during the last mile. Surprisingly I wasn't that sore the day after and even ran an easy 2 miles with Harper. Ty was a saint and got up with Carter and let me sleep in which was my saving grace! Going to bed at midnight after 2 races was exhausting.

Family photo after the race.  Just noticed we lined up in order of height!

Overall the weekend was a blast and I would run 2 races in one day again, but don't tell my mom! She found a midnight race in a town about 2 hours away and was trying to talk me into 3 races in a day the week before hand. I burst her bubble when I told her we wouldn't get home from the midnight race until around 3 am! What makes the races so much fun is sharing in the experiences with my family. Watching the little kids in the mile fun run gets me to giggling as I picture it being Carter one day, but only if he wants to. Judging from how he runs around the house and the trails and how he squeals in the stroller on our runs, I think he will be interested!

Thanks to Ty's cousin, Megan, who just started a blog, I typed this post up on our drive home. She tried out the blogger app and recommended it to me. I had tried a different app which I didn't like. It was so nice to utilize our 2 hour drive for my blog post! Now I can type a post no matter where I am because I have my phone, woot woot!