Today was the final race in the Frankenmuth Jaycees series: Bruckelaufe. This was my first time completing the series; I normally only run Winterlaufe. But this year my husband and his friend Mark joined me in the quest for the big series medal!
In fact, Winterlaufe – back in February – was what started my husband’s journey toward a healthier lifestyle and becoming a runner. Although he walked that 8k race, it got him hooked, and soon he and Mark were signing up for almost every race that I was running, too! Since February, they have both run a race every single month except for June, which is pretty dang impressive considering how busy they are with work.
I was only doing today’s race to complete the series with them, as I am running my second marathon next week! And I wanted to just take it easy and have a fun time, but apparently my hubby and Mark had other plans. It was raining at race start, but warming up and humid. The race started and Mark took off like a bullet! Ken decided to keep up with him and I was like, “Wait, what happened to having a nice, easy, fun race guys!?” I kept running to try to keep up with them and Jenny asked me, “Are you aiming to run the whole race?” I replied, “I’m just trying to keep up with those guys! I dunno what the heck they are doing!” Eventually I caught up with them, close to the one mile mark, which we hit at 10:28. These guys were definitely on track to get a PR today!
Bruckelaufe’s 5k takes the same course as the Volkslaufe 5k, over the wooden bridge and onto Main Street in Frankenmuth. It also takes you up the first hill of Winterlaufe, but not until you’re about halfway through the race, which is really no fun when it is warm and humid. The rain had stopped almost immediately into the race and we warmed up really quickly. Our second mile was considerably slower at 11:16. At this point we were mostly running together, doing one minute runs and one minute walks. We picked up the pace for that mile, or at least Ken did! He started pulling away from me on the runs, and as I checked my watch when we hit a half mile left to go, I thought to myself it was probably possible for him to get a personal best today! As we made it onto the grassy part of Heritage Park for the finish, I told him he better run and catch Jenny so he can get his PR! Apparently Jenny heard his laugh and abandoned her walk interval early to race him!
Ken finished the race with an official time of 33:19, getting his best 5k time yet! Jenny beat him by just 7 seconds! My time was 33:32, and Mark finished in 34:11, a personal best for him too! After the race we got our post-run snacks – chocolate milk and soft pretzels, YUM! We also picked up our race series medals, and they were definitely worth running the whole series for. They are HUGE!!
I thought I would keep a record of Ken & Mark’s race times so they could see how they have been improving. It’s really impressive! These are just their 5k times – I didn’t include Winterlaufe since they walked that 8k.
- Clarkston Backroads 5k – this was Mark’s first official 5k run, 40:45
- Mardi Gras 5k – this was Ken’s first official 5k run, and he ended up winning his age group with a time of 36:59
- St. Pat’s 5k – Ken 35:42, Mark 49:27
- Freedom 5k – Ken 39:03, Mark 39:10
- 5/3rd Riverbank Run 5k – Ken 35:20, Mark 38:50
- Volkslaufe 5k – Ken 33:44, Mark 42:34
- Crim 5k – Ken 35:28, Mark 35:47
- Capital City River Run 5k – Ken 34:55, Mark 34:57
- Bruckelaufe 5k – Ken 33:19, Mark 34:11
So proud of these guys! They have worked hard and come so far! :)
RD on the Run 