Briana's 2nd 5K

I know, I know. I haven't blogged in two weeks ~ again. I have to catch up on events that happened in November. I am so behind.

I made a promise to myself that this year that I was going to concentrate on getting ready for Christmas instead devoting more time to blogging. And I have to say, I am ready for Christmas. Earlier than I ever have been. All my presents are wrapped and all my cards are sent. I can't believe it.

And now I have some time to blog.

Briana's 2nd 5K was held in mid-November, and ironically, it was a tad bit colder in November in GA than it has been in December (it's supposed to be 73 degrees on Christmas -whaaaat?).

Briana was all bundled up for the run...

Being silly with dad...

The race was held at a small local airport and was a "1st annual" turkey trot 5K held by the Family Alliance of our county. With that being said, no one really knew anything that was going to happen. Most of the attendees were kids from Briana's elementary school. That part I really liked because a smaller group made it easier for the coach and volunteers to keep their eyes on the kids...

Briana was stoked when she got her number...

Of course, we had to get the all important running club photo opp...

Bri and her awesome coach...

Silly times with dad again...

One of the boys from running club asked Bri to race (which is always a good thing to do before running a 5K - heh). Of course Bri loves a challenge and she obliged...

She kind of smoked him (he is on the left)...

It was time for warm up...

They do the Whip/Nae Nae plus exercises to warm up...

Here is some video of it...

The participants lined up at the starting area and I immediately saw Bri gravitating toward her coach.

Several days before the race, Bri and I had a discussion about "worrying about herself and not anyone else." Last year, she ran her race in 37 minutes (rock star), but she helped a boy with some encouragement (he was getting tired because he didn't do what he was told ~ started out too fast and was trying to keep up with friends) and that actually slowed her down a bit (which bothered her). This year, I said if she was running for time, she could concentrate on herself if she wanted. Bri was on the same page with me until she started the race.

Bri's coach had suffered a broken foot at the beginning of the year, so she couldn't train for this 5K. She made the decision to stay at the back of the group (since she couldn't really run for time) to make sure all the kids crossed the finish line. Bri knew this information. And instead of running for time, doing her best and worrying about herself, she decided to hang back with her coach. You can see her in the picture below doing exactly the opposite of what we discussed...

Hanging back...

We waited and waited and waited and waited for Bri to go around the airport path.

I was really frustrated because I knew Bri was not being serious about this race. This race wasn't supposed to be a social event. I didn't get up at 6AM in the morning on a Saturday and pay a fee for the race for her to just hang out with her coach. She can do that at school. She trained for this race. Seriously ~ there was a kid with a boot on (broken foot) that crossed the finish line before she did.

Finally, she came in with the back of the pack...

She made it in just under 52 minutes...

Now, no one knew the path was gravel until the last minute and it is much harder to run on gravel. Bri told me she stopped several times to get gravel out of her shoes. Bri is not a "grin and bear it" kind of kid, so she stopped. But even with a gravel path and a couple of stops, it shouldn't have added 15 whole minutes on to her run. She is too fast for that.

It was definitely frustrating...

After everyone crossed the finish line, the kids got on the blender bike and made smoothies...

And Bri received a participation medal...

Of course we were proud she wanted to even run the race. And we were proud that she finished the race. We were only disappointed because she didn't try her hardest. That is all we have ever asked of her.

She got a bit of a lecture. We told her she won't be running in any more 5K's if she pulls anything like this again. She said she understands ~ we'll see.

On a lighter note, a few days after the race, it was the last day of running club for the season and they had an ice cream sundae party...

I scooped more ice cream that day than I even want to talk about! It was pretty chaotic! The kids enjoyed it though.

So, the plan is for Bri to sign up again for running club for next (spring) semester. There will be another 5K scheduled in the spring ~ so we will see how it goes!