Heroes for Kids 5K--race recap

This morning was the Heroes for Kids 5K in Fayetteville. The run was to help purchase wheelchairs and bikes for children with disabilities. I will admit I was kind of dreading not looking forward to this race due to the lack of information I received ahead of time, but I have to say this was probably my favorite race yet. Here are the reasons why this race was my favorite.

1. Running with Alea was AWESOME! She talked about crafts almost the entire time. Crafts she likes, crafts she wants to do next, the crafts she had planned for the day. My girl loves crafts and she had a captive audience to talk about her crafting plans. 

2. Along with #1...great mommy/daughter time.

3. A great fundraising event. Probably over half of the people there had a child with disabilities. At one point Alea looked at me and said, "Am I'm the only kid here without a disability?" My sweet girl wasn't pointing out the other children's disabilities she was worried because she thought she didn't fit in. I love this kid!!! 

4. A large number of the children there today had been adopted with several different families having adopted children from the same orphanage in the Ukraine. It was neat to see the families interact and to see their support network. I have been very emotional lately and it was all I could do not to start crying before the race.

5. The race seems to have been the brainchild of Dimitri, a 12ish year old boy. Dimitri and his parents, along with his other adopted siblings, put this race together. Dimitri was adopted from the Ukraine. His personality was so awesome. He was so outgoing and made a point to go around before the race and thank everyone for attending and coming out on a cold morning. He was a very neat kid. I could tell Davin thought he was pretty awesome too.

6. The trail was very pretty. It was a paved running/bike trail in Fayetteville. I have seen people on this trail for years but have never been on the trail myself. It made me think of Central Park because we were surrounded by city but all you could see were the creeks, trees, animals, and the path.

7. The race kicked off from a bike shop near the trail that was right next to the Panera Bread Co. This meant  Alea and I were able to gear up for the race with some extra special hot chocolate...which she kept calling latte.

8. I love all of the pictures of Alea and I in our pink superhero shirts. Apparently I was the only one to think of superheroes when I saw this was a Heroes for Kids race. 

9. Along with #9...we got a lot of compliments on our shirts. Alea's shirts and bat wings were a huge hit. At least half of the runners there (about 150) commented on Alea and her shirt. One lady even starting singing the Batman theme song to her on the course. Of course she loved all of the attention.

10. I almost had a new PR (personal record). During the first mile Alea kept saying, "Hurry up, Mom!" During the second mile she kept asking if we were almost done. During the third mile she kept saying, "I can't go on! I can't do it! My feet hurt! My legs hurt! I need to stop! I am going to die! Quit dragging me! Quit leaving me! I can't do this! Stop running!"...I guess you get the idea. On the first mile I had one of my top five best times ever. Mile 2 was a little over my normal race time for a mile and mile 3 took us 19 minutes. I really did have it in me to do at least a 15 minute mile for the last leg but Alea wouldn't hear of that at all! In the end I had about a 30 second slower pace than my Run for a Child run in September which is my PR time.

...and now...it's picture time.

Our pre race lattes...I mean hot chocolates.

I have no idea why Wonder Woman and Batgirl are doing Karate...just go with it.

I super duper love her!

My little Batgirl!

Batgirl with her bat wings.

 Our super family.

Alea and I were practicing our starting pose.

We were suppose to be doing our fake run but she decided to really run and call out "Race Ya!" when she took off. I let her win...by not even starting. 

Here we go!

The 2 mile fun run started after we took off.

Batgirl's bat signal. (or shadow)

She's flying! 

(That is what all the other races would say when they saw her running with her wings on.)

A neat bridge that we ran across.

The home stretch.

Hitting the finish line! Way to go girl! I had been prepping her for a few weeks now about how we were going to cross the finish line holding hands. When she saw her Daddy with the camera she took off. So much for running as a team. She had to win. Yep, that's me in the background. I love that she ditched me after I dragged her bootie the last mile. Feelin' the love!

Yea me! My third 5K.

Our post race smiles! Running in cooler weather is awesome. Our post race picture doesn't look that different from our pre race picture. 

I sat down to stretch and then I laid down...then this happened.

 During the last mile when Alea was whining and complaining I promised her bacon if she would run with me. She likes to tell me that she is going to marry bacon someday. She loves it. We went to Susan's (our favorite breakfast spot) after the race. Bacon was had by all. 

The End