Embarking on my new plan for the year… run shorter races where I can take the stroller… I signed up for the Chefs for Kids 5K. I actually did this race two years ago, when I was just a few months pregnant with Alexis, so I guess this is the second time she’s done the race with me!

The night before, we stopped by Red Rock Running Company to pick up my race packet. Runners got a long-sleeve cotton t-shirt.

We also got a bag full of snacks… I was surprised at the amount of food in this bag. I admit, I didn’t want the Kool-Aid pouch, the “Big Orange Pound Cake” or the ranch Goldfish crackers much! But the Trader Joe’s pita chips were worth keeping! As was the Kind bar… Kind bars are yummy!

The race started at 9 AM, so that was plenty of time to sleep in, get some breakfast in Alex, get dressed and get over to the park. A 9 AM start feels really leisurely! It was a beautiful day and lots of people had their dogs there, that made Alex happy… she loves dogs. You could hear her in the stroller “Hi Doggie! Hi Doggie” all morning!

We walked to the start line and there was a gal that came up to me to ask what kind of stroller I had. She told me she was 4-months pregnant. I thought that was kind of a funny little exchange because I had a conversation with a woman at the race two years earlier that was about the same!

The gun sounded and I hit play on my headphone controls, thinking my audiobook would start up where I had paused it. But instead it just started playing random music on my phone. So I listened to an odd mix of Maroon 5, MGMT, Green Day and Sweeney Todd soundtrack while running.

Just after the halfway point, I noticed my shoelace had come untied. It’s annoying having to re-tie your shoe during a race, but even more annoying with the stroller. Pull it over, put on the brake, tie, un-brake… I’m sure that added about two minutes to my time. (SARCASM!!)

We got to the finish line, or what I thought was the finish line, and started to slow down. Then someone yelled out, “The finish is at the end of the chute!” Huh? So we stepped it up again to the finish line where someone was collecting the bottoms of our bibs. The race wasn’t chip-timed.

There was a pancake breakfast post-race, as well as Jamba Juice smoothies. Alex drank half my smoothie, but she was most excited to see “BANANA!” on the table. She loves bananas, usually eats one each morning and we were out at home. So when she saw that there, it was like she won the race! Yes, free bananas for cute babies! (Or for the racers who give their banana to cute babies!)

She was wandering around, enjoying the freedom from the stroller and playing in the grass when they started to give out the awards and I was shocked to hear them say I was the winner in the F 30-39 category. I didn’t even take my watch so I had no idea what my time was.  So I scooped her up and said, “That’s us!” We claimed our certificate, but Alex was really more concerned about where that banana was.

It was fun to get out to do a race and I think I’m going to enjoy just sticking to races where I can take the stroller for a while. Sure, it’s a pain to get the BOB in and out of the car (the woman demonstrating the stroller collapse on their YouTube channel sure looks a lot more graceful than I feel when maneuvering it!) but it’s worth it to keep up my hobby and built memories with Alex.