Recent Races

Since Boston, members of our family have participated in three different races.

Zero Prostate Cancer Run Half Marathon

Julie is the only member of our family who ran this race.  Julie was injured last fall, and she was unable to finish out her cross country season, and sadly, she was also unable to run the St. Jude Half Marathon last December.  She had run that race every year since she was 11 years old.  After resting her legs for a couple of months, she resumed training.  She asked if she could run a half marathon this spring so that she could continue her streak of running one half marathon a year--she needed to run one before she turned 16.  She ran this Zero Half Marathon on April 27.  Jimmy was on call, so Heather graciously agreed to run the half with her (there is no way, no way at all, that I could run her pace!).  They had a fun weekend, and Julie ran a PR!  She was thrilled!  It was her best time in a half marathon since she was 12!  Yay Julie!

Coke 10K

This is a family and friend favorite!  Everyone in our family but Sam ran this race.  This is the big deal race for us each spring. This is the race that my children diligently train for, beginning in the late winter.  Leah trained hard too!  Our marathon Koach is the Coke 10K race director, and he does a fabulous job of putting on an excellent event!

Each year we invite our friends to meet us bright and early and Granmomma and Pop's house.  This year our guests included the Sanders family (all 9 of them), the Mims family (all 6 of them), part of the Snyder family (2 of them),and part of the Duley family (I think 4 of them).  Plus Jenny, Grace, Mackenzie, Megan, and Millie Janalee--I hope I did not leave anyone out!  After pinning on our numbers, making one more visit to the potty, and taking lots of pictures, we all walked to the starting line of the race.

 Julie and Aunt Jenny

 The whole crew!

 Some of the little girls

The weather was perfect!  Just perfect for running a 10K!  And the weather proved to be just what some members of my family needed to run an excellent race.  Olivia, Julie, Clay, and Leah all ran their personal best that day!  New PRs were set!  There were smiles all around!  Jimmy ran with Julie, and Lynn and I ran with Leah, Jared, Rachel, and Hannah.  Well, we kind of ran with them!  We ran together for a mile or two, and then Lynn and I got to talking and the next thing we new we had left them!  We kept looking back for them, but they were nowhere in sight.  And then, around mile 5.8, they just blew by!  They caught up with us and passed us!  Yay!  They all finished in under one hour!

 Olivia, running strong to the finish

After the race we all hung around for post-race refreshments and of course, Coke!  We stayed for the awards and presentations, and then we all walked back to Jimmy's parents' house for lunch.  Fried chicken, veggie burritos, and leftover fruit and vegetables from the previous night (homeschool graduation).  

 Visiting and passing around Millie Janalee

 Lynn and me before the race

 Jimmy and Julie approaching the finish line

 Sweet Sisters!

 Fast Boys!

 That's Leah in the grey and yellow.

 That red blur on the left is Clay.  He finished faster than Aunt Megan and Aunt Jenny (our team photographers) expected.  They almost missed him!

 Hanging out before the race

 Enjoying snacks after the race

 Team photographer, Aunt Jenny

 Visiting after lunch

 Aunt Jenny and Aunt Megan

 Grace, Avery, and Jared

Team photographer Aunt Megan

Gumtree 10K

This Tupelo 10K always follows the Coke 10K.  The Gumtree 10K also features a 2K fun run, so Leah and Sam ran that.  That means that all seven members of the Johnson Family ran the Gumtree!

Clay and Jimmy had good races, and Olivia ran even faster than the previous week!  Another PR!  She was thrilled, and we were all so happy for her!

Since Julie had run two hard races in two weeks, she decided that she needed to take it easy on this race.  She does not want to get injured again, not when she is doing so well.  So she offered to pace me!  To see if I could set a PR.  I am so grateful for her sacrifice of a good racing time to run with her much slower Mama!  Julie is so sweet!  I have not "raced" a 10K in either 2 or 3 years (I can't remember).  Either way, I just decided that it was time to see if I had any fast running left in me after 2 years of long, slow marathon training.  I set the goal of running an 8:30 pace.  I wanted to beat my previous PR of 54:10.  My goal was 53:59.

Julie was the absolute perfect pacer!  She calculated what all of our mile splits should be, and kept us on a steady pace.  We ran under every single split!  It was so nice not to have to look at my watch one hundred times and do the math!  I just ran beside her and completely trusted her to keep us on pace.  I also did not talk much!  This was not my talking pace!  Ha!  In fact, it was my I'm feeling sick and I don't know if I can run 6 miles at this pace, pace!  But I did not want to fail when Julie was so generously pacing me, so I kept up!

We finished in 52:51!  Hooray!!

Three weekends.  Three great races.