Our friends, Russell & Sarah Mariott, invited us to go with them to do the Blue Bell Fun Run in Brenham this year. It is a 5K Walk/Run and a 10K Run held in Brenham and at the end, you get all-you-can-eat Blue Bell Ice Cream bars. The end in itself seemed worth it to us! Vic has also been really working out and running a lot so he was interested in doing the 10K, and I thought the kids and I could walk the 5K in the double stroller. So, we signed up and headed out bright and early on Saturday morning to Brenham. We met up with our friends who were also going to push their kids, Aubrey and Austin and lead their dog on their 5K Run. The weather was overcast, but good and everyone enjoyed the race. Vic was AMAZING, as he ended up in 28th place out of 1,024 runners in the 10K. And, he was 6th in his age group for men. He ran a 7:01 minutes/mile finishing in 43:37. He was pretty excited too, as he didn't know he could do that well. It already makes him want to run some more 5K's and even train for the half marathon in December in College Station. The kids and I were on our own in the race, and I was so proud of them for lasting so long in the stroller and being so well behaved. Atticus and Austin got to chase each other a little bit to run some energy out before the race. And, after seeing Vic off, we lined up on the sideline of the 5K starting line. All of the 5K runners stacked up together and when they finally started the race, Atticus stood on the finish line yelling "go runners!" over and over. Then, the kids and I loaded up and took off as well a few minutes after the 5K. Let me just tell you that my "official time" to complete the 5K was nothing to write home about, but I was so proud to make it through because there were some serious hills along the way and pushing 60 pounds of kids plus the double stroller made me exhausted. It was a lot of fun though and it helped the kids to not get bored because there were so many people to see. Atticus talked a lot, as usual, and kept finding the bluebonnets along the way. Occasionally, Grace would bother him by kicking the back of his seat, but mostly, they were good. And Atticus still yelled "go runners!" when our race met back up with the 10K runners. Also, about the last 50 yards or so, I let Atticus out of the stroller so he could run the rest of the way to the finish line. He was so cute running all that way and smiling! There is a 1 mile kids race that we think we will let him do next year. It would be so fun to watch him run! Then, we crossed the finish line and got our medals. They even gave the kids medals. We found Vic and loaded up on some ice cream bars (I think Atticus had two, but I think Vic might have had three!). Then, we departed our friends and headed home, stopping in Navasota for some Mexican food. It was a really fun family outing and really fun way to spend a Saturday morning. I really hope we have more races like this in our future! Oh and I also want to say that this was the most organized race I have ever seen. There were volunteers everywhere to help you and it was so family friendly. There were over 3,965 participants but it went so smoothly that you would not have thought there to be that many. Such a fun day!
I find it funny, now, that I have a picture of Vic pushing the kids in the stroller, when I was the one to push them 3.2 miles in it! But, that's what happens when I'm the one taking the pictures and that is ok with me!
Aubrey, Austin, Grace and Atticus in their strollers for the race!
This is Vic warming up for his 10K.
Wonder what these two boys are discussing?
Our pre-race family picture.
My sweet Grace and myself. My eye inflammation (seriously, what does that even mean? I paid the eye doctor to tell me it was red and inflamed when I already knew that?) kept me in glasses for a week.
I have, on video, Atticus yelling "Go Runners!" as the 5K runners took off.
And, this is where I let Atticus out of the stroller to run the rest of the race by himself. He was so excited!
Almost to the finish line! I would like to note that my little Seidel team came in 2,191st of 2,436 runners and walkers. That doesn't sound great. But, remember we were walking! haha! And, we actually walked our 3.2 miles in 59:10 (our chip time) instead of what is above. That would be an 18:58 minutes/mile. This is only important because I'm curious how it might change for next year's race!
My boys and their medals!
Notice that Grace is missing a shoe? Well, apparently, during the course of the walk, I didn't notice that she took off both shoes and both socks. All but one shoe fell down into the basket under the stroller. The other shoe is forever lost and it's too bad, because I LOVED those shoes.
Ice cream in warm Texas weather is basically just an excuse to get really mess when you are an almost 3 year old little boy!
Our family picture post-race.
The boys and Grace at lunch.
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