Sunday, August 8, 2010

The Granite City 5K Race Report!

My daughter Kay and I drove up to St. Cloud to run in a 5K that was put on by the St. Cloud River Runners. The Granite City 5K is a small race that attracted almost 200 runners. We arrived at Heritage Park at 7:15 AM. We walked to the check in tent and registered for the run. It was raining so we walked back to the car to wait a little bit to see if the rain would taper off. Sitting in the car I was able to see tons of fellow River Runners who were either running in the 5K or manning their spots to volunteer:) Here is a picture of me and my friend Deb....she had already ran nine miles earlier in the morning! She was running the 5K as a part of her training run. Before the run fellow River Runners Yvette and George asked if I wanted to warm up. We ended up just doing a mile and coming back about ten minutes before race start. During the warm up we made note of the course. It was going to be challenging because it was not a typical road race. The course was set in Heritage Park made up of a mix of asphalt trails, gravel trails and mostly grass. It was wet and muddy:) We were cautiously watching our steps because there were several places in the course where the surface was uneven. I remember running this course last year and it was a tough one. George made a comment about how this was not a race to try to PR in:) So true!
Here are just a few random shots that I took before the race. Notice the umbrellas in the picture:) It was raining during our race.

Yvette is the runner in the pink running shirt and black hat:)

Cathy and Edda are in this picture. This picture was taken as our race director was giving us instructions and information about the course.

George is the guy in blue taking a picture of his kids who also ran in yesterday's race. Kay and I talked about what our goal time would be and we agreed that we were both going to come in under 26 minutes. We were joking before the race because neither one of us are really in any shape to be racing a 5K:) I have been running half marathons all spring and summer....not really working on speed! Kay has been doing basketball camps and track camps. She has gone on a few of the high school cross country practice runs where they just go out on easy two milers:) She has also ran with me a few times...easy running and slow pace. We placed ourselves in the middle of the pack and took off after the voice command start. We stayed together for the first mile and kept a decent steady pace. Kay was keeping up and doing well running pretty much right next to me. After the mile marker she fell back a bit but I kept looking back and she was always just a little behind me. I kept on running at an easy pace...I made note to myself that I was never sucking air:) Last year I sucked air the entire race....LOL! Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a blurr of blue and knew that it was Kay. She stayed just a step behind me. I kept on talking to her telling her that she was doing well and that we were keeping up a respectable pace. It was at mile two when I figured out that the blurr of blue was not Kay and that I had been talking to a stranger over the last mile:) She must of thought that I was a nut:) I thought that she was my daughter so I was telling her to watch her step, take quick little steps up the grassy hill and other random stuff! Well, blurr of blue passed me and I turned around to see Kay still behind me. I slowed down and kept looking back every few minutes. She gave me the I am so annoyed with you look and stop turning around to look at me glare:) She gave me the hand signal to move on without her and yelled, "Just go mom, I don't need a babysitter!" Alrightly then, I only had about a half of a mile left and just kept up the same pace until I could hear people and made the last turn and ran up the final stretch. I then kicked it into gear and sprinted it in hard:) After walking through the finisher's corral I heard Pat and Mark yell, "Julie we didn't get your finishing picture...for some reason it didn't work." At first I thought that they were kidding. Mark was smiling and shaking his head:) Just after turning around I noticed that Kay had already finished and was sitting on the ground looking like death:) According to my Garmin made our goal of coming in under 26 minutes!
Here is Kay...thrilled to be done:)

Here is a shot of Deb and Gene.
This is photographer Pat and his helper Mark. I went over to talk to them and they did tell me that I would have to run through again for a finish picture:)

I gave Kay all of my things and ran through the final stretch one more time:) Pat asked me when I finished and I told him just to put me somewhere in the middle. Pat, if you are reading this my daughter is thrilled that it looks like she finished before me....you are her new best friend:)
After grabbing a water, banana and cookie Kay and I just waited for the awards ceremony. After the awards were given out we headed to the tent to take a look at the results. I was curious to see who took third place for my age group. There are two very speedy girls in my age group who took first and second place.....Kalli 20:30 and Lisa with a time of 21:23! Kalli was looking at the results too and we started chatting. I asked her who took third for our age group and she said that the winner was not here and must of left after the race. We looked at the board and figured out that it was me who took third! Kalli walked over to one of the volunteers and explained that I didn't hear my name being called. She then gave me my third place age group medal:) This was my second to worst 5K time...I finished in 25:23. Kay finished about 35 seconds after me with a final time of 25:58! We both were happy to come in under 26 minutes but also want to shave time off of our 5K race by the end of the season. My PR is 23:10 and Kay's PR is 24:03....can we say speed workouts:)
This picture was taken after we got home:) My little man wanted to be in the picture too!
Happy running, biking, swimming and lifting! Cheers to you all!
The winner of my giveaway is Running Through Phoenix! Congrats to you:) Please e-mail me your address at jkaiser4 at fairview.org and I will mail it to you ASAP! Welcome to all new followers! Please leave me a comment and I will make it to your blogs as soon as I can!
MCM Mama is hosting a $60 CSN giftcard!
Wes is hosting a Anti-Monkey Butt giveaway!

55 comments:

  1. Terrific race - congrats on your 3rd place win!! So funny about you talking to a stranger and re-taking your finishing photo. Good times!

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  2. Congrats to you and Kay! I think it's so fun that you can run together...It makes me look forward to the day I can do so with my daughter!

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  3. Congratulations on the AG award! You're fast!

    Before we moved here I ran a 10k with a good friend of mine. We did a 10k together - the first time I'd run 10 without walking at all. For the last 1.5 miles I wanted to stop so.bad. but she kept talking and talking to me, and she got me through. I appreciated it so much.

    I bet the blur in blue enjoyed your help;)

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  4. Great times! It must be great to run together. Do you feel like you are leaving her when your pace leads you away? Sniffle, sniffle ...

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  5. I found your post to be very interesting. My 5k pr is 23:06 (2008 - hope to work on that this fall) This June, I ran my worst 5k in 5 years,(25:47 - 6-10) yes, 5 years, not a typo. When I looked back, it had been 7 months that I went without speed work because of my hip scare, and being extra cautious this spring. I have zero natural speed so I have to work on it year around or I am SLOW. It really motivated me, so now I have 6 wks back at the track and hope this fall I will be able to earn some speed back. Hope the same for you. Take Care Julie!

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  6. You and Kay did a great job, sorry, but I laughed when she told you she didn't need a babysitter!

    especially love your fam photo!

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  7. Great report and congrats on your placing! Good job to both you and your daughter!

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  8. haha ... Kay was probably getting more and more annoyed each time you gave her instructions. You probably had a little smirk on you face each time .. that is awesome. Very cool you guys had a fun race!

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  9. This post is too funny! I love that your daughter told you she didn't need a babysitter. That stranger should be glad for your tips! Hee hee!

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  10. Congratulations on the third place!
    This is so funny, you giving running advice to a total stranger. You should have known that your teen daughter would have told you to stop doing that even before you opened your mouth. :) I know my son would have.
    Glad you had a good race.

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  11. That is so funny about missing the picture and re-doing the finish...plus the part about talking to the stranger, thinking it was your daughter!! Sounds like a fun 5K!

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  12. Awesome job on the run. I would love to run a 5K in under 26 min. Sometimes running in the rain is nice. I don't get over heated as easily.

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  13. Way to go, Julie and Kay!!! I ran a 5K this morning with a friend who was running her first. It was fantastic and I saw so many people I know. Off to type a race recap.

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  14. Great job! I would love that 5K time. Funny story about the positive comments you were giving to your "daughter" behind you! I hate stuff like that!

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  15. Congrats on your medal!

    Totally bummed that I'm not going to get to meet up with you when I'm in Wisconsin for the next two weeks.

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  16. How fun that you and Kay ran together - very special times. Great job on your 3rd place finish even though it was one of your worst times! And, young lady, where oh where was your lovely blue running skirt ensemble???!!!
    K :-)

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  17. Great job on the race and congrats on your age group award. Love all the pictures!

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  18. That is such a cute race report! Thanks for sharing. Congrats Julie on your awesome race and age group award! Congrats to Kay for a successful 5K too! You are both ROCK STARS in my book!

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  19. Nice work, Julie! Again, you just look happy and thrilled to be out running and having fun with friends and family...that's always the most important thing!

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  20. Great run! I hope to run a 5k with my son next year. Awesome to run with your daughter. I like running in rainy weather like that.

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  21. Great race Julie!

    I had to laugh about Kay's comment how she didn't need a babysitter. Little girls grow up don't they?

    And that one guy in the pic who definitely needed a little more sleep :lol:

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  22. Met your goal AND scored an age group medal! Rock on!

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  23. It's great that you were unknowingly talking to a stranger, funny story.

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  24. great race! congrats!

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  25. Julie,
    Congrats on meeting your goal and your AG place! I hope you have a great week.

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  26. Nice work, fam :-) Matching blue and all!

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  27. LOLOL a babysitter!! Thats funny

    COngrats to the both of you

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  28. Great race - what fun to run with your daughter. I am working on getting mine started.

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  29. i love how well-documented ALL of your races are, no matter the distance. i wish i was this organized/on top of things :)

    congrats on a great race for you and your daughter!

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  30. I love reading & seeing pics of small races in rural America. Adam just posted his from Iowa. I told him it reminded me of Normal Rockwell.

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  31. That sounds like a great race! I think it's so awesome that you run races with your daughter! Congrats on getting 3rd..woohoo!

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  32. well done both of you
    top running!
    but watch out julie it wont be long before kay pips you to the post ;-)

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  33. WAY TO GO GIRLS!!! Sounds like an amazing day!

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  34. Congrats on third place! I laughed at you talking to the stranger in blue during the race! Too funny! I'm sure with a few speed workouts you'll beat your time in your next 5K.

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  35. Thank you for sharing I have enjoyied your post while reading.

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  36. I loved reading this, you and Kay did so well :-) I keep trying to get my family, outside of Mike, to get in to running but I have had no luck so far! Have a great week :-)

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  37. i'd love to do a race with my daughter, léa. she comes on little runs in the forest with me - she's 10 and has quite a few physio problems, so these runs are great for her.
    She's making lots of progress and really enjoys it... so one day we'll do like you and Kay !
    I loved the pictures you posted.
    have a great week.

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  38. Congrats on the 3rd in division! Congrats to Kay too! It's awesome that you two can share a love of running together.

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  39. Great report! So fun to place at a race! And thats an awesome finishing time. I've totally done that too where I've talked to someone running behind me thinking I knew them! So funny. Probably kept them entertained!

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  40. great job on the 5k. they are TOUGH. Blech. hahah.

    I think I might do the Earth Day HM in St. Cloud next spring!

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  41. Love the race report, sooo funny you talked to a stranger for a while :)

    Great time!! 5ks are tough races!!

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  42. Look at you - just one race after another! :) I haven't stopped by almost all summer and when I return it is another race report! Great work Julie! Thanks for stopping by amidst my lack of blogging this summer. Thankfully I can say I am still running just not blogging! Hopefully I can fit it back in (blogging) come fall! :)

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  43. You guys are awesome! Congrats to you and your daughter. AND to your 3rd place finish! WhooT

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  44. Congratulations on your hardware and a great race for both of you! I love that I'm not the only one getting those teenager looks. Great pictures, too!

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  45. Congrats to both of you for the awesome race. The next will be an under 5min/km and the next again the new PR. In my city to attract 200 runners the organization must promise a lot of prizes as hams, rolled smoked hams, cheese, pasta, wine etc. Here your 3rd place in the age group worths 2 rolled smoked hams.

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  46. I'm back - just want to say Yes, Yes, Yes to Def Leppard and Billy Idol! I have seen both bands twice in the past 3 years!

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  47. Congrats to you both!!! I think looking like death after a 5K is almost required.

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  48. Congrats on your AG award! How cool to run a race with your daughter. She's gorgeous by the way, must take after her mom :)

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  49. You giving tips to the stranger during the race - so funny! Congrats on getting 3rd place without speedwork and while giving out advice on the run!

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  50. Hey Julie, Send me a note if you decide to do the half this weekend. It would be great to see you. I'm using it for training so I'm looking forward to just enjoying the course and getting the miles in. Either way, have a great weekend!

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  51. I laughed when I read that you were giving advice to the stranger thinking it was your daughter! how funny...wonder what she was thinking :) I also could totally picture your daughter waving you away and saying she didn't need a babysitter...that's something I would have done as a teenager...I love the picture of you, your daughter & son! Congrats on 3rd place! Sounds like it was a good day.

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  52. Nice run in a great event. I like the pictures, it seems lot of fun and excitement.

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