Purity Dairy Dash 2015

I've been in full training mode for the Country Music Marathon since January and, as such, didn't really plan on doing any races until then.

But Lissie has been begging me to run another race, and my dad mentioned wanting to run something, too. So I did some research and found this fun run. I remember my friend Stacy had done it and loved it, so we all signed up. The kids were stoked about the idea of running for ice cream and chocolate milk!

For a while, I had considered doing the 1-miler, 5K, AND the 10K to get in a total 10+ mile training run, but instead I decided to take it easy and just do the 10K and the 1-miler with the kids. My dad and Justin ran the 5K.

Once we signed up for the race last month, Lissie had wanted to go running to practice - just like mommy. We found the measly indoor track at the Y that rarely gets used, and the kids loved practicing their running there. We also did "cross training" with bike riding at parks and running outside when we could. They had a blast pretending to be super fast racers and being chased by monsters!

On the day of the race, Lissie was totally ready. She was taking off with a vengeance wanting her ice cream reward at the end. Xavier, on the other hand, decided he wasn't exactly interested in running after all, so I got an extra workout by running with 25 pounds of Xavier for almost a mile! When we neared the finish line, I put Xavier down, and we all ran the last little bit full speed ahead. They loved all of the cheers from the passersby! And, of course, they LOVED the ice cream treat afterwards!

Who knew we were behind the mayor of Nashville?

Post race hug with a cow.

They run for ice cream.

Lissie showing Xavier the proper technique for stretching.

Stretching after a hard workout.

We were also able to cheer Daddy on as he finished his 5K (with a whopping time of 26:05, beating his anticipated goal by two minutes)! I quickly passed the kids off to Justin and then got ready for my own race.

Lissie loved crossing the finish line again with daddy!

My only goal for my run was to finish in under an hour. I started off pretty strong, but I didn't have my running watch or phone to keep track of my pace - and I didn't see a mile marker until mile 3 - so I was getting a little discouraged, thinking that I was being super slow. I trudged on, refusing to walk, and I ended up finishing the run MUCH faster than I anticipated. I finished in 55:04, beating my previous best time by 6 minutes!

Lissie and Xavier joining me at my final stretch. I didn't really want to slow down, haha.

I kind of left Xavier hanging. He wanted to finish with me. Whoops.

All in all, it was an awesome race. It was so fun doing it as a family, and it was especially neat getting to eat ice cream and chocolate milk for breakfast. We did miss out on the macaroni and cheese, but I suppose there's always next year!

My kids are already asking when they can run again. Lissie says she needs to keep practicing for when she's grown up - she wants to be a cooker and a runner!

Later, Justin and I realized that all four of us got a personal record. Even though Xavier didn't really run, he got a PR just because it was his first race ever. Haha. And my dad? He finished sixth in his age group! Way to go us!