This was Gavin's first race since cross country season; he's been running easy 3-4 times a week but hasn't done any speedwork since indoor training ended.
Sam ran the 1k at the Iowa Games cross country meet last summer, and trained for this race by running around the block once, a 4 minute treadmill session and a 5 minute treadmill session.
Despite warming temps this weekend, it was 28 degrees at the start of the race! I was worried about how Sam would hold up running the mile for the first time, and in not so nice conditions. Fortunately we were spared the typical Nebraska wind!
Getting ready - warm under layers are a must!
I mean - I rarely get a good shot of them together and this is too cute for words - in the van before the race
The race was at the State Farm complex in Lincoln and it was awesome that they opened up the cafeteria and restrooms for people to use and stay warm before the race. Sam and I stayed warm while Gav did a little warm up.
We headed to the starting line about 5 minutes before the start. Sam and I hung out in the middle while Gavin slipped in at the front. Sam complained about cold legs a little while we were waiting, but mostly he was a trooper - a lot better than I expected!
We took off and I stayed behind him. For a while this morning he was saying he didn't even want me to run with him, but Chad thought that was a bad idea. I'm glad I did though, as he kept checking to see where I was. For the most part he was able to jog at an easy pace and not go too fast, before we hit a quarter mile we had to take a little walk break. Shortly after that, we saw the bike coming towards us (the course was an out and back) and I kept my eyes peeled for Gavin. He was in the lead pack with two other boys! We also saw Chad cheering him on, and I was able to get his attention and he cheered for Sam too - that gave him a big boost.
Once we hit the turnaround, I told Sam we were half way done - I was a little worried I would hear "ONLY half way??" but he was in good spirits. We had a decent little uphill that we walked part of, and then to motivate him, I said "Sam, I bet you can pass that little kid ahead of us" - that got him back running again.
Gavin had finished the race - coming in 2nd!! 2nd over all out of 266 runners. Wow.
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| Thanks to Gav's soccer coach for getting this picture for me! |
And then he came back to run Sam in. It was so cute when they saw each other, Sam asked him how he did and told him good job and Gavin was so supportive of Sam. I took off for the finish line to snap some pics.
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| If you extreme zoom in on this pic, the cheering look on Gavin's face is priceless - proud older brother |
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| And if you zoom in on this one, Sam has a hell of a game face heading towards the finish |
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| Check out that form |
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| Clock time says 11:37, but his official chip time was 11:28 |
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| Chad taking off for the 10 mile |
Chad wasn't happy with his race, but he came in under an hour for ten miles which sounds insane to me!
From there I ran by Panera to get some food in the boys while Chad ran to the soccer fields. Gavin had a soccer game at 11:30 so we had his gear in the car. He was pretty upset that he had to go to a game, but perked up after getting some real food in him. He ended up playing a great game, scoring a goal for his team! They won against Gretna.
In short, a great start to the racing and soccer season, let's keep the wind away, but I could take some warmer temps!
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