Lunch- no one wanted to run at lunch due to the race this evening, so I ran the neighborhood loop by myself. 6.5. Nice weather today, low 70's.
PM- Ran the wonderful race of Swamp Rabbit 5k. It's only $6 and is huge- 5000 registered runners. You get a shirt, 5 aid stations on the course, typical food after, plus all the hot dogs and chips you want, a live band, bouncy castles and tons of giveaways for the kids. Not bad at all. We decided this would be a good race for my daughters to experience, so all 4 of us registered, with the youngest 2 in the jogging stroller. I figured I'd run with the fam, but Marci told me to run fast to get points for GE, then run the course again to catch up with them. I wasn't feeling great before and had a new ankle pain, but figured it would work itself out. It did. Started off in 7th to 8th place for the first mile, not too far behind the leaders. 2nd mile is very hilly and slow, but I passed a couple guys just before the 2 mile mark (11:11), then one more in the last mile on the bike trail. Finished in 5th overall, 17:08 (10 seconds slower than a few years ago), and 1st in my age group. Not bad for a race of 5000 runners.
Grabbed some water, then ran it again. Caught the walkers before mile 1 and proceeded to pass 2000 of them in a mile (literally), finally catching Marci just before mile 2. Had fun running in with them. They had started in the very back with the strollers and had also passed 2000 runners (it took them 6 min to cross the start line in a 5k) and had a chip time of 42:30. Not bad for a 5 year old, a 7 year old, and a mom pushing 2 kids. Way to go, guys! Then we ate lots of food while the kids bounced on the castles and I talked to lots of runners. Didn't get home till 10 pm.
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