Today’s Broadlands Community Church 5K (BCC 5K) recap is as much about friendship as it is about a race, and it all started with a shirt.

But first, let’s talk about the race…..

One of my clients ran in a local low-keyed community race in 2011, and was so excited to get a really nice Nike Dri-Fit shirt with her $25 entry fee that she convinced me to run it with her the following year.

 

BCCShirtAndBib

2012 BCC 5K Race Shirt

 

Once we signed up, we talked another friend into running with us – running her very first race ever!

On an absolutely beautiful, cool and crisp September morning, I ran about three miles prior to meeting my friends at the race. I didn’t plan to race the 5K, so I wanted to add the extra mileage into my day.

 

We wandered around the Family Fun Fest until race time, and had fun striking some poses with the Ironman. What girl doesn’t love showing off her muscles?

BCC5KStrongGirls
 

Shortly before the starting horn sounded, we lined up with the other runners around the middle of the pack; then started out at a comfortable pace. Since our friend was pretty new to running and hadn’t run a race before, we stayed with her for about the first mile until the three of us decided to run our own races.

I didn’t keep my splits, but I doubt that my last two miles were much faster than 9:00’s. During that particular segment of my running career, I was all about distance, and rarely worried about speed. Every run was a long run or a short conversation pace run. It wasn’t until a year later that I started training harder again with tempo and race pace runs.

 

After we decided to run our own races, I pushed a little harder and finished in 31:35 (10:09 pace), and surprisingly, that time gave me a second place in my age group! Ah, the advantages of small community races.

 

Back in 2012 I ran the BCC 5K with two good friends. Little did I know, I also ran the race with a future friend. Yes, that’s Erin next to me near the start of the race.

BCC5KDebErinHighlight

Photoshop credit: Bill

Just last week while Erin was looking through an old running album with her son, she found this picture from the 2012 BCC 5K. She texted the photo to me, and mentioned that it was her first race back after giving birth to her little boy. I looked through old emails, and found the other race photos for this recap. I hadn’t planned to write a throwback recap of this race, but considering the story, I had to. Call me sentimental, but things like this make me so happy.

When Erin and I were running next to each other, we might have exchanged a few pleasantries, or we might not have even noticed each other. Neither of us had heard of MRTT, and didn’t realize what a impact that group would have on our future running, and what good friends we would become.

If this race still existed and we were to run this course today, we would both crush our times from 2012, and we would have each other to thank!

 

  • Questions:
  • Do you prefer to race with friends, or alone?
  • Do you have any favorite races, that are no longer held?
  • Did you race this past weekend, and if so, what distance?