I Did It! and more!

In our walking group, my friend Emily brought up that there was a 5K in Owosso, MI (where Roswell was born). I thought it would be a great way to shed some pounds while training. Dan and I were going to run in it together but the week before he realized that he'd have to be working at a graduation in Grand Rapids. Ya, sure! Just kidding -I'm sure Dan would rather have been with us. So Emily and I did it together. Our wonderful friends Tom and Stephanie gladly told us they would watch the kids. That was a very nice relief.

Emily, Stephanie, Tom, me

Abby, Dono, Ross, and Elliott

Emily Forsyth and I before the race.

Off we go. Emily is in the pink and I'm in purple on her right.

A 5K is 3.1 miles. Like I said we'd been practicing for a while (but not nearly as often as I should have) but we'd been practicing while pushing our strollers. This seemed a lot easier. We were by no means the fastest, nor the slowest. At 10 minutes in, a guy was already on his way back to the finish line. It was a little disheartening seeing all the people in front of us returning to the finish, but then I knew we wouldn't be fast. I guess we were kind of in the middle. With Emily's knee problems and my shins we took shifts walking and running. It was amazing how Emily was very encouraging. She was giving her support not only to me, but also to those that we were passing and/or passing us. She was a great companion to run with. I only hope I wasn't slowing her down, I don't think she would have told me if I was. We finished in 41:05. Not bad. This was my first time and something to definitely improve upon.

After the race we found some more friends.

Renae, me, Leslie, Emily

The 5K was part of the Curwood Festival. They had a lot of things going on. We walked to the events. I bet we walked at least another 5K.

Here was a mock village dedicated to the Revolutionary Era:

Soldiers polishing boots, hats, and playing the drum.

The boys exiting a teepee where there was a bedroom of the times.

This guy reminded me of my dads: Mine and Dan's. He had all sorts of guns that he was showing off. There was also a box with a baby rattler in it. A sign said to ask if we wanted to see it. So we asked. He brought out a plastic snake with a baby's rattle attached to its tail. Ha ha. He was very amused.

Donovan doing the laundry old school.

Elliott taking his turn. I need to put them to work when we get back home!

What's a festival without clowns?

The kids with their free balloon creations.

Donovan - giraffe, Abby -heart, Elliott -sword

We had a very busy fun day. We accomplished a lot to be proud of. And to tell you the truth, I thought I would be sore the next day, I'm really not. Dan's looking into other 5K's for us to do together. I'm hoping to be better prepared and fit by that time. Maybe that's how I can lose my next 10 pounds!