Grandin Court Baptist 5K Race Report + May Fitness Recap

While Paul had run the Grandin Court Baptist 5K before, this was a first for me.  Grandin Court Baptist offers free child care - complete with a bouncy house - for parents who are running the race.  This allowed Paul and I to run the race together.  The race started on a downhill on pavement for a little over a mile, and it went by fast.  I passed the first mile in 7:13.  Not long after that, we headed into the woods, on trail.  The trail was well marked, but there were some stairs involved early on and they were tough!  After the stairs things smoothed out on the trails and I felt light as I jumped roots and went around corners.  I was second female at this point, but third was right on my tail.  After I came off the trail, she passed me just before we got back on pavement, putting me in third.  This is where things got hairy, because fourth place was then right on my tail.  I wanted to hang on to third, so I pushed really hard.  The finish is on a very long gradual up hill, and the lady in 4th had a person biking next to her, coaching her on.  He was saying, "Just 30 seconds left at this sign, push hard, you can take her, you can do anything for 30 seconds!"  Believe me, I dug deep at this point to try to hold on to third.  I dug so deep that I was hoping I wouldn't end up tossing my breakfast at the finish line.  Luckily, I managed to hold on to my stomach and my 3rd place.  I finished 4 seconds behind Paul (one of these days I'm going to take him!), and 2 seconds behind second place.  The girl behind me finished 2 seconds behind me.  My time was slower than usual for a 5K due to the trail portion, but I was happy with it - 24:36. 

We dragged the kids away from the bouncy house so they could participate in some events themselves.  Cort and Reid did the toddler trot.  They just stood there after 'GO!' so Paul had to grab hands and lure them along.

Then it was Pierce's turn for the Kid's Fun Run.  You can see Pierce and I at the back center - I'm in a dark purple tank top (although in this picture it looks dark blue) -

It was maybe half a mile total, and Pierce did well even when he got tired on the uphill at the end.  He didn't complain, just slowed down a bit. 

My prize for 3rd place wasn't a trophy this time, but a $20 gift card to a local running store.  How cool is that?!  Pretty sure we'll be doing this race again in the future - it was a lot of fun for our entire family.

Overall, May turned out to be a great month for fitness.  Total miles = 107.  Free weights x 9.  Ab/Core work x 8.  Hiking x 5.  I also ran a 10K this month (thanks so much to my parents for babysitting!) and was able to break the 50 minute barrier again finally.  I've been chasing after that for a while now.  It wasn't a PR, but I was happy with my time of 49:51 and placed 1st in my age group (and 9th female overall).

Hopefully June will bring more fun running adventures!