Eat Your Ice Cream

Today was Mike's very first 5K race in Red Lake Falls. The weather was perfect and the company of fellow runners was great. I have to admit I was a little worried about Mike running a race after being in New Orleans for a youth gathering for 7 days. He usually only runs a few times a week but hadn't been running much before the trip. He mentioned running in New Orleans to prepare but that never happened and according to him all they did was eat, and eat, and eat, and eat. Yep, that makes running a bit more difficult.

Mike and our two older girls got home really early Tuesday morning and I assumed everyone would be too exhausted to do anything but after resting for the day Mike thought he better join me for my 4 mile run. Our friend Nico came along for some added support and good company. I think the combination of Mike trying to keep up and Nico and I forgetting to slow down made it tough. There were walk breaks, lots of sweat, and some huffing and puffing. And that was just Nico (jk buddy). My biggest concern for the race was the last mile. Mike usually runs only 2 miles and hasn't been gradually increasing the distance to get to a full 3.

We had to drag our butts out of bed this morning after a late night at the Fair. I had to work at the 4-H food booth and didn't leave until just after midnight. Mike brought our little girls later in the day to walk around, play games, and watch the fireworks. So we both felt pretty wiped out when we finally got to bed last night but thankfully it didn't affect our running. We made it in plenty of time and got our game faces on.

Game face or bright sun?

We ran together the whole race and I offered some encouraging words only when his breathing started to get heavier. He told me when he needed to slow down and when he wanted to speed up. I did give him a little warning about the hills after he went barreling down the first one. It's not a good idea to pound down them even though it seems like a nice break. When I ran the RLF 10K last year I pounded down those hills pretty hard and my back took the beating for days after that. It's much better to take it slow and steady. Going up was a little challenging but he made it through just fine.

The goal was to not have any 10K runners pass us at the final stretch...goal achieved.

It was a race to the finish line for Mike and I. He wanted to pick up the pace when we were close enough, so the sprint was on. Our friends were cheering us on and a lady helping with the race was yelling something about it being a race to the finish. Mike was behind me but out of nowhere he pulled out his reserve rocket and ended up beating me by 1 second. He told our friends he couldn't let me beat him. I'll give him this one!

Mike finished in 30:57 and I finished in 30:58. He beat my first 5K time of 31:35 so that's pretty awesome. He also got a 1st place medal for his age group. I think he was the only one in his age group but that's just a minor technicality.

Accepting his hard earned medal.

Our gracious friends treated us to breakfast afterward at a tiny cafe close by. Despite the fact that it was attached to a convenience store, had a 6 item hand written menu, and the orange juice was thick the food and service was good. Our friend Nico knew the lady, Lois, who seemed to run the place and boy did we like her. She said she felt bad for Nico because of a mutual friend they had and she seemed very happy when she learned Nico had a girlfriend (as opposed to a boyfriend). I sometimes wonder about Mike and Nico's close relationship. Hmmm...I'll have to get my hands on the photo of them from today.

After breakfast Nico asked Lois if he could get some ice cream even though it was still a bit early. So then Mike had to ask if she had any brownies so he could get one with ice cream. She said there were no brownies but she could crush up a snicker or something in it. Mike was pretty set on a brownie so he just decided that nothing would be better. Finally Lois said, "I'll make you something and you will eat it!" Yep, I like her. After some laughs about her demand she came back with a large bowl of ice cream and a giant spoon (she figured he needed it).

It was a deep bowl.

We told Mike since he ran his first 5K he had to eat the whole bowl- it's a new tradition we made up today. I think Lois put lots of different candies and ice cream flavors in there. Either that or it was just the cake flavored ice cream that made it look like it had lots of stuff in it. She never told us. There was a nice dent in it when Lois came to clear plates from our table but she saw Mike taking a breather and said, "Eat your ice cream!" She cracked us up!

 Although he never finished all of Lois' surprise sundae she told us the ice cream was on her. What an awesome lady! I'd say Mike's first race was a great success and now he'll have to scope out his next one. I know the dates that are set for Tough Mudder Wisconsin in 2013 so as soon as registration opens we'll be all over that. I'm sure we'll find a few in between now and then.