On Thanksgiving Day I completed my first 5K in probably 5 years. Myself, Tom, and the kids all did the YMCA's Gobble Wobble--well the kids didn't have to do much except look cute and enjoy the ride. It's a huge event with a few hundred people dressed variously as pilgrims, Indians, turkeys, Elvis, cranberry sauce, and the New Year's Eve ball all in attendance.
These past few months I've been working hard on getting to the gym, toning up, and running. Really I'm not a runner. My husband is a runner (and a damn good one!) I'm much more of a jogger. But for weeks I've been dropping Grace at school and heading over with Luke to the local park and hitting the jog path. It's not easy running while pushing a 20 pound jog stroller and a 20 pound toddler--especially because you can't use your arms to power yourself forward--it's all legs. I was doing their course in about 40 minutes and was hoping for a similar time on Thursday.
On Thursday morning we got the strollers all decorated and Tom made us some fancy Indian head dresses. Grace and Luke naturally refused to wear those but oddly, Grace insisted on wearing her 60s go go dancer hat from dress ups. Whatever made her happy. . .
I was nervous. I made my husband (who can do one of these things in his sleep) swear he wouldn't be ridiculous in his support of me. Just tell me a few jokes, no running advice, and let me put my head down and push through it (not all that dissimilar from Luke's birth). The pack was really thick and it's hard to push your way through people with 2 jog strollers but we did, hunting and picking people off as we went. The course was ridiculously hilly but so was my training so I didn't suffer too too bad.
I was really nervous that we'd come in last given my training times but there we were after a mile at just under 11 minutes. The kids were largely quiet and as much as Tom tried to get Grace to cheer "go mom!" she didn't but a very nice man next to us did.
When the hills got really rough and my breathing was audible Tom softly said "you can do it"--no over the top enthusiasm just a gentle reminder that I could do it. He knew and so did I but sometimes a little nudge like that is helpful.
We finished the race with a lap around the track and the music of "we will rock you" blaring. The last hill was terrible and I announced I felt sick. Tom reassured me he feels that way at least once a week on his runs.
I kept looking over my shoulder just to make sure I wasn't going to have to kick grandpa's cane out or grandma's walker so we wouldn't be last but lo and behold, I saw tons of people behind us--and they weren't pushing 40 pounds. Our finishing time was 32 minutes, well beyond what I thought we could do. I do rock the house;)
Here are some pics from the event:
Here's the whole family all ready to go:
Our self portrait before the race:
Me during the race. Tom makes curiously comfortable head dresses to wear while running
After the race--a little red faced but none the worse for wear!
1 comment:
You rock. :)
Post a Comment