Trinity Free CLinic 5K Race Report

My alarm went off at 6:45 this morning to start getting the crew ready for the Trinity Free Clinic 5K race. I hit the snooze button then rolled out of bed about 8 minutes later. Liz and Emmeline opted not to race today, we'll just say it was because of the cold and not the early hour. And cold it was! The temp on the dashboard in our card read 41 degrees and the windows were frosted up.

I unloaded the stroller that was in the car and switched it out for the Babyjogger stroller. The stroller collapses and opens easier than any other I have encountered. For anyone interested in one I give two thumbs up.

Next I loaded Anneliese in her seat. This was to be her first 5K riding in the stroller. She wore her running shoes, jeans, her NYC hoodie and her coat. I wore my racing shorts a sleeveless tech shirt and a long sleeve t-shirt that I would discard before the race. Oh, and my Mizuno running shoes.

We checked in for the race at 8:15 with the start scheduled for 9:00. The nwe took advantage of the heat in the gym of the church where the race was held. At 8:45 we went out to take our warm up lap. I gave my gloves to Anneliese since I couldn't find hers before we left. We circled the building once and lined up for the start. I shed the long sleeved tee and we were ready to go.

This race was very family oriented. There were children and adults of all ages. Many of the children lined up on the starting line. Something that you don't often see in the more competitive 5k and 10k races I have run. I started back about 3/4 of the way since I was pushing a stroller and figured I would either work my way through the crowd or stay out of people's way. It was a work my way through the crowd kind of day. By about the first half mile most of the kids who started up front were walking and many of the adults who started in front of me were slowing up a bit. Anneliese and I bounced ot the outside and made our move until we caught up with 3-4 people who had a similar pace and settled in with them.

There was a gentleman running with his dog that was at about the same pace as us. Turns out that he is the priest of the church that hosted the race. I determined that because everyone seemd to know him and his dog and well they kept calling him "father."

We ran the course at a steady pace. I felt like I could have really pushed it harder the last 1/2 mile of the race but I didn't feel right about passing 5-10 people at that stage of the race considering I was pushing the stroller. Our final time ended up being right around 26:00. I was fine with that time and Anneliese really enjoyed the race.

We headed back into the gym after the race for some refreshments. A sip or two of water and I grabbed an apple and a cookie. I asked Anneliese which she wanted. She actually chose and ate the apple :) She usually eats apple slices so this was the first time she ate a whole apple. I did my stretches (and through in a few extra moves I have picked up doing yoga).

The director of the race stopped by and said hello. I had emailed him earlier in the week to see if strollers were ok. He asked if I was the guy he exchanged emails with and I acknowledged. We had a nice chat and he suggested I stick around for the post race raffle.

I rarely do stick around for awards or raffles. But this time I did. And wow did they have some nice prizes from airline tickets, to iPods, hotel stays, and nice gift certificates. While I did not win I am glad I stuck around in case I had. The prizes were only awarded to people who attended the drawing so atleast a dozen people lost out on the afore mentioned prizes. I may start sticking around more often. Who knows, maybe I would have won some stuff before.

Thanks for reading, until next time.