Harvard Pilgrim 10K: Running with the Fam

On the 4th of July Taber and I signed up to run the Harvard Pilgrim 10K at Patriot place in Foxboro Massachusetts. It's about 1 hour and 20 minutes away from us and since the race started at 9am and we had to be there at 8am with all three children, we decided to stay at a hotel in Foxboro to avoid unnecessary stress on race day.

The kids weren't complaining. They LOVE hotels because that means pool time! 

 My two handsome boys.

As we were getting out of the pool I got a text message that my Grandmother on my mom's side had passed away. It was very unexpected and I was up till after midnight talking with my family on the phone and trying to make travel plans to attend the funeral in Virginia. 

Didn't get much sleep that night between the news about my grandma and babies waking each other up, but we still managed to get the troops dressed, fed, and to the starting line on time the next morning.

I didn't have high expectations for the race considering I was going on very little sleep, under some emotional stress, pushing a stroller with a hefty baby in it and running on a hot and humid day. I was glad we were all together though and figured it would be a fun little outing for the family.

Once we had our bibs pinned up we lined up with the masses at the port-a-John's. Amazing how pre-race nerves can empty out your system with a vengeance.

Taber looking good, ready to get his run on.

Me and little Koa bear excited for our first 10K ever.

The girls were happily plugged into their iPods, freshly loaded with all their favorite cartoons. I guess Brinley fell asleep during the race but Teya watched hers the entire time! 

There were over 3,000 runners lined up at the starting line. We were in the very back with a small handful of brave souls running with strollers.  We hung back and let everyone cross and then we took off.

We ran together for maybe a quarter mile but I could tell Taber was itching to go so I told him to take off and run his little heart out. It was super crowded but he managed to weave his way through the runners till I couldn't see him anymore.

I trotted along at a nice easy 10 minute pace and took in the pulse of the race around me. I didn't have earphones because I wanted to hear Koa if he cried. It was actually nice to run without music.  Since I started at the very back I was with a lot of the walkers and slower joggers. Passing was tricky with a stroller but we weaved along till I was running with people that were more in my similar pace range.

The course ran through the streets of Foxboro. It was a lovely New Englandy town with lots of trees and shade cover on many parts of the course. They had water stops at every mile and I stopped at all of them to drink up and pour water on myself and the baby so we would stay cool. 

I haven't run with a stroller in a couple of years so it was definitely a little more challenging pushing that thing. My arms were feeling it on the inclines but luckily the course was mostly flat. Koa bear slept almost the entire time. He woke up around mile 5 and started making cute noises and entertaining the other runners as we ran by. 

The last part of the race takes you into Gillette stadium where the New England Patriots play. We ran through the tunnel and popped out of a huge inflated football helmet and watched ourselves cross the 50 yard line on the giant 48 ft wide HDTV screen. It was the coolest finish line of any race I've ever run!

My official finish time was 1:04:01, a 10:19 min/mile pace. Not bad all things considered. 

Taber and the girls were there waiting for us on the field.  He had totally dominated that race. Despite starting in the back and pushing over 100 lbs of kids and stroller in heat and humidity, he still finished in 56:15, a 9:04 min/mile pace! People saw him whizzing by and were like, "WHOA!!" Yep, that's my man ; )

Future NFL player chillin' on the field. 

You can see the giant helmet we ran through in the background.

It was a great race and tons of fun to do it as a family. Captain America and his patriotic posse ran it too so we had to grab a picture.  Glad we ran it and that the kids did so well. Definitely an awesome way to start out our 4th of July!