Aquarium Run

Last weekend, I participated in a 5K at the Oklahoma Aquarium as a part of my honor run for my 5K training last Saturday. 

I had signed up for this run a while ago and when my daughter told me that she wanted to start running after seeing me at the Shamrock the Ville race, I signed my husband and kids up for the 1 mile fun run.  Earlier last week, we received bad news that my aunt had passed away from cancer.  She's only a few years older than I, and she's battled cancer her entire life.  My uncle scheduled her memorial for Saturday as well at 1. 

I sat down with my husband to determine if we could do both the race and the memorial and we found that while it would be pushing the envelope somewhat we still could; my start time was at 7:15 and theirs was at 8:30. That would still allow for quick showers and the trip to Oklahoma City. 

Friday night, I ran around the house like a mad woman.  I laid out our race dummies and then started on our clothes for the memorial. 

Our race dummies

I think I finally crawled in bed around 11 or 11:30.  The alarm went off at 4:30.  I would like to say I got the 5 hours of sleep; I didn't.  I don't know if it was worry about hearing the alarm or excitement or both, but I slept fitfully.

Normally, I have to drag my children out of bed during the school week, but they always seem to bounce out of bed around 6:30-7 on the weekends (well my eldest isn't doing that anymore since he's a tween).  Imagine my surprise when they popped out of bed at 4:30 and were ready to go at 5:20-5:30 (with blankets in tow, of course).  It's about an hour drive to the Aquarium from our house and I wanted to be sure we got there with a little time to spare.

The kids slept on the way there.  My husband and I did not.  When we got to the Aquarium, we sat in the car until it was about 15 minutes until my race time and then they came to the start line to see me off.  I got warmed up and then it was time.  I was kind of excited when the race director said those with a pace of less than 18 minutes needed to be up front.  I thought...WHOA!  That's me finally!

It was one of the muggier days we've had thus far (it's been a colder spring) and the wind started to pick up.  I know they had several runners go down in the half marathon.  I just made sure I had my water and drank when I needed it and did my intervals.  I finished with a time of 52'28"; I wanted to be under 50', but I'm ok with the time.  I was doing a run 4/walk 3 and the walk time really drags your pace down.  I was also tired!

I got back and located my family in just enough time to grab a family picture before they took off on their fun run.  I am so proud that my family is wanting to support me and take part in my new passion!

Before the Fun Run

I waited for my little ones at the finish line so that I could run them in.  I had no hopes of ever getting a picture like this, but I was so excited when I did.  I wish you could see the pride on my face in this picture.  I am so proud of my family!  I am SO in love with this picture and hope to have many more like it in the future!

Running my daughter in