Take*Two: American Cancer Society 5K

I am so full of gush and love and pride that I just want to burst!!! Today was my Sunday girl’s first race and they did incredible!! And Vincent….Vincent…my boy who can drive me out of my mind at all times except when we’re running….I take my hat off to that boy…and love him to pieces.

So I’m actually going to do a recap…but not really about me….but…today wasn’t about me. I woke V up around 8:30 since I wanted to head over there around 9 and get him plenty warm before the race. I told Dom I wanted him to stay with Julie and be motivational…and that’s exactly what he did.

So we get there….find my co-workers...they did a great job too btw….and Dr. F…who made his first appearance at this race that the rest of us have run 3 times…lol. It was freezing…poured the whole way over there but didn’t drop a drip through the entire race. I found my girls and they were looking and feeling really good. I didn’t have much time to spend with them but they knew what they were doing….and I needed to concentrate on V. So I pinned his bib on him..and mine on me…numbers 50 and 51…and we started to warm up. Just some light running but he has a habit of cramping so I wanted to try to minimize that as much as possible. It was a good size field…I think the runners’ numbers were up over 250 this year. We headed over to the start line and I told him to get up front….no make up time…there were some serious looking dudes there this year…and I was a bit worried. I gave him a hug and told him to try to hit the ball diamond….around the 2 mile mark….in 12 minutes…then he’d cinch his time. I only saw him once after that….holding steady at 3rd and wearing a look of TOTAL determination.

After that I was on my own….I went out too fast….5K is just NOT my distance…or not enough distance? I didn’t PR and the whole race I just kept thinking about V. I knew by around mile 2 that I wasn’t going to PR..just didn’t have it today…or any other for that matter..HA!...and I just wanted to see my boy…and then go back and finish with my girls. My official clock time was 28:54…..I wanted to go under 28.

So I finish…see my family including my dad parked in his dirty plastic lawn chair by the finish line…blew him a kiss and found V. He finished 3rd overall…took his age group….and PR’d for this race at 21 minutes. He didn’t sub 20…not sure what happened when he did it in under 17 minutes a week or so ago…but he was happy. It was a crappy windy course as usual. But the dude who DID win it only took V by 40 seconds or so. I wanted to die I was so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!

After I got my breath back…V and I jogged back until we found the girls and Dom. They were pooped but holding on. We finished with them…Dom sprinted at the end and puked!!! That was almost the best part I think. That’s the farthest he’s ever run and I was beaming at the awesomeness of my children and friends! My mom wasn’t terribly far behind and we went back for her too. She sprinted it in with V and that was that. The girls finished in 46 minutes or so…which is 10 minutes faster then they’ve ever ran it. Couch 2 5K success!!!

And the track coach from one of the Kenosha high schools*who Vincent beat* came up to V after the race wanting to know how old he was and where he was going to highschool….how freaking funny.

Here’s the photo proof…please excuse the 2005 date on the pics…if that was the case I would have still been pregnant with lil T.