The Grand Finale: 5K and a Parade

Freedom Festival, 2010

Back in April my friend Valynn had mentioned that she (along with many co-workers) were going to sign up for the Freedom Festival 5K run, and that was the beginning of a running partnership. We decided to train so that we could run a full 5K without looking like the n0n-runners that we were. We used couch to 5K program, and we were both completely astonished that it worked! Both of us, who had never been very good at running without getting winded, within 8 weeks were able to run a full 5K without stopping and could carry on a comfortable conversation the entire time and not feel like jell-o by the end or that our hearts were jumping from our chests! So it really works, folks! I'm a runner now! Our goal was to complete the race in under 30 minutes. We did it in 28.

That's me in the pig-tails and black shorts, in the middle. Valynn is next to me in the grey shorts. The finish line was in view.
Made ya look, didn't I?! It was a bottle. I covered him because I was an idiot and forgot to pack warm things for my supportive children to wear at 7 in the morning! Poor Matthew was brought with nothing but a onesie on, and it was COLD! All three of my children had blue lips and goose bumps when I found them at the finish line. Oops! I learned a lot about race prep, mostly because of error, but we all survived!
We also all went home and took naps later on. Poor things. They were so excited to come and watch the race though, but 6:00 came all too early for everyone!

After the race, we walked down to the parade route which was easily a mile away, and once the sun came out over the mountain all complaints about being cold quickly vanished. We found great seats right up on the road next to some really nice Grandparents. It was a fun parade.
They had a bunch of these really big balloons. Curious George was my girls favorite balloon.
But this was the most popular attraction on the parade, hands down. Cinderella! This poor girl was probably the last one off the parade route. She was mauled by just about every child along the parade route, and folks, this is Provo! There are a LOT of kids! It took her 15 minutes just to get past our little spot.
The other great feature on the parade, which I didn't catch a picture of and I wish I had, was the cast members from "CATS" the musical were on a float. My girls just LOVE this musical, ever since their sweet cousins introduced it to them in February. They can sing almost every song and were so excited to see the beautiful white cat, among others, coming down the road on the Tuachan theater float.
But then, when it was all over, we had to find our car again. We didn't plan this very well. Dallan parked for the race, which made lots of sense at 6:00 in the morning, but at 11:00, when we needed to go home we faced a 2 mile walk back to our car, uphill... with three kids and a double stroller. UGH! It was hot, we were all tired, and we didn't make it to the car until after noon. Thank heaven for that little oasis of a pizza store on our way. It truly saved the day!

It was an Independence Day weekend to remember.