Delaware Dash 5k

It's official: Colten and I ran our first race AND our first race together this last Saturday morning :)

Colten asked me to run with him for the Delaware Dash 5k. I said YES of course. I love to run.  We were able to raise money for his school, get some bonding time in and we BOTH learned what the word PACE means.

I (Sharin) used to run track when I was younger.  I was a SPRINTER not a long distance runner. So this is pretty much all new to me. This is new for Colten too. Colten has NEVER actually run before. The only running experience Colten has is running away from my fly swatter !

This was a great experience for us both. We did some training together. This, I will say, was difficult. Difficult because I was training a 9 year old. 

At first he wouldn't pace. He kept sprinting. We couldn't get in an entire 3 miles at all. He kept giving up on me.

But he got better. He became 'trainable'. I'm not saying I'm perfect but THIS race was for him. Which meant we ran this together. 

And right there I take that ALL back. This race was for me too. I had a blast. I learned a lot. I plan on running more. 

This was tough on my fairly newly just had a baby body. I honestly thought my hips were going to break during this run. I was in a little pain after the race throughout the next day. The only thing I could think of... I'm old...I just had a baby 5 months ago. I'm hoping this is the case because I definitely don't want anything standing in my way of running with my kiddo.

This was an awesome experience. I loved every minute of it. Being out in the open running with my oldest. Sharing a passion for running. It couldn't get any better than this!

Fortunately I had some juice left! I think Kale took about 10 pictures of me messing around right before finishing. I had to let my little man slow poke catch up! WE WERE CROSSING THIS FINISH LINE TOGETHER!

On a serious note: Race wasn't bad. I could have done about a mile more and then I think I would of collapsed! At the end of the race Colten was pooped. I was pooped. We both could have ran some more. I think this is a great thing!

Colten's teachers and friends were giving him thanks, praise, and high-five's all over the place. They were so proud to see such a dedicated 9 year old actually running the race like a mini-pro. ( he was one of about 3 kids {at least 30 kids ran that day} who actually took this race in a serious manner) I was and am so proud of my son!

We finished up strong! Not really. We should have but this was supposed to be fun not torture. We got really silly for the last stretch of this race. We did clown around a little. Could have brought our time down by maybe a few minutes but we were having so much fun we didn't bother with it. A good friend told me not to worry about TIME...Have fun and at least run the 3 miles. Progress rather than perfection. And I love her for that.

Our official time was 37:10. 

I couldn't be more proud!!!

After the race we met up with Kale, Tyler and little Morgey Poo. Colten and I chowed on fresh cut pineapples. Talk about delicious! Thanks to Kale for slicing, dicing and remembering to bring fresh fruit.