King Tiger 5k - 6/5/10 Running with Abigayle

Today, Abigayle and I ran the "King Tiger 5k". Her cross country team ran it, so I thought I would join. Hey, anything for a race!
It's funny, I ran this race last year as part of the Grand Prix Series. I came to it ready to compete. I finished in 23:32 and came in 7th in my AG. However, today was different. I got to run this race with one of the most important people in my life, my daughter. As sappy as this sounds, I have watched her change as she starts to train for cross country. She started out timid with her team.....and I can understand why. She is the youngest and only 7th grader on the team. But as she trains, I see her confidence build. It is a wonderful thing that she is learning. If you can push though the pain of a run, you can tackle anything in life,

We cheese for a picture in front of RFYL University store. She told me that she is not as nervous about this race. She has gone this distance before, so she feels ready. It is really steamy today. I am already sweating and we haven't even started running.

The team warms up, stretches, and puts on their chips. Everyone is really excited.
We start running.......
The plan is is to run 4 minutes walk 1 minute. Abigayle's goal is to have a good attitude no matter how hard it gets.

Mile 1! Abigayle is still looking strong and having fun. Bree decided to join to help me encourage Abigayle. However, at this point, Abigayle needs no encouragement. She is doing well and meeting her attitude goal!

Mile two comes and passes. At this point, Abigayle is running just over a 10 minute mile and doing well. She is in good spirits and even jumps for the camera. However, we start UP the last hill.............That lasts for about a mile.
Abigayle looks at me and says......remember what Joe says! She is referring to some advice Joe Sauerbrey gave me when getting ready to run a Myrtle Beach for a Boston Qualifying time. He told me, "When it starts to hurt, run faster". What a proud moment! =-) However, like me, Abigayle's tummy can only take so much....so we have to go to a run 2 minutes run 1 so she can finish the race.

She passes mile 3 and puts in her kick! Sommer now joins me, Bree, and Abigayle. We are all yelling and screaming for her.

She passes the finish line and she took 6 minutes off her last 5k time. WOOT!

Then we see all the buddies who also ran while we grub on Rita's custard happiness!

My buddies Sommer, Ross, Tim, Kris and Tim's nephew ran FAST! I also got to see my buddy Chad from high school. He ran it in 21 minutes and is going to qualify for Boston in October! So here is a shout out for him! Hal will be his coach too!=-)