Valley Cats 5K

This morning I ran in the Valley Cats 5K with Mia.  This is the first time I've ever run this race but I will definitely be back.  It was so much fun.

The race starts at a baseball stadium where our local team the Valley Cats play.  It was a pretty hot morning but not nearly as bad as the last few days have been.  I also was pushing Mia in the stroller and am racing a 10 miler tomorrow so my plan was to take it easy and just have fun.  The route was pretty hilly- in fact it starts on a pretty long uphill- but there were some nice downhills throughout that balanced things out. 

The first mile was really tough.  Running uphill with a 2 year old in a stroller is hard!  My garmin was initially showing me paces starting with 10 but then I seemed to find my groove and mile was 8:42.  The next mile was a lot easier and I picked up the pace a bit until we approached another long hill.  Did I mention running uphill with a stroller is hard?! Even with the hill this mile was still pretty quick at an 8:30 pace.  The last mile was much easier, there was a great downhill section as we approached the stadium.  I felt like I was flying and was excited when I started to catch up with my friend Elisa.  I had Elisa in my sights the whole race but could never catch up to her.  She was running so strong.  (She ended up placing 3rd in her age group!) I never completely caught up with her but close enough to tell her how great she was doing and cheer for her.  Mile 3 was a 7:51 pace- that downhill really helped! The last section of the race was in the stadium around the field.  It was so fun to get to run in the stadium like that but really hard with the stroller.  I slowed down quite a bit because of the packed dirt path and finished up at an 8:21 pace.  My final time according to my garmin was 26:12:05 - 8:21 pace.  The official results had me at 26:28.

After the race with JoDee and Nina

Mia running fast

After I finished I watched the rest of my friends come in and chatted with everyone for a while before Mia's kids race started.  This was the best kids race ever.  The kids ran the same route around the baseball field that we finished on.  Mia loved it.  She laughed the whole time.  As a prize the kids all got Valley Cat clappers which she loved. 

Mia trying to pull ahead of the competition

It was such a fun race morning.  I can't wait to run it again next year.

Tomorrow Joe and I are heading up to Lake George for the Adirondack Distance Run.  This race is a 10 mile run from Lake George to Bolton Landing.  It's challenging with a lot of hills but it's a gorgeous route that finishes on the beach.  I can't wait.

Oh and I'm happy to report I got my morning runs in this week!