Mansion 5K

Earlier today, several family members and friends and I ran the Children's Mansion 5K. The event proved to be a fabulous, fun 5K! Also, it was Leah's very first race! She ran the one mile fun run.

Megan spent the night with us Friday night, and we carefully planned our racing attire. She actually brought with her an outfit exactly like one that I have. So we decided to "match". I explained to Megan (this was her first 5K) that dressing fashionably would actually give away the fact that we are recreational runners. The serious, elite runners usually don't even wear matching shorts and shirts! They are concerned with other aspects of the sport!

Megan and me.....hot pink shirts, navy skirts, and Seaside hats.....unfortunately our Seaside hats are not the same color!

Megan and I contacted Lynn on Facebook at midnight to see if she had a hot pink shirt too. The only pink she had was light pink, but she agreed to wear it! We all three decided to stop being silly and go to bed! The wake up time for Saturday morning was 5:00 or 5:30! We (my mama, Megan, Jimmy, Olivia, Julie, and Leah) were ready to leave by 6:00 a.m.

Lynn, Season (Jimmy's cousin), me, Jenny (Jimmy's sister), and Megan

Season apparently didn't get the "wear pink" memo. Jenny and Megan had actually texted the race color, so Jenny sported hot pink too!

My parents came Friday afternoon too. My daddy took Clay on a campout (more on that in another post), and my mama stayed here with the girls....and Sam. We enjoyed supper and visiting together. Mama was also here to keep Sam at the race while I ran.

Mama fixing Leah's hair before her race.

Leah and Grace during the 5K. Since my mama was there, she gladly watched Grace too, so Jenny did not have to push her during the race!

Since the 1 mile fun run was during the 5K, I was unable to watch Leah. Olivia volunteered to "run" with her, and Jimmy was the official event photographer.during the race

approaching the finish line--it was raining by this time

Leah after the race proudly wearing her participation medal! She was so excited to have earned her very own race medal, and she also got a t shirt! She put on the t shirt as soon as we got home, and even after her bath, insisted on wearing it. She even slept in it!

This was the only the second time that the Tupelo Children's Mansion have sponsered a 5k and Fun Run, but they hosted a super race! The location was great (at our local mall), the course was flat, and the awards presentation was nice as well.

Here are some more Race Day pictures....

Scott, Becky, and Lindsay (all friends from church) before the race

Julie and me after our pre race warm up

Scott and I making sure our watches are ready to go!Olivia and sweet SamMegan, Season, and Jenny

Julie and Danielle---They raced together the whole race until right at the end. Danielle pulled ahead and finished about 2 seconds before Julie. Danielle was 1st overall female, and Julie was 2nd! Great job girls!!

Run Julie Run!

John--another friend from church. His time was great!

One more mile to go!

Lynn--almost to the finish line!

Since I was finished, I ran the last mile with Megan, Season, and Jenny.

Jenny--finishing!



Whoo! Hoo! Megan and Season crossing the finish line!

Jenny, Megan, Season, Becky, Lindsay, Me, Lynn

Julie, Olivia, Mr. Jackie, and Lynn discussing the race results

I am posing with the nice race director for a photo.

I was so happy with my race time! The course was slightly long.....when my watch said 3.1, I looked up and the finish line was still a long was off! It was about 2 more tenths to the finish. My official chip time was 26:26 (3.29 miles), but I calculated my actual race time for 3.1 miles using my 8:01 average race pace.......the final result, an unofficial 24:54!!! My personal record!

I won second place in my age group (30-39). Yay!!

This was such a fun morning! Many thanks to my mama for watching after Sam, to Jimmy for taking such great pictures, and to Olivia for running with Leah!