The last race in the Hartford marathon foundation Trinity series was the O’zzs Hartford 5K which took place in Hartford. It was a sunny day but the wind was blowing pretty fierce in the city. This race started at 1:00, which was nice because we didn’t have to get up extra early. We drove into the city and I parked next to the Hartford Stage where I usually park when I hang out with my friends, and we walked over to the Civic Center to pick up our swag.
We also went in there so that we could stay warm and stay out of the wind. The wind was so strong it knocked over the Porta potty’s on the road. 
This was the largest of the three races. There were around 3,000 people participating in this race and you can feel the excitement in the air. As it was getting closer to the start time we all went outside to use the Porta Potties and then the kids stayed with my parents and Kevin and I were going to run the 5K together. 
This was the first time that Kevin was running in a race with me! So he and I went to the other corral and got closer to the start line.
The plan was to do 30/30 intervals and see how Kevin felt with that. He had meniscus surgery in September and a significant stress fracture of his thigh bone last fall so we weren’t sure how his knee was going to feel for running. He also didn’t train for it. When the horn blew and it was time to run I was cruising along. I skipped the first interval timer and made us run 90 seconds before Kevin wanted to stop for a bit and walk because his calf muscles were cramping up. We walked 90 seconds and then tried to do 30/30 again. I had some zip in my step surprisingly and was zigging and zagging past people but then Kevin wanted to take another break. He was getting frustrated that his legs were tightening up on him. We had to take longer walk breaks.
Our first mile was around 11:45. The second mile warmed his legs up a little more as we were going uphill a little so we walked the uphill and ran what we could downhill. I pushed him to run the entire down hill at mile 2.25 so we can use the hill for momentum. By then his legs were getting a little loose but he hadn’t trained for cardio. As we were getting closer to the end we ran what we foul downhill and then took a short walk break just before the finish. As we saw the finish I kicked it up a little and ran it harder into the finish line. I asked him if we were racing but he said no but I felt like we were.
We completed it in about 36:45. Not a fast 5K for me at all but I haven’t been working on quick 5k races. Neither had Kevin. It was fun to run with him though!
After finishing I saw Caryn Vita and Kim with her son Ryan. We took some pictures then went to go get the Pot Of Gold Medals and went to wait for the family to finish.
I spotted them heading down the street and ran towards them to get them excited. They began to run a little and so did my mom. Adrienne seemed very excited to see us. Everyone crossed the line and got their medals and then we showed them their pots of gold!
After the race we had tickets to get free beer and a corn beef sandwich so we picked up our food and drinks and snacks for the kids and sat in a warm sunny spot to eat. I also found Anne and Kathleen and wished Anne well before she heads off to the Paris Marathon in April (I’m so jealous!).
We were beginning to freeze because the wind was whipping through the city streets so we all made the trip back to the car and warmed up there.
We took our group finishers’ photo and headed home with pride from finishing their first 5K consecutive race challenge! 
I am very proud of my family for doing this despite battling head colds and injuries and overcoming their challenges! It was great to do something fun and healthy together and I hope to continue with this trend of participating in races together and pushing each other to do better. I always tell my kids “Never Give Up”. I hope they remember that in all things they do and I hope they realize how proud of them I am!! I hadn’t done my first 5K until I was almost 40! They knocked out three of them in 7 days! 