First, from April 12th the Autism Awareness 5k for ADMI! A little back-story first for anyone who may be new here. My son is autistic. Right before his fourth birthday he received this diagnosis from a really terrific doctor at Geisinger Autism and Developmental Medicine Institute (ADMI.) And since then has continued to get first-rate care from these folks. I've done my best to help them continue to help others by fundraising for them. Back-story over. I believe this was the second year for this event. Its my understanding that in its inaugural year the race was run on the roads around ADMI, which are heavily traveled due to local area businesses. So in its second year they moved it onto the Bucknell University campus. The entire course was on grass with a little bit of gravel, which was a first for me. I've done lots of trail races, but those aren't mostly on grass. It was a point of interest for me. It was nice to see the good Dr. Challman there as well as Megan Epler, ADMI's community liaison. I also had the pleasure of meeting a few folks tied to autism and ADMI from the Bucknell side. Running with me also was autism momma Kristen, whom I had the pleasure of first meeting at CJ's Resolution Challenge.
So at the beginning of the race they were explaining the course and I remember thinking, "I'm already lost. I'll just follow the folks in front of me." Long story short, the leader took a wrong turn and our 5k (3.1 mile) race turned into a 2.48 mile race!!! I ran hard and ended up being the third overall female, and Kristen was the first overall female! My official time was 16:48, which works out to an average pace of 6:46!!!! That's booking it! I think I was just trying to catch Kristen, hahaha! So it is a shame that this wasn't a full 5k, because I could have smashed my previous 5k PR. I'll just have to ask Kristen to "pace" me at some future race.
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Autism Mommas- Kristen & Janell |
Second recap, the Inaugural Chief Wetonah Challenge. I was super excited when I heard about this race because of who the race director was, John Johnson. If you do any trail races in Central or Northern PA you probably have seen him. His name is always at the top of results. But he is the most humble, encouraging guy, and his wife Amey is just the same. You couldn't meet a nicer couple! They came out to support my race in January, and when walk-up registrations became overwhelming Amey just jumped right in and saved the day! Naturally, I wanted to support their race as well.
Chief Wetonah Challenge is a seven mile trail race at Mt. Pisgah State Park in Troy, PA held on May 18th. Proceeds benefited the (very nice) park. This race was so well organized. There was some great communication before the event, no confusion at registration or at the start, the course was well marked, the RD could be spotted running along the course checking out his racers, they had a photo booth at the finish, and post-race food and prizes were awesome! Plus, I've been running enough trail races that these people are becoming more and more familiar to me. Folks from the Mid Penn Trailblazers and the Valley Running Club (check both out on facebook!) have welcomed me with open arms and made me feel like a part of the family. I love running and racing, and I love it even more when I get to do it with these folks.
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The Johnsons/ Runners Start/ Banner |
Anyway, back to the race. I got to run this race with my hubs, Aaron, as well as my sister-in-law, Alania. Aaron has been a runner and is finding his way back. Alania has been athletic her whole life and used to swear off running, but something has switched because I'm pretty sure she likes it now.