The Longest 5K Ever

In July, Zach ran the 2nd annual Walcott Day 5K. He did really well but that's not what this story is really about. Well it starts out with him...

So we get up at 6:00 to watch this race that starts at 7. Kind of early to wake up 3 little kids, but we thought they would enjoy watching. We stood just down the street here because we knew they'd be passing about halfway through the race. Zach was doing well when he passed by and we hooted and hollered (because we know how much he loves that). So he runs by and we head up over the railroad tracks to wait by the finish at the Coliseum. On the tracks, Dave stops to turn around and watch everyone coming up (we knew alot of the people). I happened to look down the tracks and see a huge headlight coming our way. I said "Dave, train!" He looked at me as if to say Okay I'm coming. I said "Dave! Train!" And pointed to all the people running over the tracks. He said "Oh, good call." And proceeded to yell at all the people in the race "Train! Hurry, a train's coming!"

So here's all these people sprinting over the tracks. After the race, Zach told me he heard people talking about a guy who saved them by yelling about a train coming. I was able to tell him, "That was your dad!"

The bad news is, not everyone made it over the tracks. About half the people in the race got stuck on one side of the train while the other half finished. Not terrible news, I suppose, until you factor in that the train sat there, right down the middle of town, for over an hour! This caused quite a bit of confusion, of course. I was glad our whole family was on one side together. But we were also hungry and had a parade to get ready for. And our house was on the other side of the tracks!

I guess when the train finally moved, some people were able to finish. ( I would have given up by then because rest assured, had I been running that day, I would have been on the wrong side of the tracks and would have walked home.) My mom's neighbor, Anne, told an extremely funny version later that day. She said when they were finally able to be done, the race official told everyone to subtract one hour and five minutes off their total to get their time for the race. (She's a big runner and has been for years.) She said, "I bet not many people can boast about taking over an hour and a half to run a 5K!"