May 5: Pink Ribbon Race With MOM

Me and Mom, Pre-Race

"Want to come run a Breast Cancer 5K race on Mother's Day?" Several months prior to this fun Mother's Day 5K race, open to only women, I posed that exact question to my Mom, who had been running a mile or so at a time. Well, that got the ball rolling! Before I knew it, my 59 years young Mom was diligently following the training plan I emailed to her. Not only that, she even went out and bought a pair of running shoes, it seems her previous sneakers were not specialized to running, and oh yeah, they were FIVE YEARS OLD! We all know THAT is a travesty in the running world! (No offense Mom, I love you!!!)

In the following weeks we had many chats about her training completed first on a treadmill, and then in the neighborhood before she landed on her favorite training spot-the cushioned track at the local high school. It was a milestone to reach each new training distance and her program was a mixture of walking and running days with run mileage gradually increasing. By race day she had completed the 3 mile distance twice and was ready to go.

True to the form of Rochester weather, we had quite an unpredictable weekend. The day before the race it was a chilly 50 degrees accompanied by wind and rain. This resulted in discussions of race day attire and weather speculation. Sunday morning, "Happy Mother's Day" and don't let a little snow scare you!! Yes! You read correctly, we woke up to snow flurries and temps in the 30's---brrrrr!!!

We drove off to the race site and met a big group of women ready to chase breast cancer down in 3.1 miles, the weather couldn't stop us! Besides, the flurries were gone, leaving us with nothing more then cool temps and a little wind. (I didn't say it was ideal or anything...) Mom got to meet several of my running friends and Dad bundled up to stand the weather as a spectator.

Mom and I planned to run our own separate paces and when the gun went off were out and running! There was a rough head wind for the first mile-plus of the out and back course along Lake Ontario, which was tough physically and mentally. But soon we reached the loop turn around and started passing other runners still on their way out. I immediately began searching for my Mom in the crowd. I was running as hard as I could, which was proving not hard enough, my mile splits weren't quite fast enough for my normal 5K race times. I kept trying to reach the women ahead of me and was determined not to get passed by the women behind me. That was a success at least! I saw Mom, we cheered each other on and high-fived! I met my Dad at the finish line in 22:24 then I grabbed some water and walked out to wait for Mom.

Shortly she came running a strong pace approaching the last turn to head in to the finish! She looked great, had stripped her jacket because it was too warm and was running faster then she had predicted! I was so proud of her looking so great on the run! In 37:20 she crossed the finish line, a far cry from her expected 45:00. What a great pace!

I'm happy to announce that she is keeping up with her running, not wanting to lose the consistency she has gained, and plans to run another 5K race sometime this summer! Yay Mom!

My Parents trying to stay warm pre-race...

another one of me and Mom...