Tallahassee, Florida: Shriner's Mother's Day 5K

Stephen and Jacob ran in the Marzuq Shriner's Mother's Day 5k this morning. The race was held at Maclay Gardens in Tallahassee, Florida. What a beautiful day to watch a race. Stephen finished 1st in his age group (10-14) and 4th overall. Jacob finished 4th in his age group (10-14) and 43rd overall. You can see all the race results here. Stephen is listed as Stephen P. Probably because of his lack of handwriting skills. It was fun to visit Maclay Gardens again. Check out the pictures.

Shriners are fun to watch. Sixty five and still riding a Go Kart.
Juvenile? I think not.

Pre-race sign ups. We almost missed it.

Here comes Papa to watch the boys run.

The race is about to begin.

This is how Stephen and Jacob warm up. They need to work on it.
Way to stretch out guys.

If you look closely you can see Stephen starting the timer on his watch.

The shirtless guy on the far right (Mickey Moore) won the whole thing.
He beat Stephen by just under a minute.

This is the end of the race. The two runners are second (Pierce McCain)
and third (Michael Kinnett).

Stephen finished fourth overall and first in his age group.

You can see Stephen's time on the clock to the right.
It was a very hilly course.

Fifth (Keith Gates) and sixth (Cole Tessier).

This guy (Ted Nation) did well.
I don't know if we can count his daughter as a top finisher though.

This guy (John Rakestraw) did very well.
Look closely in the background and you can see Jacob.
He is the little blur of white shirt coming down the hill ahead of that pack.

Here comes Jacob around the last bend following Carols Zapata.

Jacob is staring at his time as he crosses the finish line.

Instead of medals the Shriners gave out baked goods for awards.
Stephen picked a wonderful chocolate cake for his first place finish.

A little post race celebration.
Behind them is the entrance to the Garden of Eden.

The following pictures were taken by Herb Wills and the originals can be found on his Facebook page. Mr. Wills and another fellow named Fred come to many of the local races and take pictures and put them on a very informative running website for the Gulf Winds Track Club. I don't think I have met either of them, but they do a great job of taking pictures and getting information about upcoming and past races on the website. The Gulf Winds Track Club is one of the most thorough and complete running websites I have seen.

Camilla, Georgia: Gnat Days 5K Run

Stephen and Jacob ran in the Gnat Days 5K Run in Camilla, Georgia this evening. This was an unusual race as it was run on a Friday evening at 7 pm. Most of the races take place on Saturday mornings. The overall winner of the race was a kid from Bainbridge, Georgia named Kyle Harris. Kyle is 15 years old and I think his time was around 17:35. His 9 year old brother, Caleb, won the 10 and under division with a time of 21:15. Their mom, Julie, came in third in her age group. This is a picture of 3 of the 5 members of the Harris family. We stayed and talked to them for quite awhile after the race. They are a very nice family!

The overall female winner is the lady in the white hat and black athletic top (the sports bra looking shirt). I think her name is Mary Anne Grayson. Before the race I told Stephen to line up next to her and run her pace. I gave him that advice because she finished just behind him in the Palace Saloon race and just ahead of him in the Rose City Run. The advice turned out to be well founded. With about 100 yards left in the race Stephen was about 15 yards behind Mrs. Grayson. About 50 yards before the end Stephen turned on the burners and caught up to her. I think she heard him coming as she turned the burners on herself about 10 yards before the end and beat Stephen by a step and a half. Stephen finished 5th overall and 1st in his age group. Jacob finished 35th overall and 5th in his age group.

Stephen and Jacob prior to the race

Is this hop scotch or a 5K?

Let the madness begin. Check out the Masked Avenger in the front right.Here come the first two runners down the stretch.
Kyle Harris pulls away from the Masked Avenger.

Stephen with about 100 yards left in the race.

Stephen turns on the burners with about 50 yards left.

Here comes the Jake. He ended up beating that kid.

Now for the trophys and medals.

Stephen was terrified to get in this picture with the Gnat Day Queens.
I think he was even scared of the little girls.
This is a large live oak tree in Camilla

Thomasville, Georgia: Stephen Robbins and the Goblet of Roses

Stephen ran in the Thomasville Rose City Run 10K (6.2 Miles) today. He finished first in the 13 and under age group with a time of 43:31. You can view the winners results online at the Thomasville Enterprise Newspaper or see the results of all the runners on the Gulfwinds website. That time was good enough to put him at 38th overall out of 410 runners. He received a Silver Goblet and a rose for winning his age group. The second place kid in his age group finished 98th overall with a time of 49:30 and the third place kid had a time of 53:58. Overall, this group of 13 and under was faster than last year when the winner posted a time of 54:00. Based on the results shown in the newspaper, he would have finished third in the 14-18 year old division.

I had a feeling he would finish between 42-48 minutes given how fast he has run in the 5K's. He is wearing Boy Scout pants. Probably not a runner's preferred pant, but they will certainly do in a pinch. Jacob snapped the following pictures while I videotaped the race in several different places on the route.

Also, check out this article about the race. You will notice that the article mentions a Jessie Close. Y'all may not recognize the name, but I bet most of our family remember who he is. Mr. Close is the black guy we always saw running down Centerville Road every morning on our way to school. He is apparently one of the most successful Rose City Run participants ever. Pretty cool huh.

Check out Jacob's pictures:

The State Farmer's Market was the first mile marker

This is Stephen Robbins and the Goblet of Roses