Day 872 -- Race Report, Family Fitness Fun Run

Today was the first annual Family Fitness Fun Run sponsored by the public school system. We decided to get half the family involved, anyway. There were four events. First, there was a five minute run for kids in first grade or below. We have no one eligible for that one. Then there was a ten minute run for kids in 2nd through 5th grade. The littlest Little Jogger wanted to run that one. Then there was a two-mile walk, and simultaneously, a 5K run. I wanted to do the 5K, and the littlest Little Jogger wanted to do the walk, and recruited the oldest and newest Little Jogger to walk with him.

Unfortunately, we hit a bit of a hitch. I don't remember exactly what the woman said when we registered, but the gist of it was something like this. The 5-minute run was going to be around the soccer field (pointing to the west of the school) and the 10-minute run was going to have a longer course, which goes over there (pointing to the east.) What she meant was that both were starting in the same place, but the 10-minute run was going to go behind the school and make a loop on the east side. What I understood was that the 10-minute run was going to start on the east side.

So, we watched the 5-minute run, and cheered for everyone, especially the kids we knew. Then we walked over to the east side of the school to wait for the 10-minute run to start. Now, any person of normal intelligence would have figured out, after we stood there by ourselves for a few minutes, that we were in the wrong place. But I didn't catch on until they blew the whistle to start the 10-minute run.

Well, the littlest Little Jogger was pretty upset. He stood there and cried for most of the ten minutes, at which point I said, "The heck with it, let's run." So we lined up, I set my watch, and we ran together around the course for ten minutes. He flagged a little at times, but he ran the whole time. I'm proud of him.

After that, he decided not to walk the two miles. Since we were at his school, from whence he walks home by himself every day, he walked home by himself, and left me and the o&n Little Jogger to run the 5K.

I did decently, I thought. I started out too fast (of course), but still managed to finish in 26:38, a couple minutes faster than my 5K in April. The o&n Little Jogger alternated running and walking, and finished in 32 minutes or so.

By the time we got home, the littlest Little Jogger was fine. So all's well that ends well, I guess. We each got a new t-shirt, and we all got some exercise, so it was a fun event all around.

Sorry, no race photos. Nobody in our troop brought a camera. If I manage to get some photos from someone else, I'll be sure to post them.