Ambrose Ran a 5K!

Over the summer, as Ambrose got into his running more consistently in his new, lighter body, I suggested that he run a 5K. He placed well in races when he was a young man, running in local races in California when he was stationed at Mare Island in the Navy. I knew that he enjoyed running, and he is getting into the age group where one can place well just by showing up and finishing.

I sent him links to a bunch of different races coming up in September and October, and he chose the SueB 10K/5K, which supports the Women and Children’s Alliance and aims to bring attention to domestic violence. This race took place on October 2nd, and started at noon. Since the pre-race packet pickup locations and times didn’t work for us, we planned to be there by about 11 to pick up the packet.

I drove us over to Boise State, because I can use my parking pass at almost any lot on the weekends. From there, it was a short walk over to Julia Davis park, where the race was to start and finish. We were definitely early, but we managed to make our way to the packet pick up and get what we needed.

Then we walked off a bit to find a bench to sit at while we waited for the race to start. I pinned Ambrose’s bib on. He wanted it to be crooked, and it did end up pretty crooked with the first three pins, but the fourth pin was broken. Somehow, when I repositioned one of the pins so that he’d have two on top and one on bottom, it ended up significantly less crooked. In my experience, the bib number is how you find pictures of yourself afterwards, so that’s why I wanted it to be straight-ish.

There was a children’s race around the rose garden at about 11:30. We watched that and cheered the kids on. I practiced my cowbell technique. Then we milled and listened as the urban route runners were sent off. We noticed that one runner went through the starting line with the urban runners, but then came back. Ambrose went up to him to tell him to get his time chip reset, and it’s a good thing for that guy that Ambrose did. Otherwise, he would have had a personal worst time, most likely.

And, finally, Ambrose lined up with the other 5 and 10 K runners. I took a few pictures of him waiting, and then they were off. I’ve never been the one waiting during a race before. I’ve only been a runner. And this is a pretty small race, so once the runners were all gone, it was very quiet. Very few people hanging around.

I went to the bathroom, since I figured no one else would be using them at this particular moment (I was right). Then I found some tree roots to sit on near the start/finish line and did some writing on my phone while I waited.

Once runners started to come in, I stood and put down the phone. I cheered along with several volunteers for every runner coming in. I got to see the first runners finish, and I waited for Ambrose to appear.

He took a lot longer than I expected, and I figured he might have needed to find a place for a pit stop. His stomach had been giving him some indicators before the race, and he wasn’t able to clear that up before the race began. I only started to worry a little bit before he did appear, around 55 minutes. Much slower than he’d wanted to run, but it was a finish.

Ambrose took only a few moments to rest and recover after finishing. He wanted to get right home, and so we walked back across the park to Boise State and our vehicle.

Now I’m trying to sell him on doing a Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving next. I figure we could both run in that one, just have fun with it. I believe, once Ambrose gets used to racing again, that he’ll do quite well in his age group. And, heck, I’m moving up in age group this year. Now I just need to get a wee bit faster…