I know that I need to register and run in races to help keep myself motivated to RUN and keep the fitness momentum going.
I have never been a big racing fanatic, but I do love the atmosphere at races with all the runners and athletes.
This race was SUPER fun, somewhat flat, and for a great cause. This was my first 5K race of 2011.
The Stirring Stroll was a charitable race to benefit the church The Stirring help raise funds to purchase their own building. We do not attend their church, but our church supports their church. I thought, WHY NOT help support a great cause and run too!?
I knew the day would be crazy chaotic. I registered for the race before I got my son’s t-ball schedule. Time was limited and juggling being a MOM and fitting in ME time was going to be the biggest challenge of the day.
My good friend, Lisa, volunteered to watch the boys for me while I ran my race. Which was a God-send because otherwise I would have had to run while pushing the double jogger and C riding his bike next to me (all while having a gimp wrist and making sure C was respectful of the other runners on the course). Thankfully, I was able to run SOLO and enjoy the run.
The morning was a mad rush of getting the boys dressed, fed, and ready to go. I nursed T as much as he would allow – thankfully he agreed, otherwise running would not have been enjoyable for me (and he might have been a crank for my friend).
We left the house at 7:30 to drive to town. We got to Lisa’s a little after 8. I did a quick kiss off and dropped the boys off at her house.
I arrived at the race location at 8:30, just in time to get my race packet, warm up and get ready.
There were all levels of runners and walkers at the race. It was very exciting. There was fun music (think Rocky soundtrack) to pump every one up. Everyone was sizing each other up, and were asked to line up according to “competitive runners” and “fun walkers”. I found it humerous because I was included in the competitive runner category! Kind of exciting for me.
It was a chilly (upper 40’s) beautiful sunny morning. I was shivering before we began… but my muscles were warm from my warm up.
When the race began, I started much quicker than I would have normally (following the race pack of competitive runners) but it felt good to get loose and spread out from the pack.
My first song that came up on my iPod was NY2LA by Press Play! What a great tune to kick start a quick fun 5Krace!
The race course was completely paved and wound its way around Turtle Bay Exploration Park (and the Sundial Bridge). There were a few hills scattered throughout the course, but nothing too extreme.
Overall, I am pleased with the race and my time. According to my Nike+ I had a finishing 5K time of: 26:44 which is a PB (personal best) for me. The official race time was 27:40 which is also very good. My nike+ final distance was 3.27 miles with a time of 28:19 – which I think contributed to me not remembering to turn off my ‘race’ after I crossed the finish line. Woopsie.
Great race. Great weather. Great people. Great cause!
This race was my second race of 2011. I look forward to finding my next race to run… preferably local (due to child care issues) and FLAT!
Right after my race, I had to run to pick up the boys from my friends house and dash back to our small town (30 minute drive) to get to the ball field for C’s t-ball pictures and game. We were on a time crunch; we made it just in time!!
Adventure always awaits this busy mom of three small boys!
Leah @bookieboo says
Yeah!! You finished it and way quicker than I would!!! Congrats darling! XXOO
Heather @ Not a DIY Life says
Amazing finishing time!! I loved knowing we were running 5ks on the same day – almost as good as running together in person, ya know? One day!
Congrats, Rachel! And thank you for being such an inspiration to me and my running!
Kiera says
hey, I was out there too…I started in with the strollers…not pushing one, but the pace of them…it was the first race I’ve ever done by myself and ran into a friend when I got there…she wanted to walk it, and since I am a fair weather runner I hadn’t trained very well, and hadn’t done any running at all for over a month!….
I walked until the small bridge and then decided to just start jogging, made it all the way around the loop when my bra starting bugging me and then walked over the 2 bridges…decided that the only way my bra was going to stop hurting me was to finish, so I started running again…and ran the remainder of the race…
my time was pretty bad, I didn’t want to push myself since it was my first run in over a month…anyways, my time was 39.25…but I did feel good about how well my body felt after….
Rachel says
Way to go!! I know that we have alot of similar friends (Robin, Caryn, and others) I look forward to meeting you someday!! Great job running and doing the race! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by.
Kiera says
what a small world…maybe that’s were I heard about your blog….
do you know about any local runs coming up? would love to do more local ones (way cheaper when you consider gas and lodging!)…