Candy Cane 5K

My sister emailed me earlier in the week and asked if Camden and I would like to participate in the Candy Cane 5K with her. She had planned on her boys going with her, but they had soccer tryouts, which she had not realized when she signed them all up. Well, I knew that it was going to be cold and even looked at the weather forecast and saw that the high was 39 on race day, however decided this was a great opportunity for Camden to be able to spend some time outside (which he loves) as well as do something with Melissa. Now Melissa is a runner and gosh knows I just started running again, but she reassured me that her sister-in-law, Valerie, and her girls were also participating and we could walk with them. So I agreed.

Well it was VERY cold - I believe around 39 degrees, with the forecast of it dropping a few degrees while we were at the race (which I believe had to have happened). We layered our clothes and prepared ourselves for lots of cold. We met at Valerie's house which is in the same neighborhood where the race was held. We pretty much arrived to the start/finish line at the time the race was starting (thank goodness since that meant less times standing around freezing).

Getting ready to start the race

We started the race and of course Melissa took off with a goal of running the 5K in less than 30 minutes. Camden and I really didn't have a goal since I had no idea how much running or walking we would be doing. So we started off jogging and honestly due to the amount of people had to run a little and then walk a little for the first 1/4 to 1/2 mile until we could get by the a lot of the people. We stayed with Valerie and one of her girls until we got to a point where we could jog more and then we parted from them. Quiet honestly, we jogged the majority of the race. Camden occasionally would want to walk for a few minutes, but then would want to jog. We even were comfortable with the temperature since we were jogging, so much so that at one point he took off his hat and gloves. He was a rock star!!!!!! We finished in 45 min 18 seconds which I thought was awesome!!! Camden finished second in his age group. Several times while we were jogging he asked if we could do it again. And, Melissa beat her goal with finishing at 29 minutes 31 seconds - 5th in her age group!

Me and my rock star at the end of the race

Valerie with her two girls, Melissa, Camden and
myself after everyone finished the race

 

Camden posing with Santa

After we finished the race we just about froze to death on our walk back to Valerie's house. I think going from sweating to freezing as well as a slight drop in the temperature about had us feeling like we were going to loose our hands from frost bite. Regardless, it was a fun and new adventure. I have a feeling we may have a littler runner on our hands as much as Camden enjoyed his first 5K.