Memphis True Blue 5K

My boys went out and ran their second 5K.  This one was on the University of Memphis campus.  When they were looking for a 5K to run, Justice was ALL OVER this particular one for one reason and one reason only.  The giant Memphis Tiger inflatable head that the football players run through on the football field was part of the finish line.  Yep, that's pretty much all it took.  The thought of running through the giant tiger was a deal-sealer.  Plus it was at night, and that's really important.  The Coach does not like early morning 5K's, and this one didn't start until 7PM.

We were cutting it really close time-wise so I drove them.  I was unsure how the parking situation would be around the campus and if I needed to drop them off and go find somewhere to park so they would make it on time then that would be OK.  As it turns out, it wasn't a problem at all.  I was able to park right near the start and finish line directly on the route.  That was great considering I had Jack and Bo in tow.  

Now, all the way to Memphis Justice was talking about how well he hoped he would do, and how much faster he hoped he would be since the Witch Way 5K, which was two weeks ago.  And let it be known for the record, Justice has NOT run not ONCE since that last race.  Not even a jog.  The Coach had some horrible flu that sidelined him from running for the last two weeks.  So actually, neither of them have run since the last race.  

And let's talk about dinner.  Justice ate two huge slices of pizza when he got home from school.  Huge, greasy, New York style pizza.  THEN, he ate about twenty pieces of Halloween candy.  The pizza was leftover from the night before and I didn't know about either until he had already eaten it, so don't blame me.  Although Justice is young, he has a sensitive stomach when it comes to running.  REALLY sensitive.  I can guarantee though that the lesson was learned and he will absolutely never eat anything like that again before a race.  Ever.

Before the race.

Just a gratuitous shot of a smiley baby wearing plaid pants.   

Since the race was on the campus of the University of Memphis, they had the mascot out shaking hands, the cheerleaders were out, and so was the band.  It was pretty neat.  

Jack refused to go anywhere near the live and walking around mascot, but it was OK to take his picture next to the inflatable one.  Jack was really well behaved.  They gave out free glow bracelets before the race, and he was completely content to fool around with the mascot and play with his bracelets.

Justice started to get nervous before the race.  His stomach was hurting and he was having a little trouble with that pizza he ate and the race hadn't even started.  He was pretty sure it was going to be a tragedy. 

 The race started finally started and off they went.  The way the course was laid out they would pass by where we were sitting at the one-mile mark.  They passed at 7 minutes flat, which was fine… but I could tell there was a problem.  Justice was moaning and wheezing and holding his stomach.  My first thought honestly was that I wished he would hurry up and puke and get it over with so he would feel better.  That did not happen.  He did not ever puke, but he did complain and hold his gut the entire race.

"Daddy, I'm sick!!!"

Over, and over, and over again.  The Coach said 50 times, at least.

Justice did it to his Dad again.  Once he saw the finish line he lit the jet engines and flew across it, 4 seconds ahead of his Dad.  I think his Dad was just glad to be rid of him for a second though after all that whining he did, ha!  

There he is, crossing the finish line at 23:11, and you can see the tiger head he couldn't wait to run through.  He was really pale and really shaky and really sick when he crossed the line.  

After some water… feeling a teensy bit better but still puny.  

Although Justice did not run a great time, he still came in third in his age group.  He was REALLY upset at first.  He saw the times of the other two and knew he could have come in second if he wouldn't have eaten that pizza.  He was REALLY disappointed in himself, and started to cry.  He was also really apologetic to The Coach after they saw the times of his age group.  He came in 6th in his group, but based on what he knows they should have run, he would have placed 2nd.  They did run it 1:40 faster than the last race though.  

Remember when I said in the post about the Witch Way 5K that I hoped a fire would get lit inside Justice about running?  It did.  These two do nothing "for fun".  The only thing fun to them is winning.  And as long as they are both on the same page, I don't care.  

Jack is not on that page.  I asked him during the race if he was going to run races when he was older like his Dad and brother, and he flatly said:

"NO.  I do NOT like to sweat like that."

Hahahahaha!

By the time Justice was Jack's age, he had run and won his first race.  This picture is of a one-mile kids-only race he ran when he was 5.  He beat everybody, from ages 4-10.

He's cute, no?  

After-party food was plentiful.  Apparently the pizza was moving on through, because he ate like he hadn't eaten in a month.

Banquet room

Justice getting his award.

They gave out tiles as awards.  I put his up high on a shelf, awaiting the arrival of the tile frame I already ordered this morning. 

The swag bag was really good, too.  There were lots of coupons for free food inside, and the bag itself was a huge winner as far as they were concerned.  The shirts scored huge design points from The Coach.

Next race, December 7th!