Father's Day 5K

Every year our local running club puts on a 5K for Father’s Day at the park near our house.  Joe and I have run it a few years in a row now.  He runs pushing Mia in the stroller (it is Father’s Day after all) and I get to run it stroller free.  This year my mom and her sisters were going to walk the race and one of my aunts who has recently lost a lot of weight was attempting to run/walk the race.  Plus several of the families from husband’s taekwondo school were participating.

Before the race

I was pretty excited to run it this year since I feel like my speed has really improved and this is the first 5K of the year I was going to race. I had run one other 5K in May but it was the day after a tough half marathon and I ran it just for fun and recovery.  My goal was to run the whole race at a sub 8 pace. When we got to the park and saw that the course had changed slightly this year we were a little disappointed.  They changed it so you started off running across a field.  I knew this would be especially hard for Joe pushing the stroller.  Luckily, you didn’t have to run far until you were on the paved path.

This race is pretty popular so the path was crowded but I started up front enough that I didn’t have to weave around too many people and was able to settle into a comfortable pace.  My first mile clocked in at 7:41! It was fast but I felt good so I just tried to stay as close to that pace as I could.  I tried not to look at my watch a lot during the race, I just tried to glance at to get an idea of where I was pace-wise.  Each time I did I saw that I was under 8 but not as fast as my first mile. 

As I started to get close enough to the finish line where I could see the clock I saw that the time was still in the 23's but quickly approaching 24 minutes.  I tried to kick it up as much as possible but I was quite close enough or fast enough to beat 24 minutes.  I finished in 24:10 which was a 12 second PR.  I was really excited about that time! Next time I will beat 24 for sure!

Trying to run fast

After I finished I watched Joe and Mia finish and some of our friends.  I decided to start jogging the course in reverse to find my aunt that was trying to run/walk to see if I could help her finish.  I found her about a half a mile from the finish.  She was going great.  She took one last walk break and then ran the rest of the way in to the finish.  She ended up finishing in 47 minutes.  I am so proud of her.  She really gave it her all and I think she may be hooked now! My mom and my other aunts finished shortly after and we all went over to watch Mia run the kids race.  Joe was going to run with Mia while I took pictures but as they started running she started calling for me so I went out and joined them.  She tried to run so fast and laughed the whole way.  It was great! At the end she got a little medal that she was so proud of.  Of course she made us run about 25 more “races” with her after that.

Joe and Mia during the race

As the other kids races finished up they started announcing the awards.  I was surprised to learn I won 2^nd in my age group! I got a really cute Father’s Day mug for my award.  A PR and an age group award all in one day!

Mia and her medal

We had a lot of fun at the race and continued the fun with strawberry picking and a father’s day cookout that afternoon.  I think Joe had a great Father’s Day!