The 3.5 Mile 5K

5K #24: COMPLETE!

But let me tell you something about this 5K. It was 3.5 miles long. At least for me it was that long because I got directed down part of the 10K course before I realized the error and retraced my steps to get back on the 5K course. But I'm ahead of myself... let's start back at the beginning.

We woke up Saturday morning to rain. Lots & lots of rain. Our hotel was only two blocks from Romare Bearden Park where the race was beginning/ending so we were able to wait it out a little while at the hotel before heading over.

Like I said last week, this was a race we were participating in in honor of our friend Parker. They had a big tent set up for the group and everyone was gathered underneath, wearing their Keep Pounding for Parker t-shirts.

There were several different things to participate in {a 10K, 5K run, and 5K walk} and our group had people participating in each one of those. So when it came time for the 10K runners to take off, we walked over to the start line to cheer them on. As soon as they took off, the rain started up again and didn't let off for awhile.

The 5K run/walk kicked off 15 minutes later.

The beginning of the race was smooth running. We ran uphill for a hot minute and then we were downhill for about a mile and a half. It was easy running down Morehead and under 77. It's when we made the next turn that things started to go uphill. We wound around a neighborhood area before hitting a greenway.

I was running really well at this point, picking people off one by one on the hills and passing the people who were stopping to walk. I felt great about how I was running and was starting to think that I might have a great time AND that I might have a chance at placing in this race. This was despite the 50 degree, windy, rainy weather we were running in.

But things fell apart when I got to the second water station. The 10K runners had joined up with us on the greenway and they had a little extra leg of the greenway to run that the 5K runners didn't. Somehow {looking at you, race volunteer at the water station} I ended up the little extra leg of the 10K course. It took me about two minutes to realize I was on the wrong course and I quickly turned around and ran hard back to the 5K course.

But I was pretty mad. I knew my race was wiped out at this point because I had wasted about 4 minutes running off course. So the last part of the race was a lot of angry running because I was mad at the volunteer for pointing me down the wrong path, annoyed with myself for not knowing the race course better, and frustrated that a good race time was ruined.

But in the last stretch of the 5K, one of my friends blew by me {he was running the 10K and flew by me at like a sub 8 min pace} and I got a quick reminder of why we were all there. We were there to run and raise money/awareness for brain cancer research. The friend who ran by me? We were all there personally for his son Parker.

Sometimes, it's not about running for myself and sometimes, I need a reminder of that. This weekend, it was about running for this boy and his family.

How cute are they finishing they race?

Parker had so many people there running for him!

And naturally, as soon as the race was over, the clouds disappeared and we got sunny, blue skies for the rest of the day!

My parents did AWESOME in this 5K walk! My mom powered through and finished the 5K in 47:07 and my dad wasn't too far behind at around 57 minutes. I'm so impressed with them!

I know one thing for sure - Parker & his family have one big support group cheering them on through this fight!