Midsummer's Night 5k

When we were deciding which race distances to run at each of the summer race series events, Ty and I decided we would trade off running with the stroller. He'd run with the stroller in the 5k at the first race, The Starry Night, and I'd run with the stroller in the 5k for the Midsummer's Night 5k. I had an 8 mile tempo run scheduled for Saturday morning and I was signed up for the 5k on Saturday evening. My coach and I went back and forth on what I should do. I wanted to run the 5k and he was willing to come up with a way to allow me to do that. Friday evening on our drive to my parents' house he told me I could run my tempo on Friday evening and then run the 5k as an easy run on Saturday evening. I was excited we had a plan where I could still run the 5k but that also meant I was running a tempo run in the evening without having planned or prepared to do so. I hadn't drank as much water as I should have, drank some soda at lunch which I normally don't do, and honestly am not used to running in the super hot humid weather of the day/evening since I get up early in the morning to run. All considered it didn't go very well but I was able to sneak into my goal pace range with a 7:35 pace average. After my run I decided I am not in good enough shape yet to run speed work on Wednesday and a tempo run on Friday. That was not enough recovery time and my legs suffered. I felt decent starting off, but my legs quickly felt fatigued and the wheels really fell off in the last 3 miles which were all over 7:40 pace! But I was still glad I did it so I could run at the Midsummer's Night 5k.

Everyone in our race shirts after the race.

I ran the fun run with Carter as my warm up. After watching Ty and Jeremy take off in the 10k we headed over to line up for the 5k. I figured I'd run around 9:00 pace for the race so I went toward the middle of the pack with the stroller and lined up with mom. Mom told me I was lining up too far back but there was no way to move up further with the stroller so I just stayed where I was. We took off and mom was definitely right. I had to run off the path in the grass and sloping downward to get around people. Carter was yelling, "Ahhhh, we are going to tip over and die!" Elise was scared and didn't like the off-roading so she was yelling, "NO, MOMMY! NO!" We definitely made our presence known! I decided it would be best to just get past as many people as I could as quickly as I could so I tried to pass large groups of people at a time to minimize our amount of time off-roading. Then I noticed a guy ahead of me with a double stroller and decided I needed to catch him if I could so I'd be the first double stroller finisher. I passed him around the mile mark which I went through in 8:23. That was faster than I had expected but I also knew the first mile of this course is always fast due to the downhill.

Ty and Jeremy ready for the start of the 10k.

Taking off at the start with Elise enjoying her ice cream.

After the turn around it got even trickier to pass because there were people running in both directions. I got stuck behind a guy who was running just enough in the middle of our side that I couldn't fit around him on either side. I decided that was okay and I'd just settle in behind him until there was a gap to pass. That worked out great because it slowed me down a little so I was more on my intended pace with my 2nd mile in 9:00. Once people stopped coming from the other direction I passed the guy and started passing more runners. I could see a woman a bit ahead of me and started trying to reel her in without picking up the pace too much. My legs were feeling great but I knew from experience that just because your legs feel good, that doesn't mean you should do it! I caught up to her and passed her with about a tenth of a mile to go. Shortly after I passed her Carter asked me if he could get out to run to the finish with me so I stopped to let him out and she passed us back. I could have caught her again but I didn't want to leave Carter behind so I didn't. I was thinking, what are the chances she's in my age group and thought it would be pretty funny if she was. It turned out she was in my age group and beat me by less than a second! I finished my 3rd mile in 8:40 which put me finishing the 3.03 mile course in 26:13, good for 8:40 pace.

Finishing the race minus a child who I swear was right by me but is not in the picture!

Carter was super excited to run through the finishing area again.

I got my ice cream while we watched for my mom to finish the 5k and Jeremy and Ty to finish the 10k. After my mom finished Carter said he wanted to go back out on the course to run to the finish with Ty. We left Elise with her Oma and Opa and headed out to find Ty. Carter was so excited when he saw him and then started yelling at him, "Slow down, daddy!" because Ty was running too fast for Carter to keep up. It was pretty funny and everyone around us was laughing at the exchange. Carter wanted to cross the finish line again so he did and I met him at the exit of the finishing chute. I wouldn't let him do that at most races but this one is smaller and less formal/competitive so I figure, why not. I was impressed by Ty's finishing kick and shocked when he told me his finishing time! He said he had finished in 56 or 57 minutes and on the way to the race I had looked it up so we knew his 10k PR was 1:02. He had smashed his PR!

Jeremy finishing the 10k.

So overall at the race Ty ran a 6 minute PR, Carter ran a 17 second PR, and I ran a 5k PR with the double stroller because I've never run a race with the double stroller before (yes, I'm spoiled). Dad finished 1st in his age group and 17th out of 260 runners with a time of 23:57. I finished in 26:13 which put me 39th overall and 3rd in my age group (missing 2nd place by less than a second). Mom was 3rd in her age group and 131st overall, finishing in 34:42. Jeremy was 1st in his age group and 4th out of 84 in the 10k, finishing in 46:15. And we were all so glad he finished this race. I guess running shirtless was the key! Ty ran a monster PR of 56:37 which put him 6th in his age group and 20th overall. Ty was joking about being the only one without a medal and Jeremy said, "Well, they don't give medals for 6th place unless they're finisher's medals." I thought that was pretty funny. I was so proud of Ty and his huge PR. I wish I could run a 6 minute PR in something, maybe the marathon but nothing shorter!

Dad with his 1st place age group medal.

Me and the 2nd place finisher in our age group.

Mom with her medal.

Jeremy with his medal for first in his age group.