Ready, Set, Rische or Not 5K

This Christmas involved a couple of challenges. First, the men in the family were challenged to grow beards starting in November and we all sported hairy faces for the holiday.

We also decided to run a 5K as a family while everyone was home for Christmas. We didn't want to run an actual race, but thought it would be fun to go for a family group run.

We gathered outside the Rische household around 10:00 this morning and found out we had picked the coldest morning of the weekend for our run. It had also been dry all weekend but this morning there was a very light rain falling. We didn't let the weather get us down though. Our participants included Nate, Beth, Stephanie, Dan, Nancy, myself, and Liz. (Kim stayed behind to solve a plumbing problem.)

The Inaugural 'Ready, Set, Rische or Not 5K'.

Our course involved running to the bike trail that I ran on yesterday, circling two laps around a park, and then returning to the house. It was a relaxed run. Nobody was trying to set any records and we chatted as we ran.

I ran with Liz, Nate, Dan, and Stephanie while Beth and Nancy settled into their own pace behind us. Beth wasn't sure she was going to run the whole time but she at least started with Nancy.

About halfway through the first lap around the park, Dan and Stephanie stopped for a quick bathroom break and then ran with Beth and Nancy for a while. By the time we finished our second lap and left the park to run home, Dan and Stephanie were catching back up with us and we ran the rest of the way home together.

We checked behind us a couple of times and Beth and Nancy were always right there, not too far back. Apparently, they started slower than us but then must have matched our pace because the distance between us didn't seem to change. Beth ended up running the whole time!

When we got to the home stretch, those of us up front turned around to join Beth and Nancy so we could all finish together.

We ran back to the house as a group and officially finished our first family 5K! I had medals for each of us and Stephanie put her calligraphy skills to good use on the labels so we could commemorate the occasion.

It was a shame Kim couldn't join us but it was a good thing he stayed behind. We came home to find the plumbing fixed and we were all able to take some well-deserved hot showers!

Monday
Goal For The Day: Family Fun Run.
Distance: 2.80 Miles.
Time: 30:33. 10:54 Avg. (10:38, 10:40, 9:15*).
Route: To the bike trail/2 laps around the park/Home.
Conditions: 37 degrees. 10:11AM.

Notes: We all used different devices to track our run and compared distances at the finish. My Garmin reported 2.8 miles but it was a cloudy morning so it might have been a little off. Liz used her Nike+ shoe sensor and Nancy used her phone's GPS. We were all right around the 2.8-3 mile mark so it wasn't quite a full 5K but it was close enough. It's the thought that counts!

Daily Miles: 2.80 Miles.

Blog Totals:
  Run - 625.86 Miles.
  Bike - 144.45 Miles.
  Swim - 14,350+ meters.