With B losing all of that weight, he’s now running like me. And our kids, obviously, have tons of energy. So, a month or so ago I was looking at races that I wanted to try and I came across a new one in Phoenix. It’s the Firefly Run. I showed D the photos and asked if he’d like to try to run a 5k with me. He said he was interested, but then nothing more really happened. And I *always* hesitate when it comes to actually registering for a run. So, I sort of wrote it off thinking that D didn’t really care so I’d just save the money and not run it.
But, I was pleasantly surprised a week ago when he brought it up again out of the blue. So, I registered D and B and me to run in our first night 5k and D’s first 5k 🙂
Grandma and Grandpa came over to watch the rest of the kids on Saturday night and we went down to the run. It was pretty chilly by Phoenix standards (65) so D was shivering, but we layered him with one of the race shirts and he did fine. The theme to this run is “chasing the night” so they encourage costumes and anything that lights up or glows. So, we made sure that we dressed the part.
I knew that the biggest challenge would be pacing. I am *much* slower than B. And D doesn’t really “get” jogging… he only knows how to run full out and there’s no way that he can keep it up for 3 miles. So, we ended up starting somewhere between my pace and B’s pace. D had a hard time going that slow–sometimes he was power walking, and when he’d go to run, he’d push ahead. And after a mile or so, he was ready to be done. He also needed a bathroom (whoops!). We stopped and walked a bit at the halfway point where there was a water station. And then he was ready to keep moving. Just before the 2 mile mark, D & B slowed down to try to look for a place to go and I went on ahead. I started off going slower so they could catch me and then after a quarter mile or so I just got into my comfortable pace.
Later B told me that D kept asking him how much longer (time wise) the run was and he told him that it depended on how fast they went. So, D ended up powering through.
I finished with a sprint and walked back to find them, but I was only a minute or so ahead of them.. and I finished for a second time with them 🙂
Our chip times were:
Me 32:48
B 33:37
D 33:36
As soon as we were done, D admitted that it was a bit of a challenge. And he looked at me like I was nuts when I asked him if he could do another 10 miles, like my half marathons.. But, by the time we reached the car, he was over that & said that it was easy 🙂 Gotta love the youthful enthusiasm.
I loved running with my guys and am so happy that they’re willing to go along with old Mom and do that sort of crazy stuff!
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