Last week, Sarah and Ben ran their first road race - the Shamrock 8K race (nearly 5 miles - 4.97 to be exact). Since before Christmas, Sarah and Ben have been working out hard to prepare. They have run in rain, bitter cold, and the occasional warm day the past 12 weeks. They were very consistent...and their results showed.
Last weekend we had a great time down in Virginia Beach at the Shamrock Sportsfest. We traveled down Friday afternoon to settle into our hotel room before going to collect our race packets and going out to Doughboy's California Pizza (which was ummy!) Saturday morning, Sarah, Ben, and I got up at the crack of dawn to eat a bite of breakfast and put on our race gear. The weather was sunny and clear with temps in the 50's - a great day for their first road race. They were a bit nervous lining up with 6,000 other runners. But they were ready.
The kids did great the whole race. Sarah showed a lot of grit when her ankle started bother her with two miles to go. We would later realize that she had suffered a Stress Fracture. Ben showed a lot of character as well, being patient with Sarah, and even graciously encouraging her towards the home stretch as each stride became more and more painful for her. And happily, we all finished in 50 minutes...a 10 minute per mile pace...our goal time! To see some of the race pictures just click on here for Ben's pics, Sarah's pics, or mine.
To double (or quintiple) the fun, on Sunday, I ran the full 26.2 mile Marathon. Although I felt pretty rested, the previous days race had an impact. I ran very well for the first 21 miles but ran into some problems from mile 21-24. These slower miles cost me a chance to beat my personal marathon best that I set way back when I was only 30 years old. I missed my goal by 50 seconds. Painful and sad, but nonetheless something to be proud about...if I only slow down an average of six seconds per year that I get older I will still be running a marathon in less than 4 hours even when I am 134 years old! Now that is seeing things in a positive light! (To see the pain and misery, click on these pictures - not for the squeamish!
Oh, and before I forget...Sam also ran a one mile race Saturday...in 8 minutes and 45 seconds...not bad given that he HAD NOT trained for the race!
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