The Family That Runs Together

I'd finish that line with "has fun together," but that would be...well, so happy and positive--and that's just not me.

The Texas Round-Up was this morning, and all the human residents of Chez Boeckman-Walker headed out at 7 a.m. sharp to get to the festivities on time. I signed up for the 10K run, and the boys opted for the family 1 mile since the boy doesn't yet have the stamina for 3.11 miles and the husband, well, he doesn't yet either.

So how did we do? I finished in just over 52 minutes. I'd hoped for a better time--something around 50 minutes, since that's about what I run at the gym--but the course, especially toward the end, was a bitch. If you're ever in Austin, Gentle Reader, run the massive hill that is 7th Street from I-35 to Brazos after running about 5 miles, and you'll understand what I mean when I called the course a bitch. Despite the slightly disappointing time, I had an average pace of 7:55, which is a good 20 seconds faster than my average pace at the gym. Woohoo for me!

As for the boys, they did well enough. They managed to pass the time in Deadsville (er, the runner's village) while I ran. As for their race, the family mile wasn't even that--it was all of 0.37 mile. But luckily we all got to run together, which was fun. We all finished just over 3 minutes after the air horn went off, which isn't too shabby considering the boy walked a good section of it.

Here are some fun photos for you to enjoy, Gentle Reader. Included are photos of the boy with his very first runner's schwag bag. I'm so proud of him!

UPDATE
I'm not the only one who found the race challenging. Check out what some of the winners had to say about today's little jaunt.