Kevin's 5K Race Recap

I have been swimming a lot lately. Hubby and I joined a local gym that has a pool and it has been amazing! I love heading over there and pushing out 500-750 yds in about 30-40 minutes and then sit in the hot tub. heehee. I ride my bike the 3.5 miles there today and I actually did 1000 yds! Longest swim ever! It took 38 minutes and it's so weird when I see that is just over only a half a mile when I add it to my dailymile!
And the kids LOVE the child care room. They beg to go there. They also have family swim times, so Hubby and I can bring them there and I can get my laps in. It's so nice to have our kids see us so active.

Which brings me to this past weekend's run. I'll start with Ryan. We got up early, so he was acting so tired before the race started. But those little legs blazed into 10th place with 8:35 ! There were over 90 people running/walking the 1 mile. I am SO proud of him!!











Logan and I started out good. His little 3 yr old legs made it about a quarter of a mile until he said he was tired. Instead of him hating it and never doing it again, I offered for him to go on my back. He loved it! I went most of the way like that and at the end he got down and ran through the finish. It took us about 16 min. I was afraid I wouldn't make it back for the 5K if I let him walk the whole thing.



Race photos courtesy of my mom-in-law with my good Canon camera.

Hubby and I lined up for the 5K. He stayed with me for the first half of the race. I felt really good. Then Kevin's brother ran by us and I told Hubby he could go and run with him. They finished together which was really nice.
Last year I ran 32:33 and it was brutal hot! This year I am thrilled with a 30:47 (Garmin time)

Mile 1- 9:55
Mile 2- 10:04
Mile 3- 10:06
Last .1- 7:11 pace! Wish I could keep that up more! HAHA!

At the finish they gave out small subs that were amazing! There was lots of water, bagels, bananas and oranges. It is such a well run race and it was an honor to run the Kevin A Brue Melanoma Awareness Father's Day 5K (and 1 miler!)  xoxox  Plus, Kevin's brother is in a band that was the entertainment for the race, and he wrote a song for Kevin after he passed away and he sang it before the awards were given out. Let's just say there wasn't a dry eye in the field.

Happy Father's Day

Here are just some great pictures of my kids with their grandpas and great grandpas. Can't post the daddy picture because, well, he is police and likes to remain anonymous in my bloggy world.

This is Great Grandpa Bob- aka POP (my mom's dad)

He turned 80 last Jan.

My step-dad, Grandpa Dave

My step-dad's dad, Great Grandpa Bill

This is the picture I took of the boys right before daddy got in there.

This is Great Grandpa George. He will be 86 yrs old this Aug! 

My daddy, Grandpa John

3 generations...well, if I was in the picture it would have been 4. 

Darn, I should have handed off the camera.

We didn't see my father-in-law today because he was on vacation. It was such a nice day...except for the part when hubby had to sleep all morning and we had about an hour with him before he had to go back to work night shift.

Please Protect Your Skin

Tomorrow is a memorial 5K that we ran last year.

Almost 2 years ago my Hubby's very dear friend passed away from Melanoma. He was 39 years old and left behind a wife and 3 children under the age of 10. It was a very sad time. The Rotary that his father is in has a Father's Day 5K every year...and last year it was named the Kevin A Brue Melanoma Awareness Father's Day 5K. And this year they are doing it again. This year Ryan AND Logan are running the 1 mile fun run. Logan saw a little friend of his from school running a 1 mile a few weeks ago that Ryan was running, and has it in his head that he can do it too. He is 3. Hubby will be flying along with Ryan in a 8 min/mile pace and I will be dragging along with our little guy. I hope we can finish in less than a half an hour so I can get to the 5K. LOL!!

It will be a tough day. I still can't believe it's been 2 years since he passed. I am proud to say the wife of another friend of Kevin's will be running her very first 5K tomorrow! I know he'd be proud.

Please please please wear sunblock. Everyday. Drench your kids in sunblock. Any color can damage your skin. Even a 'nice tan' can do damage. Another friend of mine has had cancer cut out of her body a few times this year. But she was lucky, everything that was cut out was early enough. It never made it to another organ. Kevin didn't have that time. By the time he got his spot on his back checked, it was too late. They tried everything.

So, my second please please please, is to get to a dermatologist and get ALL your freckles checked.  A mom of a girls in Ryan's class in Kindergarden had a spot on the back of her leg. She showed it to me right around the time that Kevin was starting hospice. She went and got it checked after I told her his story, and it turned out to be melanoma!! He literally saved her life! One spot removed might just save your life!!!!

I buy my boys UV Skinz every year. They are never outside without a shirt. We pride ourselves and being whiter than white. No child should ever know what a sunburn feels like. It breaks my heart when I hear friends tell me they went to the tanning salon. Because I can promise you, Kevin's family wishes he NEVER got sunburn, always wore a shirt and was still here with them today.

Kevin was an avid runner. The very last big race that he ran was the Marine Corps Marathon. He ran it 7 months before he died. His time was 3:35. He was FAST! He also thought, at that time, he had beat the melanoma. It was a short 4 months after the race that he learned it has spread to his brain and he didn't have much time left. That is why Hubby signed up for it last year and a huge reason he is running it this year. The MCM is Oct 28. That is my Hubby's 40th birthday.
....A birthday that Kevin never got to see.

Kids Triathlon

There was a kids triathlon last Sunday that Ryan has been looking forward to for months.

These last 2 weeks I've been bringing him to the pool to do laps (he got up to 125 yds - with stops at each wall) and we went on bike rides and even did a BRICK workout (bike then run). I told him my mommy hat was off and I put my coach hat on and you aren't allowed to whine to a coach. heehee. He did it all in fun!

The race was AMAZING! I was tearing up watching the bigs kids start. There were 2 age groups. Ryan was in the 8 and under group. They had to swim 75 yds, bike 2.5 miles and run a half a mile. I met up with a girl from my tri group to help her 2 kids (and mine) learn how to do transition from each event. They did a fantastic job!

Here are a few pics waiting for the swim. The let the 9 and over kids completely finish the bike before they let the 8 and under kids start swimming. It was about a 40 min wait. And they waited so patiently in the water most of the time.

And then off they went. It was so shallow they ALL walked the entire swim!! It was hilarious!

In transition. I knew he was having a great time when he stopped to take a sip of his water. He wasn't rushing and got his shoes, shirt and helmet on without a problem.

 Love this one of him getting out on the bike course.

 Coming in...

Speedy heading out for the run.

Flying in for the finish. His feet aren't even touching the ground...AGAIN!

He looked SO calm and like he really had a great time! That made me so happy!

All done! And he can't wait to do another one!!

They even had timing chips on their ankles like the grown ups! The results went online this morning and he did it in 18:50. There were 41 boys in his age group (8 and under) and he came in 21st. There were 20 boys ahead of him and 20 boys behind him. He really thought that this was the coolest thing ever. I am so proud of my 'middle of the pack' baby. xoxo

Spring Lake 5 Race Report, sort of

Not much to report for this 5 miler. It was on May 26, so I am a bit behind on posts. It was hot hot hot. My time sucked. Because it was hot hot hot. 59:10. 

Mile 1 - 11:35

Mile 2 - 11:14

Mile 3 - 11:53

Mile 4 - 12:11

Mile 5 - 12:06

I was pretty happy that I stayed pretty consistent on my miles. I was so thankful for the fire trucks squirting water. I didn't have my iPod so I could get nice and wet and not worry about it.

And the best was that we had a TON of my triathlon group running this too.

Last Sunday my AMAZING 7 year old son did his very first triathlon!! I will share all of that very soon! And this weekend coming up we have a 5K that is in memory of our dear friend Kevin who passed away 2 summers ago from melanoma. Ryan will be running the 1 miler with hubby and our little 3 year old wants to do the 1 mile too!! He saw a friend from his school do the 1 mile at the last race Ryan ran. So I will go with him and walk most of it. heehee. Then Hubby and I will do the 5K. Hoping for nice weather! And not the HEAT that was last year.

Logan is done with his first year of nursery school. My baby is heading to pre-k in Sept. Ryan still has 1 more full day and 3 half days and he is done and will be a 3rd grader! Summer is here at the Jersey Shore. BEACH TIME! Although, we've already been a few times on some nice days. Those are the best before school is out and all the visitors aren't here yet. I LOVE living here!!