I ended up running the local 5k on Saturday. It was at the airport and a very cool race for a few reasons:

• They closed down some runways and that’s where we raced! How often does that happen?
• The course was spectator friendly and flat. It went up one runway, then back, then up another runway and back.
• Frank Shorter was there to give a talk, sign autographs, run the race, and hand out awards!
• Entertaining for kids. The zoomobile was there, the US Army National Guard had a display aircraft and there was a kids race.

Post-race posing by display aircraft

• Awards happened quickly after the race and there was decent prize money.

We had a neighborhood block party the night before so I ended up eating cheese (on pizza) and watermelon (I have a bad history with watermelon the night before hard efforts) plus lots of desserts and snack foods. Not the ideal pre-race foods but they didn’t effect me so I got lucky! Our friends came to the race site to watch our daughter so both Jeff and I could race. Amazing! We were so thankful!

I lined up on the start line this week, and guess who planted himself right in front of me? Frank Shorter! I was star-struck, but tried to keep my cool. I made a little small talk, he made a little small talk, and I found out he was planning to run 10 minute miles. I was planning to run 5:28-5:38 so I knew our time next to each other was short.

The gun went off and I felt pretty good. I did a 5:24 first mile which was exactly what I was planning. The women’s leader did a 5:13. I’m glad I didn’t hang, that would have been too fast and resulted in a slower time because my speedwork has been lacking. I didn’t see the 2 mile or 3 mile markers, but I obviously slowed down as I finished in 17:32 and second woman. This was 16 seconds slower than my 5k 2 weeks ago, but 17 seconds faster than my 5k last weekend. All courses were USATF certified. The female winner ran 17:11 and I wanted to run 17-17:05 which is probably unrealistic until I do some more track work which I haven’t done in over 3 weeks now.

You can view the race highlights in the video below by Team Boyce. If you would like to see me struggling toward the finish, check out around 2:40 into the video. I can also be seen at :40, 1:07, and 1:34 of the video.

After the race we ran around trying to get our daughter signed up for the kids run, since she was really excited about doing it. We actually skipped our cooldown! She was so excited to be on the starting line. I positioned myself at the finish and my husband was all set to take video. All of a sudden, my husband lost sight of my daughter (she is VERY quick!) Thankfully, our buddy, Joe, was standing there and spotted her heading the wrong direction. Jeff redirected her and she was off and running in her first race ever!

Currie's first race. Pushing in to the finish to get a low-5 from Frank Shorter!

Currie was so happy to get a bottle of water and ribbon post-race!

Jeff took a video of the kids race, which can be seen below. You can see Currie give Frank a low-5 and he says “ha-ha! I love it!”

Shortly after the kids race, it was time for the 5k awards ceremony. They were really on top of things! Again, no time to do the cooldown. We slurped down frozen cappuccinos and listened to the awards. The women’s awards were initially messed up because they had me entered as a male. That was quickly straightened out and I collected my $100 (first place got $200). Jeff was 1st in his age group and got a family four pack of tickets to the Rochester Science Museum.

Frank Shorter gave out the awards. Very cool experience!

After the awards, we had Frank sign our bibs and Currie’s ribbon. He was a really nice guy. I love runners! What a fun race! While I wasn’t ecstatic about my time or place, I had a great day and was glad the whole family could join in on the race action.

Posing with Frank after autographs!

Our autographed bibs, ribbon and prizes from the race.

 Have you met any famous runners (or famous people in general)?