Race Ready

Well we did it...our first official 5k race was this morning. It was such a great event in Homewood, AL. Our race was to benefit Camp Smile-A-Mile which is a really neat organization that allows children with cancer or who have had cancer, to participate in the camping experience. Briggs and i were honored to be able to participate and support the cause.

Here is picture when we were about to leave at 6:30 AM to get to our race...


And here is our little man...all smiles...and in his baby armour. Check out his sweat bands...cracks me up every time I look at this picture. A friends sent us that outfit and it was PERFECT for our race today :)


Here we are in a group of runners... thumbs up and smiles from mommy.


And here we are after it was over. Still smiling. Briggs and I run/walk our neighborhood almost every morning so I wasn't concerned about not finishing. We often go further than 3.1 miles a day...I was just trying to not be last :) I will say, it was pretty challenging in the sense that there were some pretty steep hills on the course. Our neighborhood is very flat...so making it up those bad boys was a challenge and then with a jogging stroller...yeah. There were a ton of people and it was interesting trying to weave in and out of people during the race...but we did it and didn't run over anybody.


This is pretty typical from our running in the neighborhood...it puts the sleeper hold on little buddy. This ride was a little more bumpy than our neighborhood course and I think it made him sleep even that much harder. We made sure his belly was full and his diaper was changed...he was down for the count (his little hood even fell down on his eyes and he didn't even flinch...haha).


And here we are just after the run...he is sacked out and I'm all sweaty...but is was very fun. We got some flyers for more upcoming 5k races in the Birmingham area (and are stroller friendly)...so looks like we may have more of these in our future.


Justin and I love the Homewood area. If any of you are looking for a nice, low key area to hang out..this is your place. Because the weather was so great, we ended up walking over to the main strip after the race. We had such a good day... got some lunch and just hung out. It's a very family friendly area. People walking, running, kids everywhere, people with their dogs, lots of good food, little shops to look around... It's a great little area of Birmingham. We love the style down there...but I will say, the old sidewalks and uneven surfaces can make for a challenging trip without a jogging stroller. I have been out there with my Snap-n-Go stroller and it's pretty challenging to get in and out of the door thresholds and on and off the sidewalks. Thankfully we had our jogging stroller today and that puppy will roll over anything. Either way..it was a great day and we still love Homewood with their uneven surfaces and lack of sidewalk ramps.