Race Review: Run Like A Mother 5k

 May 11, 2014 was Mother's Day, and what better way to celebrate it than to push my sweet "babies" across the finish line in a 5k?

The kids and I participated in the "Run Like A Mother" race.  According to their website, there are a few races in various cities around the US.  Maybe there is one near you?

I think it is a fun race and worth making a mother's day tradition.

Not all events around the US are "stroller friendly", which is a shame, since it is a race celebrating moms and on Mother's day.  I am lucky enough that my race was considered "stroller friendly"... but let me tell you a little bit about that....

The race starts on a local high school track and exits out onto the street, but to get that street entailed pushing my behemoth stroller through a patch of grass, some uneven terrain of a pit/hole/ old mud puddle and then lower the stupid thing over a curb. (Maybe I wouldn't have been so picky about the minor obstacle course if I hadn't just ran a half marathon the day before... and pushed myself hard in that race.)

I'd also like to take this moment to brag about my BAMR (Bad Ass Mother Runner) status and explain that the combined weight of the kids in that stroller was over 65 lbs.  We also had snack cups, water bottles, diaper bag, coats for everyone and toys.  

My goal was just to finish, since I was still pretty sore.

We started in the back with the other mamas pushing strollers and wove our way in a slow trot weaving around the course and the moms of all ages walking or running with their kids of all ages.  

The course had some pretty good inclines and one really nasty hill.  I'm not just a sore, over ran mother complaining either.  :)  I heard all about that hill from some of my Moms RUN This Town running mates who also signed up for this event.  Once you get past those inclines and steep hill, the course winds back and forth on itself, giving a stroller pushing mama 13 corners to navigate in 3.1 miles.  I was grateful at mile 2.5 to pass a dear friend working at the aid station and she gave me some much needed cheers to get me through that final leg of the race.

Since me and the kiddos were out on the course, the husband was a race volunteer and handed out finisher's medals and pretty tulips to each finisher.

Having him at the finish line like this was a unique opportunity for him to greet each finisher and see a race in a new way.  he had never volunteered before.

When I got through the finish gate, he handed me my flower and medal, gave me a "good job hun, you're flying!  Go rest." and later he told me that I was the third stroller pushing mama to cross the finish line and the first double stroller!!!  (The announcer gave credit to another mama for crossing as the first double stroller, but the announcer was also so busy reading our names off the timing ship system, that he forgot to notice my HUGE double stroller when I came in 10 minutes earlier.)  ;-)   I didn't feel like I was "flying" but I was certainly feeling my right quad and IT band.

The medals are beautiful and between the two races I had the joy of running on Mother's day weekend, the 5k was my favorite.... even though the half marathon was such an awesome PR.

When I got home though, and looked at the results from the race.... the 5k was also a PR!!  I had cut about 2 minutes off my last 5k race time.  Not bad for having a bulky double stroller and being sore from 13.1 miles the day before!   

"Team Robin"

The charity for our event was "My Little Waiting Room" which is a drop-in daycare for a local hospital so that families can visit patients.  

Festivities at the event had plenty of booths to look through and try some samples... kids could get their face painted and make cheering signs.  A local physical therapist had some foam rollers out on the turf in the stadium for participants to use.

It may have been a little bit more festive to have a local band playing?  But here certainly was a fun post-race environment and a race I'd like to do over again.

I'm pretty sure that anyone who knew me one year ago would think I was crazy for wanting to wake up early and run while hauling the kids in the stroller as a way to celebrate Mother's Day.

Have you gone out for a run or did a race as a form of "celebration"?