The little race

I've heard that signing up for a race several months in the future is one of the best ways to get you committed to a new running routine. I did just that. I signed up for a half marathon in October. I also signed up for three other shorter races in the months before it. I have two 5Ks and a 10 K before the 'big' race.

The first of these was a 5K that was Saturday. The kids and I have been calling this race the little race.

I ran with one of my two workout buddies and her hubby. We also ran with some families from Bee's preschool.

The kids did not want to go. They didn't want me to run. Bee said I shouldn't race if I wasn't going to win. I assured her I wasn't going to win but was going to run.

We had to promise doughnuts. So here they are eating their doughnuts while I stretch. We're healthy like that.


I got at the back of the starting gate, behind a lot of walkers. I wore a chip on my shoe, so I know that my time as 31:05. It was 163rd place. Close to winning Bee, close. Yes, I'm a goon. I was just waving at the kids and holding my Ipod, but look pretty silly. Sometime mid race I had to ditch the Ipod arm band and just hold the darn thing. I learned a lot from this race and will know better for next time. (Hubby said the first group of runners came in at 16ish minutes. I can't even imagine!)

Post race they had bananas, apples, cinnamon rolls and ice pops for us. This picture reminds me of those nice pictures of people post delivery of their baby and they look like they just got up, put on some make up and laid in bed for a picture. Post delivery I looked a mess like I'd just swam in a swamp. Some of the runners looked fresh and lovely post race, I looked a mess. I might have secretly swam in the stinky river we ran by. I did learn that I better work more outdoor runs into my workouts. It's drastically different from running on the treadmill.

They had a kids dash. Both of my kids said that they wouldn't participate but I signed them up anyway. Just in case. Once they saw that kids were getting medals, Bee was all in. Lou took more persuasion but didn't want to not get a medal if Bee was going to get one.

They both ran it and got medals. Bee was surprisingly fast. She beat all the kids in her age division. She asked if maybe she'd get a trophy, but I didn't see any.


This race was the Colon Cancer Awareness Walk/Run. One of the families in Bee's preschool class last year became all to familiar with this type of cancer. The sweet mama of three little girls fought cancer during the school year- something which not every other parent even knew about. She was so strong and put on such a face when she was at school, which was just about every single day at drop off and pick up. After her treatment and surgeries, she is now cancer free. She was such an inspiration watching (and getting to know) this past year. Her oldest daughter is going to be in Bees class next year and her middle daughter is going to be in class with Lou (hopefully). We look forward to another year with them. We also plan to do this race again next year. Bee said I can try to win next year.