Monday, March 25, 2019

Flyin' Hawaiian 5K Race Recap!

Could this shirt BE any more perfect?  I love it!

On Saturday I, along with most of the Renegades, ran the T.R.A.C. Flyin' Hawaiian 5K, which was held on the grounds of  Texas A&M University.  Texas Runners Against Cancer is a student organization on campus that raises awareness and money toward cancer research.  This was a small race, but with a name like Flyin' Hawaiian and a cause like cancer research, I knew I had to run it.   Everyone involved was so nice and friendly and they put on a good race that strove to make every runner feel special - and they succeeded!

We got to sleep in a little on Saturday since packet pickup didn't begin until 7:00 am and it was less than 10 minutes' drive from our house - so nice to have a close race.  We got our shirts and bibs and naturally took some pictures:
From left:  me, Jeff holding Logan, CC holding Mason, Karen, Diane, Cary, Brian, and Loretta.
Logan was kind of mad because Cary stood there, handing him bites of zucchini bread while Jeff was holding him, and he offered a piece to Jeff, who opened his mouth and Logan put it in...and then Jeff ate it and Logan was not happy about that!
MY STICK (he's into sticks at the moment)
(the stick broke)
AW MAN!  WHAT A CRUMMY STICK!
The hand-chalked start line was cute.
There we are, starting in the back as usual.  You can see the raindrops that just started falling on the ground.

The weather forecast kept changing from rain to no rain then back to rain at 8:00 am - race start time - and sure enough, just as we started the race, it started raining.  Luckily it didn't rain too hard and stopped about a mile in.  But during that time as Jeff, Diane, and I were out by the golf course, the lightening sirens went off - eek!  We didn't see any lightening or hear thunder, but it was an eerie feeling because there was nowhere to take cover if we needed to.  Obviously nothing happened because I'm here to write this recap.

The plan for this race was to run the entire thing without intervals.  We ran a mile, took a very short walk break, then ran the next mile, took another very short walk break, and then it got really hard - I hadn't done a race in that location for years and forgot how much of a stupid incline there is on the last mile.  We took several walk breaks on that mile, but we actually did run up the hardest hill, so I'm giving us a gold star for that effort.  The route was long, too - 3.1 miles ended up being 3.25 miles.  Diane and I were ready to be done.  We ran around the giant Aggie ring and headed toward the finish line, where for the first time ever, we got to break the ribbon as we crossed:
I was being a little dramatically over-excited for the camera, but I have to say, that was fun.  This was a sweet touch that the race organizers did - everyone got to break the ribbon as they crossed the finish line.
You can see the giant ring in the background.  Oh and I got to wear my authentic Hawaiian shirt that came from a running store on the big island for this race, which was very cool.

We revived with some water and bananas, and soon we saw CC, Loretta, and Mason coming in - they'd started out with Mason in the stroller but he was walking at that point.  CC abandoned the stroller on the grass so they all could run in together:
When a little guy is coming in, the ribbon gets lowered!
Yay Mason!  He had a nice run going there.
And then he stopped at the ribbon - he wasn't sure why that lady was blocking his way!  So cute.

My Garmin stats from the race:
You can see by the blue section that we were doing really well for the first two miles before the slog of a hill happened.  The green is the elevation and while I know it's nothing for a lot of people in other parts of the country, it's a hill to us!  Even Karen, who is our strongest runner, said she took a couple of walk breaks on that last section.  It was hard, that's for darn sure.

After the race we went to Blue Baker, where another group had taken our table - the nerve!  It was oddly crowded - there must have been some event at A&M because everyone had come to town.  Anyway, this was a fun local race to do and even though I didn't hit my goal of running the entire race without taking unsanctioned walk breaks, I still had a good time and I'm glad I did it.

20 comments:

  1. This sounds like so much fun--hills and all. I love the shirt and I love that you got to break the ribbon! Congrats!

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    1. Thanks - the ribbon was memorable, that's for sure.

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  2. What a fun report! i got a kick out of Mason stopping at the ribbon and looking at the lady. And Logan and his stick--you know what that reminded me of, don't you?

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    1. It's so funny to see what a kid will do - but he'd never seen a finish line ribbon! Bet next time he blows right through it. :)

      The stick - does Noah still drag his sticks around?

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    2. No the sticks are long gone. That was mostly a childhood thing :)

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    3. Aw! He was so cute, dragging those huge things around.

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  3. Yay, the finishing line ribbon was a very nice touch. The “waiting to start” pic makes the marching band person in me want to get you all in parade block formation, hahahahaha.

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    1. I can imagine how that scattered group must make marching band people twitch, LOL - bet my son would feel the same. :)

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  4. Oh my gosh that photo of little Mason running to the finish line is so sweet! Smart mommy to dump the carriage and let him go.

    I'm glad you were able to make more strides in your quest for a fully run 5K. Hey, I've seen really good runners walk hills and I have no judgement on that at all! Love the race shirt and the leis. Do you know why they picked Hawaii as the theme?

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    1. I thought so, too regarding letting Mason run in - so cute and hey, way to raise a runner, right?

      Not sure why they have the Hawaiian theme, but this race has been held for a few years with the same theme...how I missed it until now, I don't know.

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  5. What a fun race! It's those little touches like the ribbon that make the small local ones so much fun, isn't it? And all hills should be banned from the last mile of any race. Period. Good job, Shelley!

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    1. I wish you were in charge of doing race routes! :)

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  6. Cute Mason crossing the finish line! I just can't believe the rudeness of someone taking "your" table! It's like when I go to the gym and someone is using *my* machine. Get off! :D

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    1. I wanted to stand there like Sheldon Cooper and say "you're in my spot" but I didn't...

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  7. WTF SOMEONE TOOK YOUR TABLE?! LOL!

    I can't believe how big the kids are getting <3

    This race sounds great! What a great event to support. And you really kicked butt with your long run segments!!!

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  8. How sweet that they dropped the ribbon for the little guy! Did he eventually break through?

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