This is a guest post by Starla Shelton. Starla is frequently published in She Magazine, has written an article here before, and works for Palmetto First Federal Credit Union.
This past Saturday our credit union sponsored the Palmetto First Move It! Family Fun Run/Walk 5K created to support HopeHealth. The run started and finished downtown at Central United Methodist Church. Since we sponsored the race, we wanted to attend and check out the event. We had 9 of our staff members show up to walk. I must say I was a little intimidated when I got out of my car and saw people warming up. I thought, “these people are hard-core runners!” All of the staff that showed up from the credit union wanted to walk. I decided that I would stay behind and set up the credit union’s booth for the HopeHealth “Health and Harmony Festival” going on that day. This actually worked out pretty well because it gave me the opportunity to observe the race from start to finish.
This was my first 5K and I found it very exciting. The race/walk began at 8 AM and there were 50 participants ranging from age 6 to age 70. I saw my co-workers off, got some water, stopped to talk to Margaret Love (one of HopeHealth’s employees) and went to set up our booth. It didn’t take me long to finish and as I was walking back over to the church I heard someone yell out “The first runner is rounding the corner!” I couldn’t believe the first runner was already done. It was David McCracken from Hartsville and he finished in 18 minutes! For some reason I envisioned the race lasting an hour, at least.
As I stood at the finish line and watch the people coming across, I was very impressed with the fact that there were participants from all ages, sizes, gender and race. I was amazed to see a young boy pass the finish line. He was number 12 to finish out of the 50 participating! After a few more people ran through the finish line, a woman came running around the corner pushing a STROLLER. (I knew the 3 wheel strollers were jogging strollers, but I never actually saw someone using it for that). Three minutes later, the first little girl ran across the finish line with her dad beside her. She was 6 years old. As we waited for the rest of the people to cross the finish line, I noticed the young boy, the young girl, her father and the woman with the stroller all standing together. I had to go find out more about them. The mother told me they were all one family and that her daughter had run cross-country. I thought it was so cool that the family was doing something healthy and fun as a family.
The race ended with our employee, Will Crosswell, handing out the trophies in each category. I found the event to be very inspiring. I knew that Palmetto First FCU had picked a great event to be a part of. The next time you hear about a 5K, don’t be intimidated. Whether you walk or run, no matter how old (or young) you are, whether it takes you 18 minutes to finish or 1 hour, this is a great event to get family and friends involved with.
To see a complete list of runners and where they finished, go to Carolina Running Company.
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I smiled the whole time when reading this.
As a runner who’s done numerous races, everything Starla said is true. Don’t be scared to come out to a race and run or walk. The running community is full of the most accepting people ever, and we love anyone who will come out to races! It is more about your PRESENCE than your PACE. You’re helping out a great cause, plus you’re doing something healthy for yourself. What’s not to love about that?
BTW, the Banners are an amazing family and set a great example for families who want to live a healthy lifestyle. I know them well and coached both their kids at the Florence Track Club (they are awesome runners AND have great attitudes and sportsmanship!).