Memorial Day

On Memorial Day, we were back in Columbus for a much anticipated race for David. He participated in the Upper Arlington Memorial 5 - Miler.  It was a great day - nice weather with the race starting and ending in a park with a playground.  David's goal was to run around a 7:20min/mile pace for the race.  I was little worried for him when he started, because he was very near the front of the race and seemed to be going pretty fast.  A wise man once told us that for every second you run faster than you have trained for, you will ultimately cost yourself two seconds more by the end of the race.  He told me to look for him around 35 to 36 min into the race.  As the kids and I watched the finish line, I knew David was off of his goal.  I was a little concerned when I saw a man pushing a double stroller finish with David still not in sight.  However, just a little bit after that, David came running in!  Ultimately, he finished 44th in the race (out of 400+ participants) with a pace of 7:22min/mile.  He said that he ran the first two miles way too fast and then really paid for it the last three miles.  He also said he knew he was in trouble when the man pushing the double stroller passed him running uphill.  However, all in all, the race went really well.  David finished strong and felt good.

While David was racing, Eliana participated in the 1 mile fun run.  She was pretty excited about the race, since we had just cheered Daddy on at the starting line.  I had William in the Ergo on my back (he fell asleep at some point during all the racing excitement).  Eliana was especially excited because at the end of the race, they had ice cream!  She was literally jumping up and down at the starting line.  I was surprised by how fast she started out.  We were surrounded by lots of little kids, and they all ran out with a burst of energy.  Eliana was super pumped for about the first 100 yards.  Then she asked if I would carry her like William.  I told her we were in a race, and that she couldn't be carried, but we could walk.  She agreed to that, so we walked for a minute.  Then Eliana told me her stomach hurt, and started holding her tummy.  So I asked if she wanted to take a break.  Eliana agreed.  Luckily, the fun run was just out and back, so after we had rested on the sidewalk for a couple of minutes, the faster kids were already running back.  We watched the kids run by for a while and then just joined back in heading back to the finish line (I didn't want to join too quick, or Eliana would look like she was super fast.)  As we crossed the finish line, Eliana got a medal, and we beelined it for the ice cream truck.  It was a pretty comical first race that Eliana technically didn't complete, but it was a fun morning.

Sharing her medal with William.

Proud of her first medal.