We awoke at 6 a.m. Saturday May 1st to the sound of loud claps of thunder and the pitter-patter of rain on the rooftop. The windows were mostly closed in expectation and the humidity inside was uncomfortable already. It was going to be a wet morning downtown at Cincinnati’s 5K “Flying Pig” but we got our “OINK” on, anyway.
Lindsay and Rick pinned their numbers to their team shirts… Lindsay’s 4th Flying Pig and Rick’s 2nd (at Lindsay’s challenge). This is something Rick never thought he would do but has found that he really enjoys.
While the runners pinned on their numbers the rest of us decided to don ponchos. The smell of them put us in the mood for some rugged campouts with the black bears again in the Adirondacks or somewhere up on the beautiful North Coast. Nathan went barefoot because it was warm and socks were two more things to keep track of since he loves to pull them off and toss them.
Nathan loved splashing in the puddle that his cup-holder collected. He can no longer sit in back without poking his sister and pulling hair while giggling!
The team met up a mile or so from our car at the Public Landing on the Ohio River.
Lindsay is slightly right of front center and excited for this run. She has been training for 6 months for this race, running the “Jingle Bell” and “Heart Mini” along the way.
We wished our runners luck and let them warm up. We went to find a spot on the route to observe, about a half mile or so from the Public Landing.
The crowd of runners await the horn to sound behind the 5K starting line… about 2,000 of them.
This is NOT Sunday’s full marathon with 25,000 but it is exciting.
There are people from all 50 states and 21 countries to participate in the events of this weekend. There isn’t a room to be had downtown anywhere.
The rain let up for a little bit and the children were very interested in everything going on around them. The rain (1-4 inches worth)scared some of the normal crowds away. Finally we heard the horn and the runners were off. We searched for our runners and cheered them on… then took off on another walk-a-thon to get a spot near the finish line over a mile away from where we were standing. Lindsay and Rick meandered their way through closed city streets up and down hills as we made a beeline.
Here were the first runners through the starting line!
There is Rick starting. He is in the background sort of left of center. Lindsay did a “Rudy the Rabbit” (if you’ve watched “Meatballs” you know what I mean) and we never saw her take off but she was immediately ahead of Rick through the crowd, so he told us later.
CHEER!
There they go right past the Bengals Football Stadium on the Ohio River.
OK… Now is our walkathon.
On our way we walked past Great American Ball Park where we like to attend a ball game once a year. Tristan stops briefly for a photo op wearing his Cincinnati Reds Cap… maybe his favorite birthday present of all from last year. But he urges us on because we are afraid Lindsay might run the entire 5K before we can walk there to see her finish.
HURRY!
Lindsay’s overall place was 373 out of 1925. In her division she was 27 out of 160.
Gender place was 127 out of 1,210. She ran the 5K in 28:55 at a pace of 9:20 beating last years time by 1:35.
WOW!!! Great Job, Lindsay!
Rick’s overall place was 626 out of 1926. In his division he was 30 out of 70.
Gender place was 359 out of 715. He ran a pace of 10:18. Great Job!
My 2 future runners get a workout near the Public Landing while we wait for Dad and Lindsay to cut through the crowds and collect their snacks and water.
Whenever they touch one of these medal posts, steam blows out of the top. Quite fun!
Wrapped in thermal blankets to keep from cooling off to quickly, they smile, feeling good about their race…
feeling proud of their earned medals!
Wow! Way to go guys! Very impressive. I think its cool they did that together. Sounds like they had a whole daddy/daughter day! I like Rick's new shorts.
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