This past weekend was girls' weekend at my house (although my husband might argue that it's girls' weekend every weekend between me, our two daughters, and even our girl dog). My husband was away doing "boy" things, so my mom came to visit so we could do "girl" things. One of the activities, dare I say the highlight of the weekend, was participating in a 5K on Sunday morning.
And it wasn't just any 'ol 5K, it was a women's 5K. Perfect! So when I realized the timing of the event, I signed up my team of women: myself, my mom, and my two daughters, Rebecca (age 8) and Katherine (age 5). This 5K was the first for my mom. She's been to a couple of races as a spectator, but never as a participant. And I was excited to have her joining us in the race fun.
Equally excited was Katherine (my 5 year old), because this would be her first chip-timed race. Her excitement didn't come from a desire to be fast and timed, because that was by no means the point of this race for us. My mom isn't a runner and Rebecca, with her broken arm, needed to be cautious when running so as not to trip and further injure her healing bones. The excitement of chip-timing for Katherine was the chance to be like me and big sister (Rebecca had just completed her first officially timed 5K two weeks prior) with a cool timer on her shoe.
Overall, I'd say race day was fun. But it was not without its drama (I did mention I took a 5 year old with me). In Katherine's eagerness, she took off running at the start even though we started with the wave of people walking and we had discussed walking for Grandma and Rebecca. Not wanting to discourage Katherine or squash her spirit, I followed her along while Rebecca and Grandma stuck together. We didn't get very far before Katherine was struck down by a cramp in her side. And so it began.
In an attempt to help her recover from her cramp quickly, yet still keep moving, I carried Katherine for a short distance before we had even made it one mile. Katherine is not my long distance runner and I know this. But she always gets so excited by the thought of doing the "big" races with the family, so I give her the benefit of the doubt and we try, try again. Sunday was a long 3.1 miles filled with some tears, some pretty lackadaisical walking, and some bursts of running. I was able to distract her a bit with sport snacks and water, but all-in-all it was a real mental battle for Katherine.
Grandma and Rebecca maintained a pretty even pace, and since we all adjusted to Katherine's pace, they had a nice leisurely walk, enjoying the sites around Sacramento. We finally crossed the finish after about 1hr and 15 minutes. It may have been slow and challenging, but we finished. We finished what we had started. We were together and we were making an effort to live an active life. And for that I am grateful and proud. Yay us and our girls' weekend!
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