Wakulla Springs 5K Race

Wes and Kasey have only a few more days left in Crawfordville before they take the big step and move to Birmingham. For one last hurrah in their house Kasey hosted the family for a 5K run, picnic and birthday cakes for Gracie and Joe Joe. Kasey and I are like running twins so I was really looking forward to running with her and we made it our goal to cross the finish line together. She has been a good encouragement for my running and I can thank her for getting me into it and making it fun! Another reason this race was going to be fun was that Hester committed to running her very first 5K with us on this one! To motivate, I made t-shirts that said "Hollington Running Club." It was sweet to see Hester's excitement and nervous jitters and we were all proud of her! Running is becoming something that is tying a lot of people together and Kasey has a lot of good friends she regularly trains with. A lot of them have kids that run too so we put a good number of them in the 1 mile "fun run." That race started at 8 am and Justin Cardoza took home the 1st prize ribbon! He ran against his brother Jacob, Zac, Winter, Abbie, Justin, Cameron, Clara and Sierra. I took it upon myself to be Justin Hollington's drill sargeant and was proud to see him trot through the finish! Running the 5K, we had Corey, Karen, Melissa, Donny and his brothers, Kasey and I. Jason had to work this weekend so I was on my own with a 2 and 3 year old (Thanks Grandma Terry!!) Because I forgot Hester's t-shirt and was stressing last minute with sprinting back and forth to the car, sending Jenny after it-I think it really messed with my pre-race preparation! I picked up my bib probably 3 minutes before the race started! Better preparation will help me run better but Kasey was gracious to stick with me the entire race and we finished with a time of 26:12. Corey sprinted past us right at the finish and that was the extra push we needed to finish stronger! Every 5K I have done has been on my own, by myself so I enjoyed this one so much! And it was sweet to have Wil and Elsie cheering me on at the finish line in their double stroller! Our picnic was delicious and the water was refreshing. We packed it in around 1 and headed back to Kasey's for naps. Later that night we celebrated and early Gracie birthday and a belated Joe birthday. Birthday cake and ice cream! Kasey and I got up early Sunday for a quick run and then me and the nippers headed back home to Daddy!