A Fun "Run"

I decided several months ago that I wanted to do a 5k. Before I had hip surgery I asked the dr if I would ever be able to run a 5k, thinking maybe someday I could do one with Danielle. He grimaced and told me I probably could do one, but only if I didn't run to train for it. Well, I don't know how you train for a run without running if you've never run that far...plus it does hurt if I run for any distance. So, I am destined to be a walker. That's ok. Before my hip surgery, I could hardly walk around the house. Even now there are times, especially when I'm walking at the park and enjoying the sites and sounds and breezes, when I remember how bad it was, and I'm so incredibly thankful just to be able to walk without pain. Running isn't really necessary.

I thought it would be fun to do a 5k together as a family. Ron and Danielle thought it would be fun and agreed to do it. Tyler took a little more convincing. When he finally stopped saying "absolutely not" and instead said "whatever", I took that as consent and signed us up.

We walked The Christmas Story Run 5k/10k on Saturday and we had a lot of fun. We stayed with Ron's parents before the race and had a great visit with them. The race was a lot of fun, and I think we're all glad we did it. Even our reluctant walker enjoyed himself. It was a fun atmosphere. My brother runs in this race every year, so we were excited to be able to see him and hoped we'd get to watch him collect a prize afterward. This year he had his sights set on winning the Masters Division - the over 40 age group.

You can certainly tell which one of us was in it to win it.

We hoped to finish in an hour, but actually finished in just a little over 45 minutes. Tyler and Danielle walked just far enough ahead of us that they could say they beat us. It was funny watching them turn around to look for us so they could be sure they were still far enough ahead. A couple times they slowed down and we almost caught up to them.  One time Ron was about 4' behind them when they turned around. They laughed and quickly picked up the pace.

It was a fun time and I'm glad we all did it together.

My brother did a great job and did win the Master's Division. Unfortunately his chip malfunctioned so they didn't have a record of his time. It was so sad watching the award that should have been his be given to someone who was at least 30 seconds slower. He did receive an email today that said they reviewed the videos and see that he was the winner. He will probably receive his major award in the mail. Hopefully it will be marked FRAGILE. It's not the same as getting it right after you've earned it with your family all there cheering for you, but it's something.