Wild Things (Run Wild 5k Race recap)



Peyton saw this bear and immediately went down and sat by him.

Before we get to the race, we of course have to start with the pre-race outfit picking (at least you do when you have a wife like mine...) I always complain to Adorable Wife about the sweat that is constantly in my eyes. I'm sure out of annoyance, she suggested that I wear one of her Bondi Bands (Giveaway ending tomorrow). I thought these two lovely numbers were right up my alley... what do you think?

In the end, I opted for the standard sweatband and headed off to bed.

The next morning, we headed out with Tressa's handwritten directions in hand and a tank full of gas. We headed out at about 6:30 hoping to get there right at 7:30-7:45.  The Run Wild website said that they were closing the park entrance at 7:50 and we didn't want to get there late. So we made our way through Spanaway and suddenly realized that the directions that Tressa had gotten were incomplete. The turns that it said on her little piece of paper did not exist. We were suddenly stuck in Spanaway with no directions and only a vague idea of where Northwest Trek was supposed to be. I also happened to notice that it was about 5 minutes until the park closed. Anyways, one frantic call to Adorable Wife's sister and a couple of U-Turns and we were headed in the right direction. By the time we found the park, it was about 10 after 8. The worker that was standing at the entrance politely informed us that the park entrance was closed and there was nowhere else to park. I was not going to pay $30 to not race. I was going to get down there if it was the last thing I did.

We found a place to park along a road a little ways down the road and I got out of the car prepared for a short jog to the starting line. This was because the guy who closed the entrance to the park said that it was about 1/2 mile to the start of the race from where we were talking to him...LIE. It ended up being more like a 1 1/4 miles to the start of the race from where we parked which made it kind of a crunch for me to get down there, get my registration taken care of, put on my race bid, go to the bathroom, and get a little stretch in before the 8:35 start time. Tressa and Peyton did end up making it to the start of the race about 30 second before the start, so she was able to catch the start of the race...whew. (But Tressa must mention it was a lot of work to get a 3 year old that far that quickly!)

 

I joined the pack about 1/3 of the way back thinking that would be about where I was supposed to be... Mistake.  Even getting to the start line took me about 10 seconds and then I ended up having to duck and weave through a bunch of people to keep the pace I wanted. I ended up finding a nice young bearded fellow to run with for the first mile or so until he had to break off for the 8K and I kept on keeping on with my 5K. So minus my bearded buddy, I continued on toward the turnaround. I was very surprised to see only two people pass me on the way back after the turnaround, meaning I was in 3rd place at the time! I did see our worker buddy at the turnaround and I let him know that I had made it. In all fairness he was just doing his job, and he did seem genuinely glad to see that I had made it to the race. 

Yes, that old guy did end up smoking me in the end.

After the turnaround, I began noticing a decent amount of footfalls coming directly behind me. I knew they were coming to get me because by this time my calf had started to hurt and I was definitely noticing the pain from my mile + warmup. In the end, I only got passed by two people and I got to see a couple other people that I knew from high school on the course. 

I ended up finishing in 21:42, which is about a 50 second PR and it just happened to be exactly 7 min mile pace. My goal was to get under 7 min mile pace, so I was a bit disappointed by that, but overall I was very happy with the results of my race. I ended up being 5th overall and got 1st in my age group! Yay!

Peyton and his congratulatory kisses (Adorable Wife made us do several take so she could get a picture)

And now I will turn it over to my Adorable Wife to finish up the post.

What that really means is he is too tired and lazy to continue writing! No it means you don't trust me to include all the details you want and I hate you standing over my shoulder saying "Remember to say this". I so don't do that. Ok, maybe I do do (he he he) that a little, I'm sorry. I love you and you are an excellent writer. There are just things I want to make sure are put in here. Thank you, I love you to.

Eh-hem, I will be finishing up this post because I tend to be an overreaching my bounds, nitpicking, editor when I feel I have info to add to a story and it is easier on our family if we just do it this way. I have joined a class and a support group and will be working on the problem.





He is the one in the orange shirt.

After we finished up with Jesse's race it was time to get Peyton all psyched for his. He had been talking about it, in his own way, all day. We killed the next hour "practicing".  It was so cute to watch him sprint back and forth between Jesse and I, and if we moved to do something else, he started to freak out, he wasn't ready to be done! Finally we explained to him that he had to save something for the race. They finally started lining the kids up around 10, 5 and under first, so I took him to the starting line. Now he is notorious for crossing finish lines at our races several times. He is actually in more pictures from the official race photog at my first 5k then any one else by far! We really do try to keep him away, but he gets obsessed and we let him out of our sight for a sec and then there he is...arms in the air asking for a medal. Anyways, so I thought standing at the starting line, looking towards a real finish line he would be excited. Jesse was down there waiting too, but as soon as he saw the number of kids and their parents he snapped and ran off. With his autism, too many people in a small area freaks him out big time. I tried to coax him back, but it wasn't working. I knew if he saw what they were doing he would love it, so I held him in my arms and we watched the first group of little girls run down. Like the brilliant mother I am, I was right. He saw them cross that finish line and couldn't wait for his turn. Wriggling free from my arms he went to join the next set of racers. I was actually really surprised he waited for the man to say go but he did. On "GO" he took off and ran, with necklace (his safe object) in hand all the way to the finish line. Once he had his certificate and was in Jesse's arms he loudly proclaimed, "Do again, do again!" We told him we will definitely try to find more races for him to do.

Now it was time to see the animals, because really Peyton had patiently waited through all the prizes and certificates and it was 11. He had been waiting all day to see the animals. We knew mostly this would be a great place for him to just run around at, and that is mostly what is turned into. Running from animal to animal. As soon as we got to one, told him what it was, he saw it, he would turn around and say "See another animal." And so that is how we got to see most of the park in about 20 min. For some reason I was very shocked to see the grizzly bear, a little scared maybe, I don't know, but it was really cool.

Doesn't he look scared like he just saw THE Wolverine!

Coyote in the background

I just loved having a day with just Peyton, where we could talk with him and do whatever he wanted (for the most part, I said no to playing in the mud but yes to splashing in the puddles!) So I would love to say a big THANKS to my Daddy for making that possible (he watched Brady, because as we learned last week he is not a good race day participant!)



Remember tomorrow is your LAST day to sign up for BONDI BAND GIVEAWAY so you better do it HERE today. I am making TWO girls very happy!