Last weekend I was down in VA with my family. The primary goal - complete the Run the DOG Street 5k with my mom and brother! My mom and I had talked about doing this for awhile, and we managed to get one of my brothers to come along too. I ran this race last year so I knew alot of what to expect. It takes place in Colonial Williamsburg and the course takes you through the shopping district, the college, and the historic area.
I got our packets the day before and I told them we needed to leave the house no later than 645. And in typical family fashion we didn't leave until after 7. We parked nearby and got to the starting line at 7:35, and at that moment the kids were just starting. Everyone else had gone. We were LITERALLY the last people to start the race. And we were walking it. There were some kids and parents around us that we kept pace with, and eventually we did overtake a few people. But overall we just walked and enjoyed ourselves, of course my mom had to point out every minute detail about things we were passing because she knows Williamsburg and it's citizens like the back of her hand. She saw at least 10 people she knew during and after this race - she seriously does know everyone in town. By the time we got about halfway through and entered the historic district, my brother really had to pee and began trying to find bathrooms. There are free standing bathrooms because it's a major tourist area, but it was a matter of trying to find one. I knew my brother wanted to run a little, so as he went into each building to see if it had a bathroom I told my mom to keep walking and that my brother and I would run to catch up to her. We did this 3 times until he finally found his bathroom.
Nearly an hour later we crossed the finish line, among the last people to finish the race. They were out of medals because over 1300 people signed up this year and they didn't expect the turnout. It was fine with me but I would have liked for my family to get their medals. After we finished we enjoyed a nice breakfast at one of our favorite local spots, and my mom and I walked around town and looked at the farmer's market too.
I continue to be very impressed by my mom. Less than a month from now she will be 73, and not only did she walk a 5k, we walked another 3 miles later that afternoon! She can get up and walk for miles just on a whim. She has a few health issues that are controlled with medication but is in overall good shape. I felt really fortunate to be able to do this with them, I had never done a race with my family before and it was great to share the experience of completing a race with them. I also have never walked a 5k race or experienced a race from the back of the pack. It was neat to do a race from a totally different perspective than I'm used to.
Oh, and I was able to get them shoes! Because I work in a running store I can get lightly used shoes cheap, the only downside is it's all a random assortment because it's whatever shoes people have returned. I managed to find a Asics Kayano 22 for my brother - when my family came to visit me I analyzed his gait so I know he needs a stability shoe just like me. He loves it, he has an old injury on his heel but it didn't bother him during the race. For my mom I did not know so I assumed neutral. She wears a size 10 dress shoe, has a bunion, and one of her ankles was previously injured and has early arthritis so it tends to swell alot. I managed to find her a 10.5 wide width Brooks Glycerin 13. At first she balked at the size as most women do, but after awhile she was amazed at how much less her feet were hurting. Normally she walks in flats (!!!!!) and I hated to see her doing that, so I used what knowledge I had about fitting shoes and it seems to have worked. By the end of the day she was raving about the shoes and her ankle was noticeably less swollen than normal. Now I just hope she can get over them not looking like a dress shoe and actually wear them when she walks around the neighborhood.
I really enjoyed walking the race and spending the weekend with the family. We really made the most of the 1.5 days that I had down there. At some point we will be moving back to GA and will be a little farther away, but I hope I can do something like this with them again in the future.
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