I really wish I had some pictures to back up this blog, but for now, I don't. Hopefully I can get some later from some friends who were there. So yesterday our ward's scout troop sponsored a 5K run. They did it last year too and raised about $1400. This year had twice the number of runners, so I imagine they made even more money. I decided to go and my mom and my friend Chelsea came also. I also decided to bring my kids and we thought that they could ride their bikes and we could run a little and walk a little and just have a merry old time. As I sat on the bench waiting to start, I realized that it was a really bad idea.
William decided that he wanted to run the thing because his friend from church was running it. Even after explaining to him that it was a very long run and that you had to practice to be able to run that long, he insisted and I let him put the bike away in the trunk of the car.
The race starts and we go down a hill. At the bottom of the hill, William stops running and is pretty much done. I asked him if he was ready for his bike because I knew it was going to be a long walk and he would probably get bored, etc. So, I took off back up the hill running and ran as fast as I could to the car to get the bike. Then I got on the bike and started riding down hill as fast as I could. The race was about 6 minutes in by this point. I got to the bottom of the hill and then get on a straight section, but a bumpy straight section. I'm still mostly riding the bike, but it is very small and I totally crash head over heels over the top of it. So, I ignore my bleeding hands and knee and start riding again trying to catch up. I still can't see anyone, but then I see the first of the runners starting towards the finish line. I had stopped riding the bike at this point because it is a really small bike and I'm rather tall. I really didn't want many people seeing me. So I walked with the bike for a while and I ran with the bike for a bit. I come up to the next turn and I see William walking with my mom. I get back on the bike and glide down to them. So William gets on the bike and takes off on the sidewalk. I walk with my mom for a bit because I'm totally exhausted at this point. The sprinting up the hill, riding the small bike, crashing the bike, hauling the bike over my shoulders- it really all combined to take it out of me very quickly.
I thought after a minute that I needed to catch up to William so I started running after him. He is fast on his bike though and there was really no way I could catch up. Fortunately part of the track double backs very close so I finally managed to find Marissa who was with Chelsea. She was walking her bike and she saw me and wanted me to come with them. I was still looking for William at this point, but then I saw him and I started running the wrong way again to catch up.
So, Chelsea ended up staying with William with the rest of the run. She ran and walked a bit and I lost sight of them pretty quickly.
I stayed with Marissa who was pretty much done riding her bike. She wanted me to walk the bike with her, but we were really kind of in the way of the other walkers. So I told her to get on the bike and I would push her. She kept seeing things she wanted to look at on the sidewalk and everywhere, so that was really slow going. We kept at that for a while and then we even got to the hydration station before I passed out.
Marissa was really done though after this. I finally picked her up and put her on back piggyback style and then picked up the bike and started walking. That didn't last long, did I mention I was exhausted? So I put her back down and was just putting her up on my shoulders when one of the ward members passed by and offered to carry her bike for me. Thank you, thank you! It saved me. So she was up on my shoulders for a while. The last leg of the track, I made her get down. It was in the shade so it was a lot cooler. I even got her to run up the last hill to the finish line and lots of people that were there cheered for her and it was really fun. I'm just really glad we all survived and even more glad we weren't the last ones through the finish line.
