Pie and Glove 5K

On Thanksgiving Day, we were in Corning, NY where I grew up and where my parents and brother still live.   I really wanted to do a 5K and one of my friends from there told me about the Pie and Glove 5K. I guess my uncle, who is a huge runner, usually runs it but he was out of town at his son's so I once again missed a race with him. That's still on my running bucket list! There is no way I can keep up, but someday...

My parents and Dave also signed up for the 5K. I did originally plan on walking it together, but oops adrenaline got the best of me.

Waiting to start

We started out at the back to be nice to all the runners. We got there early to get a parking spot at the high school and surprisingly there were still spots at the beginning of the race. It was a good sized race for the area; over 1000 people, and I guess they all parked further away. We got our bibs and were trying to figure out what to run in. I think it was in the 40's when it started, and since we were just walking I had on a pair of cotton pants, a wicking t-shirt, and a sweatshirt over that. I also decided at the last minute to throw a hat on so my ears wouldn't get cold.

When we started I guess I kinda took off walking at a fast pace. I do like to walk, and I do walk fast, so I didn't really mean to. My mom stayed with me, though, and I thought out of the 4 of us she would probably have the slowest pace. So I figured if she was with me, we were at a good pace. (Later she told me it was kind of fast.) I was surprised when I looked back that Dave and my dad were a bit behind, because I thought I was going pretty slowly. (They all told me later that I wasn't. Oops.)

My mom and I were talking, and I don't even know about what, so I wasn't really paying attention to anything around me. We didn't get very far before the lead runner was coming back, which I'm definitely not used to! We cheered the first few runners on and kept walking. With our talking, I also missed the 1 mile marker. Oh, I forgot to mention that I left my Garmin watch at my parents'. I'm such a nerd, I depend on that thing, even for walking, and was really disappointed about that. So I don't have any numbers or mile breakdowns and really have no idea how fast we were going.

My sister from Savannah called and my mom handed me the phone, which apparently slows me down. I did blame her for slowing down but I guess I can't talk on the phone and walk. At that point, my Dad and Dave caught up to us. We hung up the phone, and my Dad and I kind of looked at each other and picked up the pace. I was hoping my Mom and Dave wouldn't mind (but I admit it was kind of mean). We circled around in Denison Park and kept talking about passing the next walking group we saw ahead of us.

When we hit mile 2, I started talking about running. Dad said he can't run from the front door to the mailbox and I told him he could. I was really itching to run, even though I didn't really have on running clothes. But we kept walking, picking up the pace, and passing people. That was really fun.

I also had my first on a race course- getting cut off by an old woman shuffling across the street in her slippers. I have no idea what she was doing but she didn't seem to care that a race was ongoing and cut right in front of us. I just laughed.

The race began and ended at the high school and there was a bridge to cross over. It was the only "hill" of the course. We got within sight of it, and I started talking about running again. I knew that was about .2-.3 miles from the top of the bridge and I tried to convince my Dad what a good idea it would be to just run the end. I even said that the downhill from the bridge would give us a push to get going. He still seemed a little reluctant. But, as we got to the top, a daughter rounded back to get her parents and was telling them to run it out. So they started running, I looked at my Dad, and we started running. Thank you, competitive Thurkins gene, haha! I don't really know if that's what sparked him on, but he did it!

We rounded a corner, saw the 3 mile marker, and I tried to just chat him up the rest of the way. We crossed the finish line and the clock said 50:XX. I didn't remember what the seconds were but I said we might have beat 50 minutes. My Dad thought we definitely did (and when we got the results, yes we did! 48:47).

We got water at the end (no food, I was a bit disappointed with that, and HUNGRY) and turned around to cheer on Dave and my Mom. We did get to see them cross the finish line and didn't embarrass them too much.

My dad and me at the end (finish line is behind us)

A couple of things I didn't mention in the recap.

It was in my hometown and I did see some friends from high school. That was really neat. I also saw some people I recognized but couldn't remember the names of. I should remember this and try to actually meet up with some of my friends if I do something like this again! I never really thought I'd see anyone I'd know.

The end is kind of annoying when everyone is else is done. We were trying to run the last .2ish miles and there were people milling about and walking back on the course. I found that pretty annoying. I know I'm usually done closer to 30 minutes so I don't see it, but at the last 5K I walked we didn't have this problem at all. So runners, just keep that in mind at the end! There are still some people out there working their butts off and there were still a decent number of walkers. I'm definitely going to pay more attention in the future.

I'm proud of my parents and Dave. But especially of my Dad. I really didn't think he would run any of it and he did. I love "racing" with my family. My 5K in Savannah with my sister was one of my favorites and I can't wait to do it again.