New Family 5K

Over the weekend, the boys and I ran a 5K for a good cause in honor/memory of a former teacher at their elementary school. This is the first time all four of us ran a race together, so the plan was for The Moose (13) to run ahead, and I would stick with Pedro Tulo (10) and especially Luigi (7). It was a contained race course without any cars/traffic, so I wasn’t worried about splitting up, but I still wanted to run with my youngest. I also figured that I could use him as an excuse to take a break and walk because he would need to take a break and walk.

I figured wrong. 

The race started with the experienced runners going first. The Moose declared that he should be in this group, so off he went. About 20-30 seconds later, the remaining runners started (including us) followed by those walking the course. Luigi went ahead of Pedro Tulo and me, but I could still see him. As we continued, it was Pedro Tulo (and me) needing to take breaks and not Luigi as I expected. At a certain point, Luigi was too far ahead of me to see. On the second lap of the course, I spotted The Moose ahead but no sign of Luigi. I started getting a little concerned. I kind of figured that The Moose would have eyes on him even if I didn't and thought that maybe Luigi stopped not realizing that you had to run the course twice.

When I got to the finish line, Luigi was there with his brother. He ended up finishing at least a minute or two ahead of The Moose. (This wasn't a formal 5K with anyone tracking the time, so we don't know the official time.) Luigi was just fast. As we were drinking Gatorade, a guy who is probably in his late 20s or early 30s introduced himself to us and said that he ran a good portion of the last part of the race with Luigi. He said that he passed him at the end, and I replied that I would do the same thing since I wouldn't want to get beat by a kid. I mean, that was my motivation down the stretch in the last 5K I ran with my family.

I think Luigi is excited to run another 5K. While I'll join him, I know that I won't be able to keep up with him!

Photo from Fairfax Memorial Funeral Home