Saturday morning was our Linder Stake first annual 5k Temple Fun Run. I had signed all of us up to participate but Ryker had Scouts that morning and Kenedy had tumbling so they couldn't make it. Kefford was going to run it with us but when he heard that we would have to walk about a mile back to our car he decided to park at the Temple and wait for us at the finish line.
Kefford and the kids were at The Barnyard Friday night and when they came home they had brought Brielle and Qiana to stay the night. The next morning I got the girls up to have them get ready so we could go run. I asked Brielle and Qiana if they were told about the run and they said yes and seemed to be ok with doing it. We got to the start about 15 minutes before the scheduled race time which was 8:30 am, after we got our bibs pinned on we waited and tried not to freeze. It was pretty chilly but not unbearably so.
I had planned on us doing a walk/run with this race, I knew the girls would want to walk some of it which was fine with me but I was definitely thinking we would do a little more running then walking. Once we started the girls were by me and we were running and then they stopped and started walking. We were barely out of the church parking lot and probably hadn't even run 100 yards. I encouraged them to start running again but they were not inclined so I just kept running and left them to walk. I felt a little bad leaving them but then remembered they had each other and knew that they would be fine.
I hadn't done any training for this 5k and it hurt a bit as I was running but I was determined to run the entire way once I had ditched the walkers. It was a little frustrating that they didn't have mile markers or anyone telling us how much we had gone or how much longer we had but I just pushed through and tried to distract myself. At one point a lady who was helping with directing did say we had a half mile left so that was nice to hear.
I finally saw the finish line and I saw Kefford was standing with Bishop Ricks. Kefford and Bishop were cheering for me and it was making me smile. It reminded me of when I was on the swim tam and competing with the breast stroke, every time I came up out of the water I could hear my Dad cheering me on and I would just have a big grin on my face.
I finished with a time of 31:28 which wasn't spectacular but I liked it and thought it was a good time considering how unprepared I was.
The Stake had gotten a lot of donations from local businesses and they had doughnuts, muffins, bananas, sweet breads, water and chocolate milk waiting for us when we finished. I drank a bottle of water and then had a doughnut, yum, while we waited for the rest of my team to finish.
Avynlea came in next, she was running with a friend she had found from our ward. I missed getting her picture as they ran in so I made her recreate it so I could get one. She said they walked some and ran some but mostly did speed walk.
Later Rylee, Brielle and Qiana came running in. It was hard to see with the sun being behind them but I managed to get Rylee and Qiana in the pictures, not sure where Brielle was, probably just out of the frame. They said they walked the entire way but they had a lot of fun doing it so I am glad.
Rylee on the left and Qiana on the right
Once everyone had their fill of food we headed over across the street to the Temple to walk around and get some pictures.
Brielle, Rylee, Qiana, Avynlea and Elizabeth
I am glad that we did this fun run and I loved that it was our Meridian Temple fun run and that we live so close to this Temple.