Walnut Festival 5K + a PS

Last nights prep work.....


Below, Em and I heading back to town, while Soph makes her way out to the turn around point.....................
This morning was the big event! Everyone was excited and ready to run. Sophie, Bubba, and Brian stayed together. Sophie set the pace and Bub and Brian tried to keep up with her 6 year old wicked fast turn over : ) Brian says she ran the majority of it, took water at both aid stations, and had a blast! She finished in 47 minutes (ignore the clock time in the picks, that's the gun time, not actual time) Bubba was ready to run, but once it started, the crowd scared him and he jumped in the stroller. Brian said when he told him he could see the finish line, he jumped out and took off.
Emma and I ran together. Her previous 5k was 36 minutes. While we don't put much emphasis on times, just crossing the finish, she is at the age where she likes to have a goal to beat. She started with a 30 minute goal. As the race went on, I talked her into a 35 minute goal, explaining that runners don't usually shave minutes off of 5k times, usually we are happy with shaving seconds off our time. She sprinted to a 33 minute finish! She ran 98% of it, maybe took 10 strides walking the entire 3 miles. Everyone was happy at the finish, and ready for the next one!
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PS
Just a few more things....I had to post quick yesterday as we were getting ready for meeting.
So Em and I ran together. As always, I let her set her pace, but also knew she had lofty goals of 30 minutes, so I tried to keep her moving at the same time. 30 minutes would have been pretty amazing. My first 5k was 27 minutes, and I thought I was going to die. So, sometimes its hard as the parent to encourage, but also persuade your daughter to a more reachable goal. You cant' just say "no way are you going to hit 30 minutes", and truth be told, I think she can do it, but I also am responsible for keeping it a fun run, not pushing her too hard (she already pushes herself beyond what an 8 year old should) and making sure she still wants to be a runner when she finishes. I started off just watching my clock to see what she was moving at, see how she was feeling, if she was going to take a walking break or not(if she walked at all, 30 wasn't an option)...trying to gauge if she was near a 10 minute mile pace or not (hard to do when miles arent marked), if she was, I could go ahead and push her and see if she could hit 30. If she was going to come close at all at her comfortable pace, then I would be willing to push her a bit to make it happen. Of course, she is oblivious to the fact all this thinking is going on, she's just running and having fun, as it should be. Once there was a walking break, and a stall at the aid station while she waited to be handed a cup instead of grabbing it and going....I officially switched over to mentally trying to figure out how to suggest a 35 minute goal. So we talked a bit about runners being happy with even a few seconds faster for a PR. I reminded her she ran a 36 minute 5k last time, maybe it would be a good idea to aim for 1 minute faster each 5k she does. Her reply...."there's not really going to be beer, right?" I guess we had passed a sign that said "free beer ahead".....then another sign that said "just kidding". I forget that she can read sometimes. Shortly after that she was grossed out by a road kill squirrel, then we were turned around and headed back to town. She was happy with a 35 minute goal, and would ask for her time every few minutes. She flew through the aid station the second time, swiping a cup like a pro.....then quickly came to a dead stop to take a drink. I think we will rehears aid station etiquette pre race next time : ) She is used to trail running aid stations, where you stop and eat a meal practically at each one. This was her first road race w/an aid station, and the rules are a little different. A few quick turns, and we both started our sprint to the finish line. I pulled back to get a shot of her crossing the finish from behind. She crossed at 33 minutes, and was thrilled. We were corralled down a narrow finishing shoot where they tore off the bottom of our bibs. Somehow this is a timed event, although there were no timing devices on us, so I am not sure how that works out, but they were very careful to keep all our bib tags in order. We went out the end of the shoot, grabbed some free stuff, water, water bottles, pins, chap stick, pencils....whatever was free that we saw...then headed back to see Brian, Soph, and Bubba come across the finish. Bubba I think was doing some window shopping as he was way off course, running up on the side walk looking in the windows, probably watching his reflection. Sophie was trucking right along, with a huge smile!
I am so proud of Sophie for running the majority of her race. She wasn't' sure if she was ready for a grown up run, but she was very ready, and did great! She is built like a little brick, short and solid. She has a naturally short, fast turn over that is pretty amazing. Em looks a bit like a deer, or colt when she runs, lots of knees and elbows everywhere. Soph is more sturdy, sure footed, and fast for 6. It will be fun to watch her over the next few years. I hope this is the first of many fun runs for her. She is looking forward to doing a trail run next month with Brazen Racing. She knows there is a large medal involved, and has heard about candy at the aid stations ; ) Before that, though, we have the Komen for the Cure in 2 weekends!
This was a comeback year for this race as it has been on hiatus for a few years. We hope it is here to stay! It was well organized, well marked, plenty of post run food, freebies, water.....the volunteers were super friendly. There was plenty of free parking in any of the down town garages. It was a great event.