U.S. National Whitewater Center Run

Written by Owen

On Saturday we decided to do our run at the U.S. National Whitewater Center. They have a great system of trails through the nearby woods. Michael and I had 8 miles scheduled.

We didn't know how long the trail was so we just took off running, using my GPS watch as a guide. The trail was nothing like I expected. I was expecting a nice wide paved or packed gravel trail similar to the Clark Creeke Greenway near our house. I soon realized that was not the case. The trail was intended more for mountain bikers, but runners were also welcome. It was a tiny trail, too narrow to run even side by side. There were tons of tree roots poking up everywhere, with the path winding in between the trees, up and down hills around lakes, etc.

After we completed the first lap we were at 2.8 miles so we ended up doing 3 laps. It was the longest we had run to date, on the most difficult terrain (by far) to date. Michael fell 5 times, but each time got right back up and continued our run. Those tree roots were hard to navigate. Because the path was so skinny, and because I was setting the pace (he's too fast for me), I had to run in front with him behind me. Each time he fell, it was the exact same situation. I wish we had video of my point of view. I'd hear an "ugh", then turn around and see the same scene every time: Michael rolling on the ground.

Overall great run, but will probably stay away from that one except maybe for a family walk/hike. All I need is a turned ankle before my marathon.

These pictures were taken early in the morning before the whitewater center had opened:

Training For The Littles

Written by Malissa

Today Kyle and Alicia started their 5k training. They both have been asking when they will get to run 5ks with us so we signed them up for their first 5k run that will be this September.

We took them to the track to get a feel for their pace. We all started jogging together at a 14 minute pace. That was way too slow for Alicia so Owen let her jog ahead and he stayed with her. She ended up running the mile in 11 minutes and 1 second and Owen said he was holding her back. I stayed back with Kyle and spent the majority of the run helping him with his form. He walks and runs on his toes and looks down most of the time so I tried my hardest to encourage him to pick up his feet and look forward. It's going to take a lot of reminding him but I'm hoping he will catch on soon. The longest distance Kyle has ever done is a half mile (for P.E.) so he was so excited when we passed that and kept going. He is definitely a carefree runner! We spent most of our run beating up imaginary ghost runners and trying to see if we could stay on the lines. He really enjoyed himself and was so excited when he finished the mile. He finished a little before 14 minutes.

Summer Breeze 5k

June 18, 2011 8:00 AM
Charlotte, NC

	Time	Pace	Division	Division Place	Gender Place	Overall Place	Bib #
Michael	22:33	7:15	M1-14	4/25	107/297	139/615	387

Written by Malissa

Every race we have ever ran Michael has beat us to the finish line so we have never seen him finish. Owen and I really wanted to see him finish so we signed only him up for the 5k today. He did an amazing job and beat his personal record with a time of 22:33.

On the way to the 5k race we heard a loud bang. We thought we ran over a rock but really it was our tire.

Thankful for my Mr. Fix-it!

What Michael thinks of the flat tire:

We made it!

Checking out his competition.

All lined up and ready to go.

Here comes Michael!

Go Michael, Go!!!

I love this picture of him!

Way to go Jhanvi and Udit!

Here is video we took of the race...yes, we are the proud parents going crazy in the background!

King Tiger 5k

June 4, 2011 7:30 AM
Charlotte, NC

	Time	Pace	Division	Division Place	Gender Place	Overall Place	Bib #
Owen	24:30	7:53	M35-39	24/48	129/292	175/574	267
Malissa	38:53	12:30	F25-29	33/39	227/282	502/574	265
Michael	22:49	7:20	M1-14	6/36	97/292	124/574	266
Kyle	--	--	Fun Run	--	--	--	1586
Alicia	--	--	Fun Run	--	--	--	1585

Written by Malissa

Here are a few pictures from the race:

Kyle is upset in this picture because he wanted to stand by Alicia and she wanted to stand next to her friend...

The girls trying to make him feel better.

Now that he's the center of attention he's happy.

Our favorite runners!

Kids all lined up for the fun run.

Alicia loves to run. She has a very determined personality. When she sets her mind to something she doesn't stop until she is finished. She gets this quality for her daddy and I think it's a great quality for a runner to have. Alicia has been running a lot at school. During recess she runs laps on the track with 3 other kids from her class. Her teacher started the contest with the whole class to see who could run the most laps and only four of the kids stayed with it. Alicia won first place and if you add all the laps for the month of May, she ran a marathon!

Kyle doesn't care to run much and he's also not a competitive person (well, at least not as competitive as Owen and Michael are). Sometime I worry that because Alicia and Michael do like to run and are very good at it, he will feel left out or compared to all the time. Even though he doesn't like to run he was very excited about this race. He kept saying that he couldn't wait for it to start. Before the race I told him to just have fun while he was running. During the kids' fun run we started getting a little nervous because so many of the kids had already crossed the finish line and there was still no sight of Kyle. I was worried he was either hurt or on the side of the road crying. Owen and Michael went to look for him and found him running with a big smile on his face, zigzagging back and forth (I like to picture him with his arms out while he was zigzagging like a airplane). He was so happy to see Owen and Michael and happy they ran the rest of the race with him. After the race he told me he had so much fun. I'm so glad he was able to find his fun in running.

I don't have any pictures of Owen or Michael crossing the finish line but wanted to share their times:
Owen's goal was 25 and he came in at 24:30
Michael goal was 25 and he came in at 22:49

Right after mile marker 1 Michael turned on the jets and Owen didn't see him again until after he finished. Michael thought Owen was behind him the whole time and didn't realise he was running so fast. He said he would see a guy up ahead of him and think, oh I want to pass that guy and then would do it. Maybe I need to try that method in my next race...

With another 5k under my belt I wanted to share some more thoughts that have been dancing around in my head. I still struggle from time to time with being a slow runner. Since I started my running journey, back in January, a lot of my friends and family have started running and sometimes it gets to me that I am the slowest of the bunch but then I think about how far I have come. For so many years I hated running and now I love it. I  beat my last 5k time by almost 3 minutes and with each run I get faster and am able to run longer and longer distances. I'm so excited for our 10k run the end of July in Virgina, our half marathon the end of August in Utah, and my Marathon run in San Diego next June! That's right, depending on how well my half marathon goes I plan to run the San Diego full Marathon June 2012.