Race Report: Pink Up the Pace 5K

Yesterday I ran the Pink Up the Pace 5K with a few people from my church. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I am a "leader" to some of the young girls in my church. Being a leader basically just means that I teach a class on Sundays and I help the girls achieve some of their personal progress goals during the week.

Part of some of these girls' goals is to gain individual worth and realize the potential they have in whatever skill they choose. When another leader and I told them we were going to run a 5K, a lot of the girls got pretty excited about training for their first 5K, too. We (the other leader and I) decided we'd help them train for the 5K, and we'd stick by them throughout the race to keep them going.

Anyway, for the past couple of weeks I've been running 1 and 2 milers with the girls to help them get ready for yesterday's race. It turned out to be a success. These girls had a ton of fun during their first 5K, and they ran faster than I think they even thought they could.

While this race was not a personal best for me (it was close to a personal worst), I wouldn't trade it for the world. I loved running with Brooke (a 14-year-old girl), and helping her along the way. There were more than a few times where she thought she couldn't keep running, but I nudged her along. And she did great. At the end she kept saying, "Thanks so much for pushing me. I would've stopped to walk a million times. Literally."

Our goal was to finish the race within 35 minutes. She finished the race in 32:40, and I finished in 32:42. Her last minute sprint to the finish did me in. She's quick!! Brooke even came in 2nd in her age group.

It was a great race, and I love sharing my love of running with newbies. No matter how young.

Our group. If you're wondering about all the pink, it was a breast cancer awareness 5K....

Me and Brooke close to the finish line

All done. And all sweaty. (It's almost October and it's still 85 at 8 am in the morning...it's just not right)