Independence Day - The race

Today, Kyle and I ran races. I ran the Gina Van Laar 5K in Allendale and Kyle ran the kids version, which was about a 1/2 mile. We met our friends, Steven and Malea, and their two girls there as Steven was running the race too. They drove all the way up from Durham, North Carolina for the holiday!

The race is billed as a European Cross Country course, which basically means it has obstacles. I have run this in years past where the obstacles were pretty minor, although there was one creek crossing where your feet would get a bit muddy. This year there was a different course with many new challenges. Much to my (and Steven's) surprise, there were four creek crossings, a bog crossing, some log jumps, and about three gigantic hay bales to jump over. By the way, the hay bales were the big round kind stacked two high - they were taller than me! And the creek crossings were deep. Each of them was about up to my waist! Needless to say, I was very wet and muddy by the end. It was fun! I ended up with an 18:30, which was good for 1st in my age group!

As for Kyle, he ran really well. I think it is safe to say that he finished ahead of everyone that was his age. He had one log to jump, which he did with ease, and ran a great pace the entire way.

Check out the photos from the race!