We did it!
This weekend my wife and I took our inaugural 5k run together. She had participated in a 5 mile race a number of weeks ago, and I have run more 5k’s than I can count during high school. But this weekend was the first race we have run together and officially marks the beginning of our running career.
After the race at the "George Bailey" Bridge
We competed in the 2nd annual “It’s a Wonderful Run” 5k that was hosted in Seneca Falls, NY, alleged inspiration for the fictitious town of Bedford Falls in the 1946 film, “It’s a Wonderful Life”. We raced, we dinned, then we went home and watched the movie, (a delightful new color version.)
Despite being a bitterly cold and wind-swept end of the week Saturday night turned out to be a fantastic night for a foot race. The air was cool but above freezing and the wind was essentially nonexistent.
Cold winter day
The race was held at evening and the final stretch to the finish line ran through downtown Seneca Falls with the businesses all light up and the town reminiscent of the 1940 scene from the film. The race was even started by the recitation of an iconic movie line by Karolyn Grimes, who played Zuzu Bailey, more typically known as the cute little girl at the end of the movie. There were over 900 racers that participated in this weekends race. Racers came from Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and all over the Finger Lakes to get in a last contest before the dominating winter fully takes hold of the area.
The starting mob on the bridge from Bedford Falls
Us in the starting mob
This is us on the homestretch, (trust me)
The finish chute
The post race carbo load
And for those of you familiar with the movie, as part of the race packet pickup, each racer was given a bell to tie to their shoe lace. There were a lot of angels getting their wings Saturday!
