Family 5K

I ran a 5K with The Moose and Pedro Tulo last week and decided that I should write about it. These family activities are the types of things I should write about more, so that we can read them years from now and remember our experiences together. Before I started writing, I looked back at previous blog posts to see if I already wrote about running a 5K with my kids. It turns out that I did. Sort of. Back in 2016 when The Moose was 5 and Pedro Tulo was 2, I ran a 5K and the kids stopped me in the middle of the race to say hi. This one was a little different.

This is actually the 4th race that the three of us have done together. We ran a 3K turkey trot in 2021, a 5K in summer 2022 supporting a local hospital, and a neighborhood 5K last December. This one took place on the beach in Hilton Head, South Carolina. As a little background, the three of us and several other family members were supposed to do this same race last summer. However, it poured up until two minutes before the race started, so the others bailed and only Pedro Tulo and I went through with the race. This year, it was sunny and somewhere between 80-85 during the race. (This is a "fantastic" picture of me looking into the sun right before the race began.)

The Moose ran ahead while I stayed with Pedro Tulo. We alternated running and walking and by about the two-third mark of the race, we knew who was around us. There was a woman who high-fived some teenage boys at one point and they excitedly replied "Go Grandma." There was another family near us too with the mom slightly trailing her husband and child. I whispered to Pedro Tulo that we needed to pass them. With about a 1/4 mile to go and Pedro Tulo walking more than running, I decided to leave him and started to make my move. I passed the grandmother who turned out to be 61. I blew past the mom and her 7 year-old girl. I then noticed a tall woman who was slightly ahead of me trying to keep pace with me as I passed her. She had no chance. I was like Usain Bolt down the stretch! 

According to the final standings, I also went by another 10 year-old kid right before the finish line, but I don't remember that. Somehow, I finished 30 seconds before Pedro Tulo, but there were 7 other runners between us. The big story is that Pedro Tulo improved his time from 45:30 last year to 37:53 this year. That's a huge improvement!

Meanwhile, although Pedro Tulo finished several minutes before us, it turns out that he didn't run the complete course. He saw his uncle and wanted to run with/near him and didn't reach the second turnaround. (This is my attempt at creating the course map.)

Overall, despite having a sore ankle for several days after the race, it was a fun run. I enjoy having these shared family athletic experiences and running with Pedro Tulo. I fully expect him to have a better time than me for any 5K we run next year.