July 30, 2006 5 mile race
We arrived at about 7 AM down in Countryland, about 15 minutes south of Cowtown. We got our things situated, and jogged over to the registration tables. The race didn’t begin until 8:30, and we had some time to kill, so we went back to the parking lot and donned our racing bibs (numbers), timing chip (for an accurate racing time), and drank some more water. When we started walking back over to the starting line about 8, I looked around and realized these people were so very serious. Everyone was virtually in 2% body fat, high rate running garb, and hell bent. Junior and I? Not so much. We are there to finish. That’s the goal I set for Junior and I every time, just to finish. We line up in back, stretching, and getting ready. We don’t want to get into any of the serious runners’ ways, so we start in the rear.
8:30-ish, and we are off. Through the school, over the black top, up one field, turn on a small road, and then thrust into the pear orchards… and gravel roads. Junior and I have never run on gravel roads, and we found it quite difficult. We figured our steps, and got along okay. After awhile, we start to walk. We notice we are near the back, but there are still people behind us. I tell him, that if we can make a small goal of finishing in one hour and 15 minutes, that that would be great. If not, that’s okay too, but we could try. I figured this would be a 15 minute mile. While it is nothing more than a fast walking pace, it’s a big goal for an 8 year old doing a 5 mile race. We pass mile marker #1, doing well so far. Water station at about mile 1.5, and Junior guzzles 3 small cups of water. Just past the water station, he starts running again, and trips on the gravel going down. No tears, no “I wanna quit”, but he’s visibly upset. We pull off the track for a few to assess the damage. There are a few scratches on his left knee, and some small marks on his palms. One of the helpers from the water station offer a chair and some band-aids, but Junior declines, and tells me that we are moving on. WAY TO GO, Kid!! We heard this from a few people that were passing around us, and they all offered words of encouragement. We get back on the trail at a walking pace because he isn’t comfortable yet with running again. About a half a mile down the road, it turns to grass again, and we are off again.
The rest of the race was fairly uneventful. He pushed himself, and we pushed each other. The people that were on the 10 mile loop eventually started coming up behind us to pass. There were a few rude people telling us to “move”, but for the most part, the other runners went around us, as it was a wide road. A lot of the runners were so encouraging, telling Junior he was doing a great job, almost there, and way to go. As we neared the finish line, we pushed harder to finish as fast as possible.
We crossed the line at 1:12:47. Over 2 minutes faster than our goal. I had no idea because I don’t wear a watch on the runs. I figure that had Junior not faltered, be probably would have been closer to an hour or an hour ten. That’s okay though, we made fantastic time.
Junior was hoping for doughnuts on the recovery food table, as they had them at the last race, but no such luck. There were bagels, fruit and water. We go a few things and some water, and we started walking around, cooling off. We chatted about the race, and how proud I was. Many people came up and congratulated him, asking his age, and telling him they were glad he ran. That meant a lot to both of us.
Within 20 minutes they started calling awards, and had put up running stats of everyone as they were finishing. These stats included name, age, location, time and placing. Looking it over, I discovered that Junior was THE youngest runner by a good 7 years. There were a lot of high school kids competing, so unfortunately he didn’t place top 3 in the 18 & under category, but according to the list he came in 5th. I got 3rd place in the 30-39 women’s category, scoring a SIGNED poster of the day’s events. Wahoo. It’s actually a very pretty poster, and we plan on putting it in Junior’s room with his bib number and pictures from the race.
While they finished up the 10 mile race results, we meandered over to the fair portion, and browsed around, played a few games, got some toys, pear bread with nuts, and listened to the music. Come 11 AM, we were exhausted, so we headed out to the truck.
It had been quite the busy day so far, so we headed home. Junior was asleep shortly after we hit the highway, and slept most of the way home. I made a few phone calls, and we stopped and grabbed a bite on the way home. The rest of the day was spent recovering, drinking lots of water, and just taking it easy.
I still can’t stop smiling, as it was such a huge accomplishment for both of us. The next race looks to be a “simple” 5K in about 3 weeks. We hope to better improve our time even more!!
