Race Recap: Blackwell Dairy 15K/3K Fun Run

We came, we ran, we ate ice cream!

Kyle, Isla, and I all  ran this year, with Kyle doing the full 15K and Isla and I doing the 3K. The heat was definitely going to play a factor, but I think we all managed to do pretty well! Norah hung out at Grandma’s house, but next year will definitely be her year to join in. Honestly, she absolutely could’ve done it this year, but oh well …

Anyway, Isla has been looking forward to this race since we finished the Boogie the Bridge back in April. She was a tad impatient waiting for the 3K race to start (the longest 15 minute wait EVER as we started after the 15K runners), but once we started she was right into it! She didn’t stop running until sometime after the 1K mark, and even then she only took a couple of walking breaks and pauses to catch her breath.

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Once we got to the first hill she started to slow down and wanted to walk, but I coaxed her to keep running by offering her my Fitbit to wear. (She’s been obsessed with earning steps, haha.) While it worked, she soon took a bit of a spill and scraped her knees up pretty good. Thankfully, it was right at an road crossing, so there was a traffic control volunteer who saw her tumble. Isla hobbled along and the wonderful woman stationed at the crossing sat her down, gave her some water, and found a bandaid in her car to patch Isla up with. I am SO thankful for that volunteer because I don’t know if I could’ve gotten Isla to keep going after that. While we ended up walking the remainder of the course, we only had about 1K to go. Isla even agreed to run across the finish line, and boy, did she ever! She really gave it her all at the end and I’m so proud of her. Even with her wipeout she finished with a time of 34:49! (Last year she ran it in 40:02!)

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Of course, we celebrated afterwards with delicious ice cream and waited for Kyle to come in from his 15K. He ended up besting his time from last year by a couple of minutes, so I’m super proud of him as well!

Isla was also super excited to see our “trail” thanks to the Fitbit as well:

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I hit pause when she wiped out, thus why the tracker time is different than our bib time.

Next year Kyle is contemplating stepping down to do the 3K race with the girls and I’m thinking really hard about upping my race distance and going for the 15K! At least I have a whole year to decide, and a good chunk of the spring to train.

Anyway, overall it was a great day, and again, I have to give a huge shout-out to the Kamloops Ridge Runners and all the volunteers on the course for helping make this yet another great run!

Race Recap: The Starting Block 3km Fun Run

I’ll start off by being completely honest: The day before I wasn’t even sure if Isla and I were going to do this race! While Kyle had already signed up for the full 10km race, I wasn’t completely feeling up to doing the 3km fun run with Isla the day before. The weather wasn’t really all that great and the roads were going to be icy, but of course after asking Isla if she wanted to run in a race she said yes, and who could deny her? Certainly not me …

So on Sunday off we went to just outside of Vernon for the race. We had a decent drive in but then motion sickness sunk in for Isla and we had just, JUST, parked the truck and got her out of her seat when she barfed in the truck. (Thank goodness for rubber floor mats!) I asked if she still wanted to race and she said yes, so not wanting to disappoint her, I got into my running shoes and she hers and we signed up while Kyle warmed up.

The 3km fun run started immediately after the 10km runners left the starting line, so Isla was excited to start. She got off to a good pace, but the roads were snowy and icy and her feet eventually got cold and she wasn’t enjoying it. Norah was having a grand ol’ time just being pushed in the stroller, but she eventually grew weary of it all and also started whining. Fun times!

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And she’s off!!

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And she’s spent.

 

There’s one thing that never fails to impress me, and that’s the encouragement that everyone gives one another; Isla was cheered on by the race volunteers and even the other runners to keep going and that she was doing awesome. Even the few 10km runners who were passed us on their way to the finish line told Isla she could do it. (I’d be out of breath and dying if I were running that far!)

I think the big cheering section at the end gave Isla an extra bit of adrenaline, because she managed to run one last time to get through the finish line with a smile on her face. Yay! We managed to finish the 3km run with about 10 minutes to spare before we expected Kyle to finish his 10km, and both girls were excited to cheer him through. :)

Overall, it was a pretty decent start to the 2017 racing season! The cold weather is behind her and Isla’s already looking forward to the next one!

Race Recap: Blackwell Dairy 3km Fun Run

This race was exactly what it’s titled: Fun! We signed up a week before race day and it twas a family affair, with Isla, Norah and I “running” the 3km fun run and Kyle doing the full 15km race.

While we’ve heard a lot of things about the Blackwell Dairy Race, this is the first time we decided to participate. (Obviously, since Kyle only recently started entering races.) He wasn’t feeling 100% prepared for the 15kms, and I had no idea how Isla would do running in the fun run, but we geared up Sunday morning and hoped for the best!

Kyle headed out to the starting line with his mom ahead of the girls and I so he could pick up our race packages. (We forgot to on Saturday and there was no way I could get myself and the girls out to the race location by the 8:30am pickup deadline.) I met up with them about 15 minutes before the 15km race was going to start, so we got to wish Kyle luck on his run before he lined up for the 9am start.

The 3km fun run didn’t start until 9:15am, so the girls and I hung out with Kyle’s mom until it was time for us to head out.

Like I had mentioned before, I had no idea how Isla was going to handle the run. She’s been asking non-stop to “race with daddy,” so this was the closest thing she could do for the time being. And honestly? She did SO good! She ran her little heart for about half the course until she started to get tired, but she didn’t give up once. (The ice cream promised at the finish line was a HUGE motivator for her, haha!) Once she saw the finish line, she kicked it into high gear for one last sprint and finished with a smile on her face.

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And Norah did awesome as well! She was happy as ever in the stroller and fell asleep around the 1km mark and slept until after we crossed the finish line and got our ice cream, about 40 minutes all together!

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She had to get the ice cream that matched her shirt ;)

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I have no idea what our “official” time was, but I think the girls and I finished in about 35 minutes. We ate our cones while we waited for Kyle to cross the finish line, and Isla cheered loud and proud for him as he finished! My heart most definitely burst when she ran up to him for a celebratory hug. ;)

(Kyle did awesome with an official time of 1:27:07. Not too shabby considering how challenging this course is, and I’m so proud of him!)

Oh, and I got a great little workout pushing Norah along in the stroller and cheering/encouraging Isla on! While Isla ran, I managed to keep up/set the pace by speed walking. At one point I tried to get ahead of her to take a photo but she started sprinting because she though I was going to leave her behind :(

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Norah was the family cheerleader!

We’re already looking forward to running this race again next year! It was a great challenge and like I said before, I’m super proud of how well both Isla and Kyle did! Her dad really is her hero <3