My wife, 2 children and myself did the Finaghty's St Patty's Day 5k race in Snoqualmie Washington.http://www.runsnoqualmie.com/
The results are here:http://onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php?race_id=18060&relist_record_type=result&lower_bound=0&upper_bound=692&use_previous_sql=1&group_by=default#racetop
I finished with a chip time of 23:04, which beats my goal of 23:30, so I am really pleased with myself. I would be completely fired up if I can do a sub-50-minute 10k in the Olympic triathlon. I now have my running and swimming paces at what I expected them to be. It is time to focus on the bike.
Anyways...about the race:We had the children (4 and 2) signed up for the 1k run, and I co-erced my wife into running the 5k with me.
Now, as a parent of young kids you have to be creative as to how you handle your children during a race. You can't just leave them in the car, so you have to come up with an alternative solution that best meets their needs and then meets your needs to some degree (The parent's comfort is always sacrificed).
The last race we did (Issaquah Salmon Days), I pushed the stroller through the whole race. This time my wife wanted me to run for training, so she offered to take the stroller. I had the plan to complete the race, run back, and take the stroller from my wife to allow her to finish. I figure that ultimately since this is training I should be more than happy to make it difficult for myself and let my wife enjoy the run as much as I could...If it means running 7 miles, then so be it. (which wasn't the case)
The kids were more excited about the kids race than they were for christmas. We even woke up at 5:30AM to find our 4 year old daughter standing in the hallway holding her "running" shoes. She was ready to go and wanted it.
The weather was miserable. It was windy, about 42 degrees and lightly raining. We could see the snow falling on Mt Si just a few miles away. We were cold, the kids were cold, and the day was cold. But Once again (to a creepy level this time), God did answer my daughter's prayer for it to not rain during the race. It stopped raining as soon as the kid's race started and didn't start raining until the 5k completed. Im telling you...make sure you are friend's with my daughter...God listens to her.
We got the kids to the bathroom and the kids race was about to begin. As it was about to begin we realized that we forgot the water in the car for my wife. She has sports-induced asthma and needs lots of water to hold it at bay in events like this. Adding to the difficulty is her pushing the kids in the stroller and the race starts with a fairly decent hill. Unfortunately, before we knew it everything was underway and we couldn't get it.
The kid's race wasn't a total success for us. It was a lot of work to get the kids to get motivated. Even though they were ready for weeks, they just didn't want to move their feet once the time came. It was their first race, so I am sure they were just intimidated by the bigger and faster kids.
We didn't have any expectations for them so that is totally fine... it was just a bit surprising. It was an out-and-back course. In total, we only went about 2/3 of the way out before we started coming back. I ended up carrying our son and our daughter walked. She did run across the finish line herself so Im sure that we pretty cool. Our son didn't want out of my arms. I think it was all just too much for him. :D I guess if people are yelling for you and you don't recognize the fact that they are encouraging you, it could be a bit overwhelming.
Then the 5k.This was the hilliest race course I have ever been on. Lots of zigging, zagging, woods, roads. It was definately a fun course.
Even though I started near the front, I found myself having to pass a lot of people in the first 3/4 of a mile. It was a crowded course in the first portion and there was lots of bobbing and weaving. At one point, there was a guy running backwards. He looked like he lost something. Just then I looked down and saw a garmin forerunner with a broken strap on the ground. I picked it up and gave it to him. He Yelled at the top of his lungs, "THANK YOU!" as he had his headphones in and music turned up. It was really kind of funny and startling.
Once I got to the 1 mile marker, I was able to set in and focus on my pace. I set it faster than I usually would have because I was really hoping to make my goal. I knew it was a little too fast, but I was focusing on the compromise between my pace and my discomfort at the end of the race...and I was leaning towards discomfort.
I would set my pace with the person in front of me. As I caught up with them, I would pass them and set my pace to the next person.When I saw the water station at the halfway point, I was trying to figure out if I should take some or not. My breathing was getting labored and my heart rate was out of my comfort zone....but I really didn't want to risk cramping up. I decided to pass up on the water station and keep on hammering away. I historically haven't stopped for water in 5ks, so I figured I probably shouldn't change that in middle of a race.
Every step began getting more labored. I started trying to calculate my distance more frequently.It seemed like a very long time between the aid station and the mile2 marker. I questioned if they had it accurate...but then remembered that my brain isn't accurate right now...and I need to focus on my feet and not focus on distance. I wanted to slow down, but there were people behind me. I don't like getting passed so I just kept hammering.About 2.5 miles is when I started to really feel the effects of my fast pace. I wanted to stop and walk for a minute...but I knew that wasn't an answer. I had to dig deep just to keep focused on my steps and focus on keeping my breathing open enough to bring in the required oxygen. At this point, I was open-mouthed and sucking in as much air as I could.
We got to 3 miles and I wanted to put more into it, but I really didn't have enough "more" to really change my time. We had just climbed a large hill and I was at the maximum efficiency of my body. In order to move my feet faster, I would have to drop my heart rate. In order to drop my heart rate, I would have to bring in more oxygen.I was bringing in as much oxygen as I could. I couldn't lower my heart rate. So I figured I would just run in as well as I could and hold off the agony until after I crossed the line.
When I crossed, the timer said 23:11. I was very pleased with that. I wasn't sure if I beat the 23:00 goal that I had set... but I think I had a good shot. My final chip time was 23:04 which is just shy of 23...but good enough to make my "Take off 5 minutes" goal from 28:19 last summer.
I knew my wife needed me...so I didn't stick around. I immediately took off my number and began running beside the course backwards. People were looking at me kind of crazy as I was going the wrong way. At one point, I told somebody "I lost my dignity somewhere! Im trying to find it!"
I finally rounded a corner and saw my wife pushing the stroller down a long straightaway just beyond the 2 mile mark. I took the stroller as soon as I could. She was having a very hard race, and just wanted to finish. She took a minute to recover from pushing the stroller...and then she was off running. It was encouraging to see her engage.
The Kids and I jogged along and cut parts of the course on the way back. We were able to get to the last corner before the finish line so that we could cheer her home. It was great to see her cross.
The kids had a great time getting pushed and they love the medals they recieved from their race. My daughter now wants a lot more medals.It was still freezing cold so we didn't stick around long. Once my heart rate dropped back down and my sweat cooled, I realized the true temperature. The streets were packed and racers were still coming through so we thought we'd just get out of there and get some breakfast somewhere else. Usually we would stick around...but children with blue lips isn't a good sign.
Besides the weather, it was a great run. The course was very beautiful and very dynamic. There were shots through the woods, jogs along the road, traveling through the neighborhood, and racing through the center of town. It was a great course. It was quite hilly, but really was enjoyable...and made us want to move there for the opportunity to run in that environment.
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