I was excited to run Sunday’s Great Pumpkin 5k. Not just because I was running, but because I was running with my FRIEND! Finally! A race where I didn’t have to listen to my mom or dad nag me to run faster! Not that I don’t like running with them, but sometimes they get annoying when I’m tired and just trying to finish the race.

Don’t tell my mom, but I’m totally pretending to be tired in this picture (I just didn’t want to have to hassle with pinning my bib on).

Besides, mom always does a better job of putting race bibs on. She’s had lots of experience.

Right before the race my mom told me and Nate not to start off too fast. She said it’s better to start off a little slower so that we can finish strong (huh – maybe this is why I’ve always had trouble in the past?).

Well, I didn’t really listen because as soon as the horn blew we were off. I really wanted to beat my current PR of 28:24 so everything she said pretty much just left my brain (I have a bad habit of this).

The first 2 miles were good. Nate and I stuck together while our moms ran behind us. It was cool they were behind us because we could throw our hats and gloves off when we got hot and they would just pick them up.
After we passed the mile 2 marker, Nate started to speed up and I couldn’t keep up anymore (mom’s advice from before the race started coming back to me at this moment…….hmmmmm…..maybe she actually knows what she’s talking about!). So my strategy became to just stay in front of her.

Ha. Totally did it.
And when I saw the time on the clock coming into the home stretch I just kept saying to myself “beat skeletor, beat skeletor”.

AND I DID!

28:08 (9:05 per mile)!!! A NEW PR FOR ME!!
It was epic.

It would be awesome to run all my races with friends from now on, but I guess I’ll still run with my mom, too.

She does pay for my races. Oh, and I love her, too.
Do you run with your mom?