Today I ran in a local race called Bears on the Run. It is a fundraiser for my 9 year old's school. In theory it is supposed to be a 5000 meter race on a 400 meter track. But the starting directions were to do 14.1 laps. Hmmm....pulling out my pocket calculator reveals something amiss.
Anyway, I decided to run while pushing my twins in a double toddler jogger. That added around 75 to 80 pounds to my "race weight". The starting line had about 50 people, with about 70% grade school and junior high school kids. The starting gun went off and so did the field.
Early on there were a good 20 people in front of me, but I just kept moving forward. My twins were laughing and saying "Faster" (easy for them to say).
My 9 year old was walking laps as part of a walk-a-thon on the same track so as we passed we gave high-fives to each other.By the 3rd lap, I had moved up to third. I stayed there a couple of laps, but then moved into second. I could see the first place runner ahead, but just couldn't get closer than 100 meters. Soon, I knew I was approaching the final laps. On one lap, the lap keeper said "3 to go". So I kept it up. Some people on the side said "You only have 2 laps to go". But I figured I should listen to the race official.
As I came down for my bell lap - I looked ahead. First place wasn't there anymore. That was strange...but I began to suspect what had happened.
Sure enough, after I finished I learned that they had added an extra lap to my race. Oh well....I did a 6000 meter race pushing my twin boys(3 and half year old) and a double stroller. Nice fun work-out. Final time was a little over 25 minutes.
Team Geraldi - Me, my twins Christopher and Aidan, and big brother Brandon
5 comments:
Go team Geraldi! Pretty cool you came in second with the double stroller!
Thanks Peter, but remember that a majority of the field were kids. Btw: my son Brandon did the walk a thon and did about 5 miles. My 3.5 year old Aidan walked almost 2.5 miles with him. Ultraholics in training :)
Awesome stuff Alan! Yea your kids are all set to become chips of the ol' block!
Were there ribbons placed around the track to keep you from getting lost :-)
Fun stuff! But if you're really looking to crush 5K-ish PR's, you should come to the 2.95 mile high school Varsity XC race at Crystal Springs next Tuesday. If you get 2nd place pushing a baby stroller there, I'll give you my SC50K coffee cup :) Anyways, glad to hear it was fun. With the way your kids are going, perhaps I will have the honor of pacing Team Geraldi at Western States 2025. Good luck with all your upcoming races!
Thanks Raj and Michael. Pretty soon I won't be able to keep up with the kids...and in a few years they can run races pushing me in my wheelchair :)
Also, Michael - AWESOME time at the Firetrails run! A little over 8 hours in a hilly 50 miler?!!! Man - you are downright scary!!!!
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