Friday, July 6, 2012

Post-Baby Race #2 - Patriot 5k

Today, we ran the Patriot 5k to kick start the 4th of July.  Hopping out of bed bright and early at 5:45 am, we got ourselves together and out of the door by 6:20.  The race took place in a small town about 30 miles outside of where we live.  Although it was a bit of a drive, it was a nice, scenic route that did not feel long at all.


This race was put on by a high school cross country team.  I have to say they picked a nice route shaded by pine trees.  To begin the race, we listened to a barber shop quartet sing the National Anthem.  I do not think I have heard a barber shop quartet live ever, and I felt it was a very nice touch.
We also had a brass band from the high school playing numerous patriotic tunes as we ran along. I had brought my iPod along but I could still hear them over my own music, and I have to say they were very talented and added a fun vibe to the race.


My husband was determined to have Gordon Lee flying in the jogging stroller.  And he must have anticipated this because he was hanging on like he was ready for a roller coaster ride at the start. With over 300 runners, this was a big race for a small town.  And a lot of people had jogging strollers. It would have been nice had there been a prize for a "stroller division." However, there was no such thing.  Lee did make it in the top 200 and received a medal for it! As I was running, I noticed a lot of fathers pushing jogging strollers, and I really liked that.  They were not too "manly" to push a stroller along.  In fact, if you can push something and run at the same time, it's actually harder than running alone.


So, as for me,  I crossed the finish at about 36 minutes. My first mile was 10 minutes, and I know my last mile was fast because I gradually picked up speed as I knew I got closer.  I came to a point where I had an old man and a girl with a limp in front of me. And I just couldn't let either one of them beat me. So, I flew past them in a high-speed sprint across the finish line. I slowed down during mile 2 because there was a hill and since I didn't know the course, I didn't know how long it would last.  I think if I had not slowed down during that mile, I would have finished in around 30-33 minutes.  However, I am still pleased with my time.


So far, we do not have pictures of us.  I was unable to take a picture of Lee or the baby as they finished the race before I did.  And I was fairly exhausted when I finished. Lee did record a video of me finishing the race. However, it is a very large file.  So right now, I am waiting on photos from other participants.  These photos I posted were shared with the Facebook page for the race.  They are encouraging users to upload pictures.  And if I find any of us, I will post them here.


I will share a very short video that Lee got of me coming to the finish line.  I was about to overtake that man and girl in front of me to beat them by a few seconds at the end (there is a longer, larger version but my blog isn't interested in uploading it).