Parents, a princess and a pirate

Kylie the Speedster!

Kylie and I ran in the Bret Neylon Race to Recovery 5k on July 16th in Brownsburg.  I ran the 5k and she ran the kids fun run, which was 800 meters (1/2 mile).  Here's the race report:

It was warm but that’s to be expected for July race in Indiana. We got there early so I warmed up with a 1.5 mile run at a 9:00 pace. This felt really good as my legs had been feeling stiff. About 8:20, I lined up at the starting line. This was a gun timed race only so I started in the front 1/3 of the pack. Local hometown hero and Utah Jazz player, Gordon Hayward, shot the starting gun and we were off! I started fast and could tell about ½ mile into it that I was going to fast, which was confirmed when I checked the Garmin and it showed a 6:10 pace. I was soon past by a guy, who had Semper Fi tattooed on his back. I figured, “All right, I can lose to a Marine.” I slowed down a touch and picked out a rabbit to chase. It was actually a man from my church who has beat me by a few seconds at some other 5k’s so I felt good chasing him. About the 1 mile mark, I noticed his form change and it seemed that he was slowing down. I took this opportunity to pass him and he gave me a “Atta girl” as I did.


I picked my next rabbit which were actually to quick young girls, maybe early teens. I kept about 10 yards behind them but could not seem to catch them. I was hurting pretty good by this time but tried to just keep pushing forward. About mile 1.5, Lynk past me and gave me a wave. I’ve never lost a 5k to him before so I stuck as close as I could to him. I notice the Marine who passed me early on was slowing down. But I was hurting too. By mile 2, I wanted to walk. My pace slowed at one point to 8:30 but I just did my best to pick it up and was soon back to 7:50. About this time, I’m fighting my inner “it’s ok to walk” demon. But I see a wheelchair participant in front of me and decide that it would be disrespectful to her if I walked since she was doing her best with her situation. Once I pass her, I notice that my rabbit was nearly out of reach and the “walk” demon started talking again. I checked my Garmin and saw it was 2.70 and told myself to suck it up and run for 4 more minutes. I turn a corner and can see the finish line. I wanted to walk again but knew that I couldn’t walk in sight of the finish AND more importantly, couldn’t walk when my kids were able to see. So I push on. I didn’t surge to the finish but I did finish as strong as I could. Which wasn’t a PR but was the best I’ve done in 18 months.

Splits:

mile 1 7:20

mile 2 7:51

mile 3 7:56

0.15 (measured longer because I started the Garmin when the gun went off, not when I crossed the start) 1:11 (7:46 pace)



I cooled down and found my family. I ran another mile as a cool down while I waited for the kids run to start. My DD, Kylie, was running it. She lined up with about 20 other kids. Gordon Hayward shot the starting gun again and she was off. She knows not to sprint at the beginning but it seemed like she was running pretty fast. It was 800 meters so I couldn’t see the turn around. We see the first girl come flying down to the finish line and I can see Kylie about 100 yards off. One more girl and a boy finish before her. But Kylie finished really strong, earning a 3rd place finish for the girls!!!! I was one proud mom. She was thrilled. She said “I starting passing people at the turn around and just kept passing them.” Way to go, Kylie!