Race: Let Freedom Run 5K, 7/4/11
Goal: Run my first race with the stroller
Outcome: Second strollermama to finish (28:04) and a new interest in "racing" with the stroller
I ran a race with the stroller for the first time this weekend and I was surprised by how much fun it was! We had planned to do a local July 4th 5K, and originally planned to run all together, with my husband pushing the stroller. (It slows him down enough so I can attempt to keep up with him.) But as the race day got closer, I wondered if my husband wanted to do a running race on his own for a change. After fracturing his kneecap a few years ago, he shifted his focus to cycling and hadn't done a running race in a while. Except for a one-mile race we ran as a family last year, he'd mostly been at finish lines as a wonderfully supportive spectator. When I offered to push the stroller, he hesitated at first. But after a couple of fun speed workouts, he eventually agreed that maybe it was a good time to run on his own.
I got excited about the race in a whole different way. Because there would be no way for me to PR with the stroller (maybe someday, but not for a while), I looked forward to the race as a fun family day. I'm nerdy and competitive with myself and can't often run a race without a goal in mind. But now, I'd just be having fun with the kiddo in the stroller during a holiday race.
And it was pretty fun, picking up our numbers on race morning and pinning mine onto the front of the stroller. Giving my little guy a morning snack while he lounged in the stroller before the start. Saying good-bye and good luck to my husband before lining up toward the back of the pack. Chit-chatting with another strollermama whose daughter was also quietly munching away on a snack in her stroller.
But then the gun went off.
My innate reaction to get moving kicked in and I found myself steering past a lot of shuffling feet and coming close to bumping into some folks. I accidentally tapped the heel of a dad pushing a stroller and said, "Sorry! Sorry!" I began to wonder if I was being a jerk for running with a stroller. Then a woman jogging ahead of me saw me and turned sideways, saying, "Go ahead! I know how hard it is. I've tried it before. It's fun, but if you actually want to run, it's tricky!"
After the initial clumsiness of the crowded start, I got into a groove and found myself on the outside lane of the crowd of runners, beelining behind a couple of dads zooming through with double strollers. Once I saw them, I didn't feel like such a jerk for wanting to run fast with the kiddo in tow. I kept to the unofficial stroller lane and raced ahead. "I want to be that lady," I heard someone say. Not sure if she was talking about me, but I imagined she was and got motivated to go even faster. About halfway through, I spotted some other fast-moving strollermamas and my competitive nature snuck its way to my feet. I passed some, but found myself on the heels of one fast strollermama in Vibrams for the rest of the way.
As I picked it up in the last half-mile or so, my otherwise quiet passenger struck up a conversation with me, along with some race route commentary. "People." "Running." "Sunny." "Hot." And, when a particularly sweaty guy ran in front of us, "Shower." His babbling took my mind off the race and before I knew it, we were in sight of the finish line, a huge arch of balloons. "Balloons!" "Yes," I said. "That's where we're running—to the balloons!" He fixed his gaze ahead and I did, too.
After crossing the finish, I thanked him for being a good passenger and we gave each other a high five. We met up with Dada, who had run a good race, too. He told us we were the second strollermama team to cross the finish. Yay for us! Later, while my husband and I sipped cold water from the refreshment table, our little race buddy enjoyed a postrace chocolate chip cookie. After all, at his age, the best medal is probably the one you can eat.
© 2011 GUF
