Gumtree 10K

Saturday morning our family ran the Gumtree 10K. It was an absolutely beautiful day for a race. Much, much better than last week! The temperature was around 60, and the sun was shining brightly. My parents spent the night after Kindergarten graduation, so they were able to keep up with Leah and Sam while the rest of us ran.

We arrived at the race site about an hour before the starting time. We all had an enjoyable time visiting with people. Our dear friend Kelly (my friend Lynn's husband) is running for office.....Court of Appeals....and he had technical shirts made for wearing during the race. We all donned these shirts, and I must say that they looked great!

Lynn and Kelly's youngest two, Jared and Avery, with Leah and Sam. They all had the best time playing in the dirt and mulch and climbing trees while we all ran!

Stacee, Lynn, and Me before the race

Last week's race was so miserable for me that I decided to run a little bit differently this week. I began the race with both Stacee and Lynn. I ran with Lynn the first two miles, and then I stayed with Stacee until mile 3. After that I sped up just a little and finished the race feeling great! I did something that I have not done in a race in a couple of years---I did not look at my Garmin watch. I did not care what my pace was, nor did I spend time doing the math in my head based on the pace I was running....what time would I finish in if I kept this pace, etc. I just ran based on how I felt. Between miles 4 and 5, my side began to hurt a little bit, so I slowed down. At mile 5, I felt better, so I think I must have sped back up....I am not sure, but I just know that it was really, really nice not to feel like I was going to throw up the whole last mile! I had no idea what my finish time was going to be, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was 56:23. That is 40 seconds or so slower than my fastest 10K, but it was such an enjoyable run!

My whole family had a more positive racing experience than the previous week. Jimmy, Olivia, and Clay all set personal 10K records! Our times are all in the left sidebar. Julie ran a fantastic time and she was the 10th female finisher-----out of almost 1000 runners! She won 1st in her age group, Olivia won 3rd, and Clay won 1st.

Lynn's boys with Clay, Stephen and Kelly

Olivia and Julie

Clay and Pops