Carter County 5K with Girls on the Run

Waiting at the finish line chute for the final runners and walkers.

I recently returned to my hometown of Grayson, KY to visit family and participate in Memory Days activities. This is the fifth year that I ran in the Carter County Fight Against Cancer 5K, and this year I was happy to see small children in the race.  Five are listed in the official results, but two more might have run unofficially.  A few years ago I found it disheartening that children did not participate.  Last year the high school age group was represented well for the first time in recent memory.  This year the younger set participated. Kudos to the young runners and their families!

Along with the girls' and parents' efforts, The Girls on the Run organization gets credit for helping get two girls race ready.  These two do not live in Carter County. Both of the girls were from out of town and visiting family for the weekend.  I also noted two young boys, the sons of a runner friend in the area.  The highlight of the race for me was seeing the children participate and finish.  One girl ran with her mother, a coach for Girls on the Run, and another ran solo.  That mom watched out for both girls along the course.  I met one of the girls before the race. She is the daughter of a friend from back in the day.  She took off fast at the start, slowed to a walk, and had a side stitch early as a result.  I noticed her distress and called to her to remember that this is a three mile race.  I told her that if she slowed down, she could make it. My own daughter had started a race like this when she first began running.  By running and walking, we made it to the finish in a respectable time.  I was tempted to slow at this race with this young runner and was a bit perplexed about what to do.  In that moment I decided to run the race and catch up with the the men who had sprinted ahead.  I did catch many of them, set a personal record, and was the first female finisher.

I saw the children at the finish.  They all did great!  I celebrated with the mother and daughter team from Girls on the Run.  They both placed in their age groups and were delighted to be called forward to receive special t-shirts.  That made my heart happy.  They had not known that awards could be involved and did not know that a race was to be run that day until the night before the race. Thanks Girls on the Run and the awesome parents who supported their children in running this fun event.