As most people in my life are aware of, I have begun to "dabble" in running this year. It is not something that I claim to be any good at, but I have found so much joy in running with friends and feeling that sense of being a "part of something". Kind of tough to explain how that actually feels.
I recently heard that my friend/mentor/inspiration David Clark was putting together a family friendly 5k in support of the Superman Project. Dave's passion for this particular cause is so inspiring, that I thought it would be fun to check it out and say "Hi" while getting in a fun first 5K experience with my daughters.
Having already had such a fun weekend doing some great Christmas activities with friends and family, I knew that if we were going to run even a 5K, we would need to get to bed early last night in preparation. However, when we went to bed early last night, all that the girls (and myself) had eaten while out at X-mas parades and parties was some seven layer dip, and cake. Although pleasantly full, the "proper fuel" chapter of what I was supposed to be teaching my daughters was right out the window.
When Camryn awoke this morning with a giant "kink" in her neck, I thought for sure that we would never get out the door. As we woke up a little more, I talked to her about the option of just having her stay back with grandma for this one, just in case we got there and she still couldn't move her neck. She declined......and I quote "My friend keeps bragging to everyone about being in the Parade of Lights, so I HAVE to run a 5K today!" (spoken through tears, because her neck was hurting so badly) LOL Atta girl. :)
So off we went with our hot pack on Camryn's neck, in hopes of working it out some before the run! When we got there and realized that this was going to be a super small event, I felt the girls anxiety about it drop by about fifty percent. Perfect!
The course was pretty easy except for some icy/snowy patches in the first block or so. McKenna says to me just as we are about to begin, "So, this is a REAL race?" I responded with yes, without realizing that as soon as Dave gave us the thumbs up to go, McKenna was going to take off like a SHOT and try to keep up with some of the adult runners in the bunch who were out front. I stayed back with the twins and prayed that she would pace herself sooner than later. And she did, but not without feeling like her legs were hurting pretty badly. We talked about all of these things on the way down to the race, but I think that she just couldn't stand to have anyone in front of her. LOL NOW she understands a little better, I'm sure.
I just tried to float back and forth between where McKenna was and where the twins were running together. They all did great. For the last half of the 5K, I mostly stayed with Mckenna, because she had fallen behind enough that I didn't want to leave her by herself. (the difficult part about running with 3 of them at the same time) Before I fell back to stay with Mckenna, I reminded the twins to stay together and try to stay in front of the people behind them, as well as make sure that Mckenna and I didn't catch them. It was so fun to watch them running together and listening to eachother when one of them would tire and want to slow down. The girls seem to fight with eachother so much lately, that it really was heartwarming to see them working as a cute little team! Mckenna and I stayed together for the next stretch, and I could tell that she was frustrated about not feeling like she was doing well. I tried to keep talking her into running more when she could (especially on the down hill slopes) and walking less, but she was complaining of her knee hurting, so I wasn't sure how much to push her, and I didn't want her to walk away hating to run.....so SLOWLY we went. As the twins approached the finish I was able to catch up with them so we could run in together, and then run back to where Mckenna was walking and convince her to finish running as well. All in all it was a fun experience for all of us, and the girls are super proud to have done their first 5K, even with their individual struggles.(Camryn's "kinky" neck as she called it on the way home, McKenna's knee, and Natalie seemed to struggle with her breathing more than the other two) I hope that someday this becomes something that we ALL enjoy immensely and with any luck,we'll be doing Half Marathons and Adventure Races for our fun family outtings!! Fingers crossed......... ;)
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