A family four-miler!

June 11th, 2012 No Comments

I love this picture! Not only is it a great moment – the three of us at the finish line of our first race as a family – it is also hilarious, thanks to Danny.

Last week I mentioned to Mike that I was considering running the Twilight Festival four-mile race in Ashburn on Saturday night. I asked if he’d be willing to come along and bring Danny to cheer for me. I was shocked when he suggested that he run it, too! Mike isn’t a runner, and has never done a race before. He just thought it might be fun. (It is!) He plays soccer regularly, so he’s in good shape, but he had no idea whether he could run four miles.

We decided to go for it. On Saturday night, we packed the Bob running stroller into the car and headed to Ashburn. Then the three of us ran the race as a family. I was so excited that we would all do it together.

At the starting line. Can you tell that I’m excited?

Mike was amazing. He pushed the stroller for the first mile. So the first mile he’d run in ages was in a race with a jogging stroller! I took on the stroller for the next couple miles, and Mike kept trotting along. I was so proud of him. It took me months to be able to run as far as he did, and he did it on his first try. We took a couple walk breaks, but he still ran over 5K without any training.

(Photo courtesy of Potomac River Running)

Mike took the stroller for the final half mile. When we turned the corner and saw the finish line, we picked up speed and I could see that Mike was enjoying it as much as I was. After about 48 minutes of running as a family, we crossed the finish line together. Mike and I were pumped on adrenaline and feeling victorious.

(Photo courtesy of Potomac River Running)

Then we looked down and saw that unimpressed Danny was nonchalantly reading a book. Finish line, no big deal. Bwahahaha!

He wasn’t particularly impressed with our athletic feat, but he did love the live band that was playing at the finish line. The free pizza and cookies were a hit, too.