Knock Out Cancer 5K
Greenville, Ohio
July 29, 2017
Back in July, I had the privilege of chaperoning my cousin’s son during his very first 5K race! She messaged me, asked if I would happen to be in town, and want to run along side J. It just so happened that I was going to be back home that weekend!!! Of course, I jumped at the opportunity to run the 5K with him!!!
The weather was absolutely perfect! It ended up being a cooler morning. I LOVE running in cooler weather.
When I picked up my bib, I realized that there was a free kids’ run before the 5K. SCORE! Both my boys decided they were going to run the kids’ run. It ended up being a decent one that was around a mile long. N gave it his all! I was super proud of him for sprinting down and making the turn around. Pretty sure the guy in this photo with him went on to take first place for the boys (not that that matters).
I wanted to encourage him to keep running. After taking videos at the start, I jumped in with him to run the half mile back to the finish line. This is what a stoked mom looks like!!! Sharing what I LOVE with my little guys is the best thing ever!
STRONG LIKE MOM. Yep, I picked out their outfits for race morning.
Once N crossed the finish line and grabbed his water, he started walking back down the route to cheer on his little brother. In that moment, I felt like I must be doing something right with raising these boys. I do not think I could have been more happier than I was then!
Big brother heading back out to root on little brother and Grandma.
They both did great! They kept those legs a movin’.
A running family.
Finish strong, little one!
After the kids’ fun run, it was time for the main event!!! J was excited to get going, as was I! He had said before the race that he wanted to try and finish between 30-35 minutes. He has been taught well and knew to not sprint right out of the start. Actually, we started around a 12 minute pace because he was holding back. He did not want to run out of steam. Super smart, running kiddo! We picked up our pace as we got going.
It was cute running next to him. He grabbed some water at each water station. Both times he asked me, “What do I do with it”? It made me smile. I told him, “Throw it down on the ground”. I tried to teach him about tangents while we were out there, too. By the last mile, he was catching on to hugging those turns and following the imaginary line.
The course was incredibly flat. Yes, it had Memorial Hill in it. No, that is NOT A HILL!!!!! I would have to check the actual elevation, but it could not have been too much. In my opinion, the hardest part of the race was when we ran across the swinging bridge. Running across that bridge with other runners felt like running across a trampoline. Luckily, it is a short bridge.
It was around 2.3 miles when he asked me if we were down to the last half mile. I knew it was time to start with the short term goals. I pointed out someone up ahead of us. Then, I told him to try and catch up to them. HE DID! After that, I pointed out the next person. He caught up to them, too. I think we played about three rounds of that until we hit the home stretch.
The home stretch is where our family members were cheering. As soon as he spotted them, he took off! Family support during a race is so motivating. I found myself SPRINTING next to him. He pulled it back, but finished the race off strong. He hit his goal with an official time of 31:35!!!
I had an absolute blast run chaperoning this 5K with J!!!! It made me incredibly happy and proud to see him out there running his race and conquering his goals. I definitely would love to do something like this again sometime. Who needs a running coach?!?!
Follow Up: J ran his second 5K this past weekend. He ran it all by himself and did fantastic! It is in his blood, too!!!
