There were A LOT of people at the kids race at 1:30 PM. My boys were practicing running to the finish line a few times before their race. Their 50 m course instructions were to run up to the girl in the black shirt, go around her and come back. Parents were running with the littlest ones. I lost Zander in the crowd after he got to the girl. Zevan ran the wrong way, by the time I caught up with him, the race was over.

We do races in the living room, so they were used to that aspect of it. I think I might have them run a mini course at the playdates to practice for next time.

The kids got a number to wear (so cute) and a little award ribbon when they finished… Zander took his to school to share at Circle Time (basically show and tell)

Race #1 — 50 meters, untimed — Ages 0-3 — 50 Finishers

Name            Sex   Age School         Bib
Jonathan Lum    M     2   Sierra Vista    20
Zander Scott    M     3   Buena Vista     37
Zevan Scott     M     2   Buena Vista     38

Race Results
  72     18/29     Maida Scott              37   Colo Springs       CO   0:48:25
 102    14/15     Lanel Welsby            48   Colo Springs       CO   0:54:24

I ran the first race of the Pikes Peak Road Runners Fall Series yesterday.  On paper, it looked completely do-able.  A 3.5 mile run, and they say to wear old shoes because you have to run the last quarter mile up the creek.

I nearly forgot about the race until Michelle posted something about the Kids race afterwards.  Luckily, we did a hike on Saturday, so I didn’t do my usual running workout.   I got to the race start 10 minutes before the race started – just enough time to register for the whole series and pin my number on. 

The first mile of the course was a fairly straightforward loop.  A good portion of it was like a singletrack mountain bike course.  I actually had to push branches out of my face as I ran in some spots.  Then we dropped down towards the creek and the real adventure began.  Running on a ledge along the river, actually having to climb up the bank, very rocky terrain.  I thought running the creek would be a welcome change.  Nope.  Ankle deep water, with two choices of running surface – mucky, uneven riverbottom or smooth wet rock.  I almost bit it a few times the first 10 yards.  Luckily it was a nice day, so the water wasn’t too cold, even kind of refreshing, temperature-wise.  A few times, we had to get up on the rocky bank for a short bit before getting back into the water to run some more.  A quarter mile running the creek felt like a mile out of the creek.  And then running with all the muck in my shoes to the finish line was no fun either. 

I got a great surprise near the end of the run.  Doug, Zander and Zevan were at the finish line cheering me on.  It was AWESOME to see them there!

According to my iPod, the race was actually a little over 4 miles…  (and showed me that the transmitter in my shoe is, indeed, waterproof).

The next race is Oct 15…anyone up for some adventure running?  It’s in Bear Creek park and includes a rope climb…