Run to the Lights 5k

Friday we headed to Branson for the Run to the Lights in Silver Dollar City. We first ran the race in 2014 when I was pregnant with Elise. We had so much fun we decided to make it a yearly tradition, running it again in 2015 and then headed for our 3rd time this year. Packet pick-up begins at 6:00 pm. Once you've picked up your packet you can enter Silver Dollar City and remain until the race start between 10:10 and 10:15, depending on how quickly the parking lots are cleared of traffic. We arrived just a little after 6 so we had until the park closed at 9 to enjoy the park. Carter had been excitedly referring to Silver Dollar City as The Oklahoma Fair and couldn't wait to go. I had explained to him multiple times that this was different than the fair we went to last month but it just wasn't sticking. He even stopped a waitress at the restaurant when we were eating dinner to tell her all about how he was going to the Oklahoma Fair. We headed straight to Firemen's Landing which has kids rides and a play area and a large area with balls to put in tubes and shoot out of guns. Carter had a blast taking balls to the top level and shooting them down. Elise enjoyed the slides and firmly planted herself by a tube putting balls in it one at a time. I showed her where the button was so she could push it to get the airflow going again for suction when it turned off. It only took once and then after that any time it turned off, she jumped up and headed over to push the button. At one point an older boy, probably at least 6, came over and grabbed the tube out of Elise's hands. I was about to say something when Elise yelled out, "NO!!! Mine!" He handed it back and I was impressed. Sister can definitely stand her ground and doesn't need me to intervene very often! Eventually Carter came running over to me asking me to change his clothes because he was hot. I suggested we head outside and ride some rides for a while to cool off instead.

Carter all dressed and ready to head to "The Oklahoma Fair".

I tried getting a picture of the kids by the trees but it didn't work out very well.

 

 

Opa stepped in to get Elise to sit still long enough for a picture.

Having a blast in the ball area.

  

The Firemen's Landing area had a "doggy" ride as Elise called it with dalmatian dogs you sat in. It showed Elise could ride with someone 16 or older so I planned to ride it with her. Once we went to get in, I was told she had to sit in the front with Carter and I had sit in the back behind them. I was a little worried Elise would get scared. I looked at her once it started moving and she had her right hand gripping the side and her left hand balled into a fist which was shaking. I was worried she was scared and didn't enjoy it but the minute it stopped she yelled, "gee!" (again). We also rode the train and played in another play area before the rides closed at 9 and Ty took the kids back to the hotel and we stayed for the race. As I was saying good bye to the kids and giving them kisses I set my race bib down on the seat and didn't realize I forgot it in the car until after Ty had left so he had to come back to give it to me. He said he was the second to last car they allowed to enter the parking lot. I felt terrible he had to come back but he said everything worked out okay. Thankfully they hadn't made it very far when I realized I didn't have a bib.

Ready to ride the doggy ride.

Showing off their Christmas attire after riding the doggy ride.

Last year I got a little bit nervous for the race. I knew I had narrowly missed placing in my age group the year before when I was pregnant with Elise and really wanted to make the top 3 that year. This year I felt much more carefree about the race. I had run my sub-20 5k the weekend before and was just excited to run the race for fun, enjoying the lights, and using it as my last hard workout before the half marathon. I didn't plan on taking it easy, I still wanted to race it, I just wasn't nervous about running a certain pace or pushing to place. All I hoped for time wise was to beat last year's race time. That put me in a great mindset for the race and I had a blast. I knew from the previous years that there are a lot of downhills in the first mile, making it a really fast mile. I could see quite a few females peppered in the packs of runners ahead of me during that first mile and was passing people the entire time. I wasn't at all surprised when I went through the first mile in 5:59. We had a sharp turn around a little bit after the mile mark where we did a few out and back zig zags in a parking lot. I saw that there was one female ahead of me and she didn't have too big of a gap on me. As we went up our first big hill I focused on her but quickly realized she was running strong and was really pulling away and lengthening the gap between us. I also knew I had a big lead on the 3rd place female so I felt pretty comfortable with where I was. I still tried to focus on pushing the pace during that middle mile.

I felt like the hills in the 2nd mile really weren't quite as bad as I had remembered outside of the first one which is killer. I think a lot of that had to do with being in better shape this year. I hit my 2nd mile in 6:41 which I felt wasn't bad considering the difficulty. We hit the 2 mile mark right as we were entering Silver Dollar City. Last year I ran my 2nd and 3rd miles in pretty close to the same time so I was hoping to hold pace during the last mile again this year. I was struggling to keep my momentum as we took all the turns around rides within Silver Dollar City and felt like I just couldn't get up to speed but felt like I was maintaining pace decently well. Then I came upon the last hill in the race which is the biggest hill in Silver Dollar City and in the race. It comes right at the end as you go up the hill and then make a circle around the main square to finish. Both of the previous years I had out kicked other runners on the hill. I looked ahead of me and could see a guy a ways up on the hill. I told myself to make it a tradition and catch someone again this year, but the guy really took off and was passing people ahead of him. I didn't have anyone close enough to try to catch so I just pushed up the hill as much as I could. I felt good about my race as I turned the corner and crossed the finish line in 19:45! Although the course is short at just over 3 miles I've found each year that I run around the same time on this course as I do on an accurate distance course that isn't as challenging as far as hills go. I was quite pleased to again break 20 minutes and to beat my time from last year by 50 seconds! My third mile was slower than my 2nd but still faster than last year. I didn't have the runners to chase this year that I did last year and that made a big difference for me. Being further up in the race it was more spread out and I didn't have as many people close to me. I did pass some people during the last mile in Silver Dollar City though it wasn't as motivating as catching a group of girls ahead of me that I believed to be the top females.

I didn't get my Garmin stopped right away, but close enough.

I saw Jeremy finish but missed Thomas which was crazy as they finished within 3 seconds of each other. I took off on my cool down and watched dad tear up the finishing hill. I jogged out to mom and ran back to the finish with her. She had worn jingle bells attached to her race bib and said she got a lot of compliments on them. She was also wearing her light up tutu which people commented on even when I was running with her. She has been run/walking in races and I was quite impressed when we stopped to walk up the giant hill at the end and she said it was the first time she'd walked during the race. She has been improving a lot this season! After mom finished I found Jeremy and Thomas and we headed over for cookies and hot chocolate. We happened by dad and then found mom a bit before awards. I finished 2nd out of 667 females, 20th out of 1,062 finishers, and 1st out of 135 in my age group. Thomas finished next with a time of 21:56 which put him 55th overall and 9th out of 74 in his age group. Jeremy was 57th overall and placed 3rd out of 64 in his age group with a time of 22:00. Dad ran 24:37, finishing 115 overall and 4th out of 43 in his age group. Mom continued her streak of improving her time by finishing in 33:37 which put her 407th overall and 19th out of 43 in her age group. When we got back to the hotel all was quiet in my room. Ty was asleep in one bed and the kids were both snoring away all snuggled up together. It may have been the cutest thing I've ever seen. Ty said he let Carter watch a little bit of a show on the tablet while he got himself ready for bed. He put Elise down in bed and she crawled over to Carter and snuggled up against him. Their love for each other melts me daily. It is the sweetest thing to see!

The kids sleeping together when I got there.