Crystal City 5K: race report (Graham)
Graham has been doing the couch to 5K program along with the poet (breaking in his Vibrams - a pair of shoes I am violently against, but that's another story). They made it most of the way through the program over the past 2 months, although their training has been a little inconsistent. Friday night was his big debut, and Molly & I decided to go along to cheer him on.
His race plan was to start at the back and slow. He was going to walk if he needed to, but he wanted to try and run the whole thing. He spent the afternoon hydrating and sleeping on a giant green pillow in the living room. I helped him into his race shirt and we headed to the start.
The starting line was really crowded and Molly made a bunch of new friends, but Graham was pretty nervous and just wanted to focus on his race.
At the call to the start, everyone got kisses and Molly bit Graham on the leg for good luck. Beth came to the race to pose as the official race photographer.
We saw him right after he crossed the start line and he looked confident and strong.
Molly was very excited to spectate.
We walked to the corner where we would see him right after the water stop. The lead men, and then the lead women, came around pretty quickly. Graham crossed the start line pretty far behind the clock, and we weren't sure where we were in the race so we didn't know when to expect them. But they came around pretty quickly, and he had a great big smile on his face.
We walked down the street a few feet to wait for them at the 3M marker. We saw them quite a bit sooner than I expected, although Graham was starting to look pretty tired.
He got a shot of adrenaline when he saw his mama the 3-mile marker and sped up to finish in 30:09. Automatic PR, Graham!
Graham says that he likes the 5K distance and he hopes to run a sub-30 next time. Molly also has been bitten by the race bug and can't wait until she is old enough to train for a 5K herself.
Day 4: 5.25M to the LBS & back where I finally purchased the Gore Windstopper jacket I've been drooling over since November (at 65% off!) and 20.16 extremely windy miles around HP.
Also, the poet was kind enough to assist with the photography and I learned that I have extremely poor foot position on the bike. Fab.
I got honked at here, by the way, for signaling that I was about to turn. Lame.
His race plan was to start at the back and slow. He was going to walk if he needed to, but he wanted to try and run the whole thing. He spent the afternoon hydrating and sleeping on a giant green pillow in the living room. I helped him into his race shirt and we headed to the start.
We saw him right after he crossed the start line and he looked confident and strong.
Graham says that he likes the 5K distance and he hopes to run a sub-30 next time. Molly also has been bitten by the race bug and can't wait until she is old enough to train for a 5K herself.
Day 4: 5.25M to the LBS & back where I finally purchased the Gore Windstopper jacket I've been drooling over since November (at 65% off!) and 20.16 extremely windy miles around HP.
