Clash of the Titans and other weekend fun

Busy, but fun weekend. Just a quick recap...

Saturday morning was the Clash of the Titans. Brady's soccer team is very good, with at least half a dozen very good players on it. Most other teams have 1 or 0 really good players. But Saturday morning they played a team that had 2 really good kids on it, and the rest of the team was fairly good, too. It was a close battle, with the score tied 0-0 after the first quarter (most of the time, Brady's team wins 20+ to 0 or 1). Eventually, Brady's team started scoring and took the lead. But they won only by a margin of 7-1. I mention this not because I care if they win or lose, but having a team play them that close actually made the first half really exciting!! It was great to watch. As for Brady, it wasn't his best game. For the first time in his young soccer life, he didn't score a goal. That's fine, but the reason it wasn't his best game was because he wasn't paying very good attention and was very timid about going after the ball. He seemed to be more content running around 10 feet away from the ball than trying to actually get it. I don't care if he scores or not, but I do like to see him try his best. Oh well, there are always days like this. :)

Later that afternoon, we went to Mainstay farms to look at the pumpkin patch. It was okay, but the boys were whiney and a little difficult to manage (it was near lunch and nap time). We cut it short, but got some good pics and got to see lots of pumpkins. The most fun thing for them was playing on the hay bails and jumping around, although Alex scared the crap out of me with his horrible balance! Even just a 3 foot fall is a lot for a 2 year old.

Sunday we went to do a fun race. The boys were set to race a 1K and then right afterward, I was running in the 5K. There weren't many kids in the 1K, but holy crap were they fast! I knew Brady started out way too fast (they all do) when I looked down and saw he was running 7 min/mile pace out of the start! He eventually realized that was not going to work and slowed back down to his normal pace. Brady came in 2nd to last, but ran a great time of 7:14! My running computer had it measured a little long (0.70 miles instead of 0.62 miles), so depending on which is more accurate, he ran somewhere in between 10:20 and 11:40 minutes per mile pace. Very good for a 4 year old! I was really proud. I knew he gave it his best effort because at the end, he usually kicks it in for a fast sprint. At this race, he barely sped up at the end, so I know he left it all out there. Really great run for him and like I already said, very proud of him.

Now, Alex's race, a little different story. He brought up the rear, but that was expected since he's 2! Unlike his first 1K race, he decided he didn't want to run the whole way through. So Melanie ended up having to carry him when he got tired and he cut it short. But hey, some days you just don't feel like running, and this was one of those days for Alex. He did eventually come through the finish line when we were about to start the 5K, and everyone gave him loud cheers. That's was fun, but he looked pretty tired.

I can't complain about my race. My time was nothing to write home about (20:37; 6:38 min/mi pace), but it was where I expected to be given my current fitness level. I can't expect too much on only 5 weeks of training. On one hand, I felt like my lungs were my limiter; like my legs could go faster if my lungs could just breathe better. But on the other hand, my legs were tired for the entire 2nd half of the race. I really think I went about as fast as I possibly could, so I'm happy with that. I went too fast for the 1st mile, but settled in and maintained even pace for miles 2 and 3 despite that I was really hurting at the halfway point. I tried to stay mentally tough and focus on my running form, to keep it from degrading as I got tired. I haven't gone over the data from my running computer, but I think there's a lot I can take away from it that was positive and a few things to improve going into the triathlon next weekend.