Crazy Coyote Chase Recap

Ok, first, I have a winner for the 26.2 Shubeez!!!  And the winner in...
                   
                                          KATY McPHERSON ALDERTON

Katy, please email me at runningwhilemommy@yahoo.com with your address and I will get it to you ASAP.  Thanks!

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Saturday, we ran in the BRMS Crazy Coyote Chase 5k and 1 mile fun run.  George and I were signed up for the 5k and Gracie for the 1 mile.

Packet pickup was at the school and we got there a few minutes early and everyone was still setting up. After about 10 minutes we had our numbers and t-shirts.

When I looked at the first number, George's, it was the number 7.  I said, look George, it's how old your are.  He thought that was cool and then I looked at my number, 41.  What, that is how old I am.  I immediately looked at Gracie's but it was 1066.  Not even close to 4, but funny none the less.

Right before bed, the kids and I laid out our race outfits.  This race encouraged you to dress crazy, so we decided to go as the Super Family.  Honestly, we went with that because Superman shirts were the one thing we all had that matched and I am not very creative.

My family got up without any trouble and seemed excited to put on there super shirts. We all had a nice breakfast and then headed to the race.

We were a little early because we weren't sure about parking.  That turned out to not be a problem.

When we headed into the school, we saw Elaine and Little Elaine.  Together, we headed over to the Kids Corner to drop off the girls.

Now if you read my interview with the race director, Karen Binniker, then you know what I am talking about.  The kids Corner was in the gymnasium and it was staffed by YMCA employees.  They played games with kids and kept them happy while we raced.  This is one of the best ideas I have ever seen for a race.

We signed them in, they got bracelets that matched our numbers and then we headed to the start line.

It was way colder than I had thought it would be and I had short sleeves on.  I really didn't want to wear my jacket because I knew it would be too much, plus it would of covered my Superman shirt.  I couldn't have that, LOL. Lucky for me, Elaine had on a little jacket that she was not going to wear and it fit perfect under my shirt.  Whoohoo, I won't freeze!

At the start line, we saw KB and her hubs.  We snapped a few pics and the then we heard the horn.

Me with KB.

Ready to go!

Elaine is wearing the best pants ever!

This was not a big race, less than 200 people.  George really wanted to be in the front of the pack, but I held him back a bit.   This race, it seemed, was mostly families and people just out for a good time, but even still, there were some really serious racers in the front and I did not want to get in the way.

George took off when the horn blew and started weaving in and out of people.  I knew he was going to fast, but he would not listen to me.  He really wanted to win.  As a mother, you don't want to discourage your kids but I knew winning was not going to happen.  Even so, I could not stop him so I let him go with me staying close behind.

Right before we hit a mile, he stopped and told me he was going to be sick.  We walked and he calmed down.  I was explaining to him about not going out to fast, finding a pace that is good for us and that whoever was gonna win this race, is already close to the finish line.  No point in trying to catch up this time.

Still, when he felt better, he took off on me again!  This time for not as long and then when he burnt out, we walked.

When we got the water stop, it was manned by mostly kids.  A bunch a boys loved that George was dressed as Superman and they handed him water and said how great he looked, and way to go!  This charged George and once again, off he went!

Not for long though and from here on out he stayed with me and we ran/walked for the rest of the race.

The course was on the road and we stayed on the sidewalk for most of it.  There were some rolling hills but nothing that was really challenging.  They did a great job with the traffic and I felt safe the whole time, even for George who spent the first half of the race in front of me.

This was a loop course that started and ended at the school.  Once we saw that the school was in sight, we found a nice pace and ran into the finish together.  It was great having Elaine, KB and hubs, and Mr. RWM there to cheer us in.  We finished in 36:56.

We headed over for water and food which was a really nice spread provided by Panera Bread.  George took a minute to recoup and then we sprung the girls from the kids corner and headed to the 1 mile fun run.

I was really looking forward to running with Gracie.  I did not get to do that at the kids run at the Ocean's Run in March.

At the start, they had a women who led us in a warm up and Gracie loved all the jumping up and down.  It was cute.

It was fun to see the Crazy Coyote and we got to take a pic with him.  He was leading the race.

It was here that we lined up and George got in line with us. What, you are running again? I was really surprised because it seemed that he was having trouble recovering from the 5k.

I was fine with it, but I explained that I was really going to focus on Gracie and that he should just stay with the crowd and the Coyote.

The horn blew and off we went.  Gracie was holding my hand and did not let go for almost a half mile.  It was so cute and she was smiling so big!  George took off and we found him about .4 mile into it. He had once again tried to "win" and crashed and burned.  He stayed with us the rest of the way.

At .6 miles, I told Gracie that she could walk if she wanted to.  She said ok and we walked for a short bit.  Then a little girl, came flying past us about the same age as Gracie and that fueled her and she started running again.  I guess she has a little competitiveness in her.  Cool!

When we turned into the school, the wind hit us and it was killer.  I kept looking down at her thinking she would be upset, but she kept on running, although, she no longer was smiling.  The look of determination on her face was priceless!  We saw the finish and our cheerleaders and into the finish shoot she went.  It was so very cool for me to see her do this!  I picked her up and hugged her with tears in my eyes.  She finished her mile in 12:41.

My most favorite picture. Gracie running into the finish with George and I cheering from behind.

Look at my baby go!

We went over to the food table and got her water and a snack and I am pretty sure she ate most of the oranges that were on the table.

One of the sponsors was Rock Spot which is a favorite of George's.  They had brought a portable rock wall and that was our next stop.  George got suited up and up he went.  He loved it!

After that we went inside.  They had a raffle and silent auction going on, plus, they had a contest for craziest costume.  They called up to the stage, everyone who wanted to be judged.  The Super Family headed up and we won a $10 gift card to Crazy Burger, woohoo!!!

Gracie and I also won t-shirts as our race numbers were picked out of a hat.  Yay, us!

The sponsors were really amazing.  There we so many great prizes.  I got to talk with Karen before we left and I told her how much fun we had.  She did a fabulous job and you could tell she was feeling pretty good about the morning.  To pull this off, she surrounded herself with hard working and dedicated people who I thank for making our morning so much fun!  I regret not getting a picture with Karen.  Bad blogger!

This race was fun and I loved how it was geared toward families.  I will absolutely do this one next year.  Maybe we can even get Mr. RWM to join us.

Run Strong, Think Big! ~ Nicole