My Son’s First 5k! (Part 2)

      20 Comments on My Son’s First 5k! (Part 2)

This is a continuation of my last post. When we last left off, our family had just gotten our race shirts.

At that point, because we’d gotten there so early (in hopes that we could get shirts before they ran out!), we had over an hour to wait until the quarter-mile fun run began for DS#2.  So we found other things to do, while my sleep-deprived husband waited in the car…

(I suspect he is going to kill me if he ever finds out I posted that. 😉 )

Of course, I had to get some pictures of my boys while we waited.

I love the sky in that picture.  As well as this one:

It was a beautiful morning, though honestly pretty chilly, around 50 degrees!

The event was actually very well-done—they had lots of activities for the kids, including crafts, face-painting, and games.  Here is DS#2 playing the “duck” game, which he played over and over…and over…again.

Eventually it was time for DS#2 to run the fun run.  He was so excited.

The best part was that they actually had the kids do some “group” stretching before they ran, with a young guy (a high-schooler, I think) showing them the moves.

It was a riot! 😉

I was surprised that they were actually going to track the finish and give out awards for the top three.  I made sure DS#2 had a number, and then the race began!

They were led by the high-school kid to run around a bunch of cones.  It was SO fun to watch.  He was in the 6 and under group, and they were adorable.  When they finished, they all got a participation medal. DS#2 was thrilled to get his.

When they lined them up at the end to track their placing, I was surprised to see that DS#2 was in second! Based a quick scroll through my pictures, I could see that he’d been 5th before they rounded the last corner, and I couldn’t figure out how he’d moved ahead so quickly at the end. My husband explained it to me: he completely cut a corner instead of going around a cone. 🙁

Believe it or not, despite my willingness to lie about my kid’s age (mentioned in my last post), I am a pretty honest person (I’m a Libra, what can I say…), and it felt wrong for my son to be given second place when I knew he didn’t deserve it.  He came up to me, all excited about getting second, and I kneeled down next to him and we talked about it.  I asked him if he really deserved second, since he cut around the cone at the end.  He looked sad but he admitted that no, he didn’t.  I asked him if it was fair to the other kids who ran the race the right way and were actually faster than him, for them to not get their ribbons.  He was pretty quiet, but he nodded.

It was so hard for me to have to do it, but I simply could not let him take that 2nd place ribbon when I knew he didn’t run the race correctly.  I told him we were going to tell the race people that they needed to change the results.  He frowned. “But I thought I would get a ribbon.”  “Do you deserve a ribbon?” I asked.  He shook his head and agreed that we should tell them.

I did go and tell the race organizers, and I could tell they were stunned that I would take the time to correct the results, but they were very complimentary to me for doing it.  DS#2 was still pretty sad, so I took him aside and praised him for being honest, and I told him that while he didn’t deserve a ribbon, he did deserve something for his honesty, so I would buy him some Pokemon cards.  That sure perked him up. 😉

Finally, when all that was over, it was time for the real race!   DS#1 was thrilled that I let him wear the Garmin. 😀  I must have spent 10 minutes giving him instruction on it, and especially on remembering to turn it off when the race was over. (Don’t ask me how I know these things…)  We lined up toward the end of the runners, but I know he liked the fact that he was at least in front of the walkers. 😉 After several minutes of telephone coordination with the “splitters” (a new term for me), we were off!

I really love that second picture of the two of us running.  I might frame that. 🙂

We didn’t start at the very back of the runners, but we eventually ended up at way.  Lots of runners passed us, but I made sure to tell DS#1 that he was running his race and to just maintain a comfortable pace.  A lot of the runners who passed us seemed to do a double-take when they saw him—he was clearly younger than any other runner.  Many of them gave him encouragement as they passed…”Good job! You’re doing great! Keep it up, buddy!” He is a pretty low-key kid, but I could see him smile each time someone spoke to him.

When we got to the one mile mark, there was actually a guy standing there with a stop-watch, reading out times as people went by—a “splitter”!  My son and I thought that was pretty cool. 🙂

The route was a simple out and back on the trails of the Metropark, but it was a bit tricky, because the trail was open to anyone.  There were a surprising number of both runners and bikers who were trying to traverse the path, along with all the runners and walkers from the 5k.  That was the only negative thing about the race, to be honest, but we just navigated and stayed out of everyone’s way as best we could.

As we got close to the turnaround, we began to see the faster runners coming back.  Once again, there were a lot of surprised looks and lots of encouragement for my son. By the time we were on the way back, he was getting a bit tired, but I had bought him a hand-held water bottle the day before in between the visitation and the funeral, and the drinks seemed to really help.

As we neared the finish line, DS#1 told me he was going to sprint when we hit 3 miles.  I told him to go ahead, but I wouldn’t be. (I don’t sprint well, ha ha!)  When we got to the 3 mile point, to my surprise, he really took off! He passed at least half a dozen people (including me, lol!).

By that time, people at the finish line began to notice him, and they all started cheering loudly for him.  It was such a great moment—I was so proud of him!

He crossed the finish line at 32:24—a 10:30 pace!

I crossed about 20 seconds later, and when I got to him, he had a huge smile on his face.   We did a quick “finish line” picture to capture the moment.

They had the leaders’ boards up for everyone to see, and I am not ashamed to say that I kind of stalked them. 😉 Not for myself, mind you, but for my son!  I was almost positive that he was the only runner under the age of 14, and I was hoping they would be able to find a medal for him—it was such an accomplishment for someone so young!  DS#1 came up to look while I was standing there and asked me if I saw his name.  The lady organizing the medals said, “Are you [insert my son’s name here]?” He said yes and she pointed to a medal with a sticky note attached, on which his name was clearly written.  “Well, congratulations,” she said cheerfully. “You’re getting a medal!”  We could see it said “first” on it, and he was so excited. 🙂

Once I knew he was getting his first place medal, I started looking at the other boards, and I saw a big surprise: in the fun-run category, they not only gave out ribbons for the top three finishers of the race, they gave out the top three for age categories.  And guess who was first place in the 6-year-old division?

Yep, that’s my little Batman (who enjoyed the face-painting while DS#1 and I ran the 5k!) after he was presented with his blue ribbon.  As I told him afterwards, being honest does have its rewards. 🙂

Next came the female awards, and guess what?

I took third place in the 40-44 division! My very first race medal. 🙂 (And by the way, I was not last in the division.  And yes, I’m competitive enough that I feel the need to point that out. 😉 )

Finally, it was time for the male awards, and first up was, of course, the newly-created “twelve and under” division.  Considering they had to put his name on a sticker above the rest of the leaders’ board, we figured he was the only one in the category.  However, when they announced it, they started off with second place, and, to our astonishment, they announced DS#1’s name.

You can see him looking confused and a bit disappointed there, but he was a good sport about it and walked back to us with a smile.

Next, of course, was the first place winner, and my husband and I were pretty curious to see who was the kid that beat him, since we’d never seen another runner that we thought was in his age range.  They made a big deal about announcing it as the “champion 12 and under runner”…there was a pause while the guy looked through his notes and then…they announced my son’s name again!  DS#2 was still walking back to stand next to us when they said it, and he immediately turned around and exclaimed, “But that’s me, too!”  Everyone laughed, and someone called out, “You were so good, you took both first and second!” They switched out medals while everyone applauded him.  He was quite proud of that first-place medal.

(He did point out to me later that what he actually was given was the medal for first place in the un-entered 70-74 age group, after they slapped a new sticker on the back and hand-wrote his age group and placing.  LOL!)

He was on cloud nine for the rest of the day, and I was so, so proud of him.  He worked so hard for this first 5k, and when I asked him what he thought of it all, he told me that he was really happy that he did it, and that he felt like his “determination” paid off.  He used that word a lot on Sunday when anyone asked him how he did it…he said, “I was determined.  I wanted to run a 5k, so I did.”   After spending 2 months training with him, I can attest that he absolutely was determined!

I have to say, Sunday morning was one of the highlights of my life as a mother.  It was such an honor to participate in a race with both of my boys.  They made me so proud.

Thanks so much for reading!!

 

20 thoughts on “My Son’s First 5k! (Part 2)

  1. Jenn

    I am so proud of all three of you. What a fabulous day for all of you. Keep up the great work and I can’t wait to hear about the next race. Hugs and more hugs!

    Reply
    1. steph Post author

      Thanks, Mark!! And believe me, I run pretty small races, so placing, though exciting, isn’t as hard as you might think. 😉 Thanks for reading!!

      Reply
  2. Kelly@Sublurban Mama

    Love, love, love the way the race went for all of you! What fantastic life lessons you are instilling in your boys. Good job Mama! I am so pleased DS#2 got a ribbon after all; he’ll remember and be truly proud of that earned one. And WTG DS#1!! Great finish to diligent training 🙂 I laughed when I saw you got a ribbon, too! YAY for a family of champions!

    Reply
    1. steph Post author

      Thanks, Kelly–it did make me laugh to get my very own “award” along with the boys. Thanks for the nice comments and compliments!!

      Reply
    1. steph Post author

      Thank you, Marcia! They ARE pretty amazing, and as they get older, I realize just how much I enjoy their personalities. 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *