Race Recap: 2015 Medina Race with Grace

Today I got to sleep in.  That's right--no long run for this girl.  Today I woke up at a leisurely 6:30!  Then I had to scramble to wake up the kids, get them fed and ready for church, and motivate my husband to get out of bed and ready for his first race.  Geez, it's harder to get him out of the house than it is to get my two kids out of the house.

Months ago I registered my husband for the Race with Grace 5k.  Then I told him about it.  Despite the warning, he didn't train a bit.  I don't think he has run for over a month.  When I would remind him that training would be appropriate, he always responded, "It's only 3 miles.  I'll be fine."  This is EXACTLY the attitude he had when we were moving to the U.S., and I told him that studying the language might be appropriate.  His response then, "English is easy; it will take me a couple of months.  I'll be fine." I am happy to say that I was able to rein in my "I told you so" both times when he got a wake up call about his procrastination.

We were part of Team Brenda with Medina High School.  Brenda is the mother of my colleague Sherri, and she has been fighting breast cancer.  Our team wore shirts with her name on the back to remind us of why we are participating.  Brenda was there to cheer us on:

Sherri and Brenda, both looking MAH-velous!

It was nice to see so many friends on a Sunday morning.  The air was perfectly crisp at 56 degrees.  I was more excited for my husband than he was:

This is EXACTLY how I look when I am more excited than my husband about his first race.

After a bagpipe rendition of "Amazing Grace," we started.  Nacer tore off like a bat out of hell, and I reminded him to hold back so we could safely navigate the gazillion little kids who were in front of us.  Running with kids scares me; they stop on a dime right in front of me, and I'm always afraid that I won't stop in time and I'll mow them down.  Anyway, I followed his lead, and he was feeling the adrenaline rush.

In mile 2, the reality started to hit him (along with some hills), and he slowed down a bit.  I encouraged him to think about his breathing, and I DIDN'T say, "This would have been a lot easier on you had you trained for it."  I'm such a great wife.

Mile 3 was where I saw Nacer relax and settle in, and that relaxation really helped because he then picked up his pace.  I told him, "You only have one mile to go; that's less than ten minutes.  You can do anything for ten minutes," which is my mantra in races.  The last mile was full of downhill runs, so I was happy with it.  When we got near the finish line, I told Nacer, "When you see that finishing clock, I want you to tear ahead of me and give it your all."  He looked at me like I was nuts, and he kicked a tiny bit.  I was so proud to see him cross the finish line.

This guy ran 28:23 in his first 5k!  Without training!

While I am proud of him, I'm prouder of myself for not rubbing it in during or after the race when I saw him suffering a bit.  Men should suffer; it's so good for them.  Just kidding.  I was happy that when we were stretching, he said, "I didn't think it would be that hard."  Duh.

All in all, he was happy with his race, and so am I.  I informed him that he has to train from now on because I am going to register him for the Home Run for the Homeless, which is on Thanksgiving Day and consists of four miles of hills in the Glendale Cemetery.   He didn't seem unhappy with this idea.  We shall see.

Team Brenda had a fantastic showing; we were the number one team yet again, largely due to the fact that the winner of the 5k, Jordan Olsen, is a chemistry teacher at our school.  We mostly hired him for his 5k time.  This year he finished in 16:04.  Amazing.

I am so happy that my husband has started his journey with racing.  I look forward to many more races together in our future.  Until then, run happy, Peeps!

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