5k With the Double Stroller! Savage Memorial 5k Race Recap

I ran my second race ever with the double stroller – a local 5k, the Officer Savage Memorial 5k Road Race.  It’s a great local event, with a fun run for kids an hour before the race, and lots of local police officers running to support the memorial fund.

Members of my mothers forum running club usually wear their running club shirts to run, and last year we got the biggest team!  Not as many of us ran this year, but it was still a great event.

I broke 30 minutes even pushing the double stroller with Will & Andrew, who now weigh about 30 pounds each.  I was thrilled!  I had to work HARD for it, and the uphill sections were brutal.  The race finishes with a hill that had plenty of other runners slowed down to a walk, even knowing we had .3 miles left.  I could barely make it up the hill pushing both kids – but I did, albeit walking for part of it, and I finished strong for a sub 30 minute 5k.  Since a year ago I was lucky to run a sub 30 5k without the double stroller.  I feel great about that progress 🙂

Why running 5ks is hard:  This race made me remember why I don’t love running 5ks.  Finishing without much left for a 5k means concentrating all the pain in effort into a half hour period, rather than a longer race like a half marathon where it’s stretched out over the miles and all you really have to do is just keep going.  To do my best 5k, I have to lose my breath and run hard enough so my legs burn.  If I did that during a half marathon, I’d never finish!  The strategy there is to settle in to a nice, concentrated but not extreme effort that you can maintain for a long time.  I think I might be too wimpy to race short races!

When I started out, I didn’t know if I’d make it in under 30 minutes.  I knew the course had a downhill start, pretty neutral second mile, and uphill last mile.  I used that to bank time in the beginning, running my first mile in under 9 minutes, realizing that my last mile might literally be a 12 minute mile because I would be pushing the heavy stroller up hill.  Any time I run a race with lots of elevation, I try to remember not to focus on keeping my splits even, but on keeping my effort even, because you can’t run as fast up a hill as you can on a flat part of the course.

Goal: I was hoping to at least beat my other double jogging stroller race, which I finished in just under 32 minutes last April.  Yes, it was a year ago, but it was a less hilly course… and hills are EVERYTHING when you’re pushing that much weight.  If I could do that, it’d be even cooler if I could beat my time on this course last year that I ran without the stroller –  30:27.  And my ultimate, secret goal, in my heart of hearts, was to beat 30 minutes and cross a sub 30 minute 5k pushing the double stroller off my running bucket list.

Official results: 146 out of 274     KELLY CAIAZZO       30 F WELLESLEY       MA              29:41  9:33

DONE.

This means that I passed 128 people pushing a double stroller because I had to start in the back!

I was so pleased that I threw my hands up at the finish, panicking everyone who saw the double stroller careening ahead of me into the finish chute 🙂  Thanks to Greg for being a great spectating husband and for the fabulous photos!

Run like a mother, finish like a champion 😉