Tuesday, April 17, 2012

2012 Martian 5k and Kids Marathon Recap

Friday night, after returning from the Expo, I was busy with the usual pre-race preparations.  Getting every one's clothes ready in their own piles for the morning - socks, undies, shorts, top, sweat pants and jacket.  Making a bag of all "extras" that might be needed: rain ponchos, umbrellas, gloves, sun visors, etc.  This bag is usually pretty standard and I keep it full, but still like to check it the night before to ensure all is there.  I also prepare the food for the cooler so at 5 am, it can just be put in there with an ice pack and away we go.  I made sunflower butter sammies for Hubby and Kids, packed some organic grapes, sunflower seeds, homemade muffins, organic yogurt for me, water and some gram crackers.  Anything that could be put in the truck also was.

At 5:30 am, my iPhone promptly went off at the same time as Pea's lego alarm.  Hubby and I got a good chuckle, we did not know she set it the night before!  So cute, she wanted her medal and didn't want to be late to the party!  After getting dressed and a quick breakfast of oats and yogurt with honey and cinnamon for me, oats and honey for hubby and organic cereal and milk for the kids we were off!

We drove the new "Mama Mobile" down to Dearborn with the view of lightning in the distance and some rain off and on.  I thought I knew where I was going, I assumed we needed to get off Michigan Ave and head East, past the expo center.  We did this for a while, even stopped at a McDonalds for a potty break and headed east again. Pretty soon, it was evident the Mama Mobile was pointed in the wrong direction as it did not look very good.  We turned around and headed the right way, just as Hubby exclaimed I didn't think that was right.  Well, for someone who layed tons of concrete in the City of Dearborn as well as Detroit along Michigan Ave, perhaps speaking up sooner might have helped ;)  All was well though.

We headed back West now and found ourselves in some light traffic with police and barricades, this was the good thing.  Bad thing was it was 7:40am and both the 5K and 10K started at 8.  Miss Time Keeper in the back was getting antsy as we looked for parking.  We found a lot close to the starting area, but all sorts of signs were posted about towing, etc...  Well, we parked and reasoned, hoped and prayed that no tow trucks would be lurking around the new Mama Mobile for at least an hour so kiddies and Mama could run the 5K then come back and find a "legal" parking spot.

We got out, made sure all the bibs were in the right spots and headed to the start.  There was a light sprinkle, but nothing that needed any accessories.  The 5K and the 10K used the same starting line, so we all headed together towards the back.  Hubby in my 10K bib and me in his 5K as I was unsure how Hammie would behave and feel.  We were off, we walked to the starting line, slow going as usual and then right after, went up hill.  We rounded a corner to a street that turned residential and continued on.

Right before Mile 1, on Military St. the 10K headed straight and the 5k participants made a right turn.  We already gave Daddy the go ahead after the starting line to head out after about 1/2 mile with us.  Right after the 1 Mile mark, someone became hot and needed her coat off.  This required unpinning the race bib that I pinned over the zipper. Note to self in future, if kids start off with a jacket, keep the bib pinned to the inside shirt, not the outer jacket.  I'm sure the stop would have been much quicker.

The rest of the run was great and through some beautiful neighborhoods.  Monkey even exclaimed that each 5K he does gets easier.   Pea asked me to do a 10K with her and we should have enough time to get her ready for the Solstice so we set a date!  The kids crossed the finish line within 2 seconds of each other, and I did 10 seconds later.  They were battling it to the end!  Our time was just over 38 minutes. (remember the coat stop)

Once we were done, we quickly walked up hill, again to the Mama Mobile and found her right where we left her.  She was happy and without any stickers or warnings so we all hopped in and found an awesome spot in a paid city lot.  I had to use my cell phone to call and pay for the meter, need some change in the new truck, but we were parked.  We got into the cooler and grabbed some food to go and see Daddy finish his first 10K!
First 10K, Finish time of 1:01.6!
Hubby did great!  He laughed as the announcer said my name when he crossed, good thing 2 women were right by him.  (For the record, I asked if we could switch bibs at the Expo and were told we could)  We relaxed for a bit by the finish and had our snacks.
Now, we had over 2 hours to kill till the Kids Martian Marathon.  You see, they had to run and document 25 miles before April 14th and then run the last 1.2 miles at the race to get a REAL Martian Marathon Medal!  We walked, BOUGHT and paid for a Giant 8' Mama Martian, went to Starbucks, and hung out in the truck for a good 45 minutes during a downpour.  Those poor marathoners and half marathoners out there in the rain!

Around 11:40 it was still raining a bit so we put the kids North Face rain jackets on them with the plastic ponchos over them, grabbed our umbrellas and headed to the start area.  They were grouping the kids, all 1,500 of them, by grade.  For ease, I had 2 second graders today.  The rain slowed enough so we took off their ponchos and left the jackets on them.  The crowd was crazy, well with 1,500 kids, parents and siblings in one area it was to be expected.  We talked about letting the kids run it themselves, but after seeing the crowd and having no idea where they were going, I decided to run it with them.

Our wave was announced and we were off through the covered bridge, really small but it was cute!  We Squeezed through that then there was a quick left onto some grass covered with hay to try and reduce the mud.  Ok, not what I had pictured.  Assumed the kids would be in a subdivision or something (I brought the map with me but tossed it before I got a chance to study it)  We were in a park - yea, must be Ford Field Park!  We looped around the park, around the flags, up a hill, down a  hill, though a muddy trail and then out towards the main finish line.  Daddy was waiting for us and the kids got their medals!  They were so proud to wear them!

It was a great day and we plan on coming back next year! 

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