Embarrassing 5k

I decided at the last minute to do a 5k with the kids yesterday.  It didn't begin until 3 pm and I just had to get there at 1:30 to register.  There was a 5k, 1.5 mile fun run and then a kids dash.  Fun for the whole family!  It was also really neat because it started on the drag strip, went through some tunnels and over a pedestrian bridge and ended with one lap around the Charlotte Motor Speedway.  Or Zmax, or whatever it's called these days.  Definitely could have been a really run race.  But it wasn't.  Wanna know why?  Of course you do.

I took my faithful double jogging stroller.  I didn't plan on running fast and I thought the kids might want to get out and run a little every now and then but they surely would not walk or run the entire 3 miles.  I lined up in the back and after we took off I passed a few people, mostly walkers.  You run down to the end of the drag strip and then make a hairpin turn through a somewhat narrow gate to run back along the outer wall of the strip.  This is where shit went south.  Most jogging strollers do not have front wheels that turn so you have to prop it up on the back two wheels to make your turn.  As I did this, the stroller somehow got away from me and flipped over backward dragging me down with it.  I fell down and rolled, and the kids were crying.  They were totally fine.  They stayed int he stroller the whole time.  They were already a little cranky and hearing dozens of people behind us gasp in horror sent that signal to their brains that said "Cry now! Cry now!"  Like I said, the kids were totally fine.  They've taken far worse hits than that before, but they always go off the reactions of others.  It was pretty humiliating.  I just hung my head in shame and walked the rest of the 5k, ending with a time that was just under an hour.  My daughter got out and ran a little when got to the speedway, but my son cried the entire race and it had nothing to do with the fall.  He was just in a bad mood.

It sucks that I tipped the stroller because this course was really fun and could have made for an awesome race.  Ugh.  Oh, and did I mention that I wearing my Badass Mother Runner shirt?  Yeah.  More like Jackass Mother Runner.

-Hugh Jass