Several months ago, my brother and I brought my mother into a local running store here in Austin to have her fitted for a proper pair of running shoes. She was so excited and could not stop talking about how comfortable they were and how she couldn’t wait to get running! I told her that to help motivate her, I would buy her an entry into a 5k race and run it with her. If there is one thing my mother hates, it is wasting money, so I was confident with the money we spent on the shoes and buying her a race entry, there was no way she would back down and not run that race.
Fast forward a few months to the Donkey Dash 5k on October 4th. My mom was in town to help watch our kids while my wife and I went to the Austin City Limits Music Festival during the weekend. This made the Donkey Dash the perfect race for her to shoot for. She said she was nervous about the race. She had been pretty dedicated about her training over the previous months, but I know she was wondering how well she was going to do. That fact that it rained for a good part of the weekend and it was humid did not do much to ease her fear. I assured her everything would be just fine and to just have fun.
My 8 year old daughter Elizabeth, who had run a kid’s triathlon over the summer, said she wanted to run it as well. That sounded like a great idea. 3 generations running a local 5k, exercising and smiling and bonding. What could be better?
We checked in and received our race shirt and number. Then, after a little warm up walk, we were ready to go. Our strategy was not to run the whole race straight through, but to take periodic, 1 minute walk breaks. I set my Garmin to let me know every time we had run a quarter mile so we could be consistent with the breaks.
We situated ourselves near the back of the pack, where we were happy to meet a woman who was a 5k rookie as well. Elizabeth and Grammie were not going to be the only first timers, which I think made everyone more comfortable. The race started through a mall parking lot, then emptied out onto a flat road. So far it looked like a perfect course for my mom and daughter. Nice and flat. In fact, it was so perfect, we ran straight through our first walk break. Oops!
Mom seemed to being doing great. In fact, several times during the race, she seemed surprised that it was already time for another walk break. I know how boring races can be, especially if there isn’t much crowd support, so I kept chatting along the way, sharing some of my race experiences, and hopefully taking Mom’s mind off of any boredom that may be setting in.
Elizabeth didn’t seem to be having a great time, however. She kept saying she was hot and tired, and was wondering where the next water stop was. She ran/walked most of the race about 40 feet behind us, for whatever reason not wanting to be a part of our little group. Oh well!
When we turned into the mall parking lot for the quarter mile home stretch, we saw Kim and Katherine holding up a sign saying “Go Daddy, Grammie and Elizabeth.” We ran right through our last scheduled walk break and kicked it into gear. Elizabeth caught up to us, and I could feel my Mom speeding up a bit and finishing strong. The announcer saw us running and called out Elizabeth’s and my name over the loudspeaker, and we all crossed the finish line together.
My Mom was very interested in her time, and was happy to know we had beaten her goal of 50 minutes. When we got back home, we checked the website and found that she finished her first 5k in 47:32! I also pointed out that she was 2nd in her age group, but she was on to me and asked how many were in her age group. “Not important,” I smirked.
I am very proud of my Mom for doing this. It is not easy to train for any race. Training takes discipline, consistency and desire. She displayed all of that in the months leading up to the race. It is often said that the real accomplishment is in the training, not the race. Well, she wins on both counts.
She will be running another 5k next weekend in Phoenix, and is eagerly looking to set a PR. I think she may have caught the bug, and I look forward to running another race with her soon.
