We woke up around 6am in order to have enough time to manage traffic and parking. We arrived downtown by 7:00 and went straight to the bathroom line. We made it to the start area around 7:40 and were grouped near the 12:00min/mile group. My mom didn't have any specific goals for herself (other than to finish), but I had a goal for her! I wanted her to finish under 1:15:00. She told me I didn't have to run with her and could go off on my own, but since this was her first race, I wanted to do it with her. Plus, I didn't have a huge need for setting any kind of 10K PR since my knee has kind of been bothering me recently.
We crossed the start line and we ran all of mile 1 towards the Capitol building. Then a few hills came into play and we walked the uphills. But I made sure she ran the downhills! You gotta take advantage of those downhill breaks! Mile 1 and 2 were both under 11:00 min/miles and I was so proud. Around mile 4 I could tell things were slowing down. The hills had stopped but mom was tired! She kept pushing though and I kept telling her she could do it...And she did!
My phone GPS says we finished 6.2 miles in 1:12:15. But once we crossed finish line, my phone said we did 6.56 in 1:16:34 - Both come out to an 11:39 min/mile - so I approved!
Such a cool site! I love Austin
Waiting in the bathroom line, pre-race
At Mile 4, the Austin PD training class came running thru doing chants and cadences. It was an awesome motivation factor for us!
GPS after crossing finish line
Mom actually ended up placing 119 out of 442 in her age group! Not bad for her first time!
Next Sunday, we are doing the Woof Walk and Run 5K to benefit the local animal shelter. Jon gets in town this Thursday, so he'll be tagging along with us! I wish we could bring Cobalt (as dogs are welcome to come too), but there's no way he'd be able to finish 3 miles with his leg. Poor guy - I'm sure he'd love it. I have a goal for us to finish under 33 minutes!
4/8/2013: Miles run - 265 of 1000. Miles remaining - 735 of 1000
Wooo hoooo!! Congrats to your mom!! Looks like it was a really cool race to run! I've always wanted to do one of the dog approved races, but they have never really fit in my schedule.
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