Sunday, May 3, 2009

The Race in the Rain

Several weeks ago, we signed up for the West Jordan Red Run. Dan and I signed up to do the 5K, and Rachel, Caleb and Anna signed up for the kids fun run.
When I woke up, I called my mom and Jenny (who was visiting my parents) to see how the weather was on their run. Jenny said she got hot and had to take off her sweatshirt during the first mile of their run. So, I decided that I shouldn't overdress for the 5K. I put on some shorts, shirt and sweatshirt. I would probably take my sweatshirt off before the start.
On the way to Jordan Landing, it started raining quite hard. I mentioned it to Dan, who said it just looked like it was raining hard since we were driving. When we got there, it was a decent rain storm. Since I had already paid money for this and the kids were excited, I decided we would stick with it.
My mom was coming to watch the kids while Dan and I ran the 5K. At about 8:45, I called her to see where she was. Well, we had a little misunderstanding about the race start time. She hopped in the car and came as fast as she could. Dan decided that if she didn't make it, he would stay behind with the kids while I ran. Right as the gun went off, my mom ran up and took the kids from Dan. So, he started about 10 seconds late.
It rained hard. There were puddles everywhere. And for most of the race, we were running on the side of the road, which was where all the water was draining to. My shoes got soggy within the first minute or two. I kept my sweatshirt on, which acted like a sponge. When we ran a certain direction, the water was pelting my face and eyes and getting in my contacts. It reminded me a region, my sophmore year of high school. I was really glad when I got to the finish because I was really cold and wet. I came in second overall in the women. I was happy enough with my time, because the conditions weren't so good. Dan finished about 11 minutes behind me. I am proud of him for trying to get back in shape.
After my soggy race, came the kids' run. Rachel and Caleb were excited. Anna wanted to run too. I was a bit unsure of letting her run, because this race was a whole mile. But she ran the teddy bear 1K last fall, and ran almost the entire way and almost beat Caleb to the finish. So I decided to let her run it too. A few hundred meters into the race, she didn't want to run it anymore. It was raining and she didn't like it. So, we walked, and I carried her some until we finished. I should have had better judgement and told her that she couldn't run it. She just wanted to be big like Rachel and Caleb. Rachel ran almost the whole way. She stopped just once the whole mile. She was the second child to finish the mile.
I wanted to go home and skip the awards ceremony. The rain was coming down even harder. Our kids insisted that I could not skip getting my award. So we stuck around. It took forever for the awards.
Guess what they served after the race? Ice cream sandwiches. Normally, this would have been delightful after a race. I still ate one, since I love ice cream. But I shivered while I ate it.
I planned on taking pictures of the kids at the race, but due to the weather, there are no pics of this one.

1 comment:

Rowley Family said...

Awesome job. Its so great that the kids love to run also.