Anastasia’s First 5K

If you can remember back a few weeks, you’ll recall that Anastasia was the top “local” vote-getter in the “Tales of a Virgin Athlete” contest. Her prize was a free entry and race t-shirt in the Charities Challenge 5K that was held last weekend. I was unable to be there because Pharmie and I were in New Orleans getting ready to do a 70.3 the next day. Dang.

She went to the race with her parents, and her Dad (blogger buddy Jeremy) ran the race with her. Here they are wrapping up their first of 2 laps around Lake Como:

She’s only 10 years old, and this was her first 5K. But she ran it in 30:18!! She had consistent mile splits of 9:30-10:00! Amazing!! Here she is with her family after the finish:

A little later, she learned that she had broke the Charities Challenge age group record by over 18 minutes!! That’s AWESOME! And the cool thing about most Charities Challenge races is that when you do well, they tell you “You’re going home a real bread-winner.” So here’s Anastasia with Coach Jeanne, her Dad, and her winning loaf of bread:

After such a great race, what’s left to do except to go out for ice cream!

OK, here’s my prediction: give me 4 years to get older and slower, and give Anastasia 4 years to mature and get faster, and she’ll beat me in a 5K when she’s 14 or 15. That kid’s gonna be great! Stop by her blog to congratulate her!

I’ll be back on Monday with the rest of the photos and the rest of the stories from New Orleans 70.3. If you missed my race report, it’s 2 posts down. Happy Easter!