By Anne Larsen
What do you get when you add the following ingredients together?
Mix one family friendly 5k with a Marshall Middle School “Gatorade and Granola Bar” food drive. Add a healthy dose of community spirit, a bunch of raffle prizes and pre/post-race activities. Stir in a free kids run. Mark your calendars for May 31 and cross your fingers for sun. What do you have?
The 2nd Annual Tortoise and Hare Prediction 5k!
Let’s break down this recipe, shall we?
Ingredient #1 – Family Friendly 5k
The Tortoise and the Hare Prediction 5k is all about having a good old family fun time. Good time does not necessarily mean fast time. This is not the traditional “I’m going to shoot for a PR (personal record) on this 5k course” good time. Rather, a “I think I run/walk a 17 minute mile pace, so I’m going to PREDICT a good time.”
In a sport that is obsessed with time, the Tortoise and Hare Prediction 5k is not about how fast you are “it’s about how fast you THINK you are.” Wait? How does it work? Each participant will predict (or guess) their finishing time when they register. The runner whose race day finishing time is closest to their predicted finishing time WINS. So lace up the running or walking shoes, buckle little kids in strollers, leash up the dogs, invite the grandmas, but leave your watches at home.
Race director Sonja Ulrich, along with her running mentor and friend Terra Perkins came up with the brilliant idea of having participants predict their finishing time. This method levels the playing field – maybe the speedy folks really do know their pace, but maybe the walkers know theirs better. To take a sneak peek at how participants did last year, check out the results here.
Study the statistics for a better chance of winning.
Ingredient #2 – Marshall Middle School “Gatorade and Granola Bar” food drive
What’s better than being a walker or runner? Not much. But one thing is for sure! SUPPORTING community walkers and runners!
Marshall Middle Schools CARES has teamed up with Level Road Runners to provide the Gatorade and granola bars to their participating runners, all of who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Taking a little thing that many middle school age children may take for granted (my kids believe granola bars just magically appear in our pantry), and providing that for people in need is huge. All collected food items will be donated to Quixote Village, Drexel House and Rosie’s Place through Level Road Runners. Thank you Marshall Middle School CARES!
Ingredient #3 – Community Spirit!
Marshall Community Council (MCC) students will be out in full-force volunteering and the cheer squad will be encouraging participants along the route. In addition to being the race director, Sonja is also the MCC President. Putting on a community race allows the parents, students and Marshall Community to get moving and be involved. Hosting the race at the school engages the neighborhood and community, reaching out so that everyone will feel invested in their school and students.
Understanding how important it is to not only have parental involvement but also community involvement, the MCC supports the following programs: theater productions, the Marshall Community Garden, Battle of the Books and much more. Through their actions the MCC “strives to deepen students’ commitment to life-long values of kindness, acceptance and respect for others, responsibility, accountability, and a love of learning.”
Ingredient #4 – Raffle prizes and race day activities
Sonja and Terra work hard to bring you the best raffle prizes and race day activities. Who doesn’t love a raffle? With a list of amazing sponsors including: Darlene Morales Allstate, IP Callison and Sons, Perlot Orthodontics, US Martial Arts and Olympia Federal Savings, in addition to various community members donating items and baskets, you are bound to win something fabulous.
Ingredient #5 – Free kids run
FREE + kids + run= fun. Start time, 10 a.m. Enough said.
Mixing ingredients = magic time!
Take all five ingredients and mix together on a sunny and dry Saturday in May. You are guaranteed to have happy, flush cheeked children, a good sense of what an awesome community we are, and if you’re good at predicting, a new pair of running shoes to kick around town in.
Join Sonja, Terra, and the Marshall Middle School community at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 31. The free kids run starts at 10:00 a.m. around the Marshall Middle School track.
You may have a hidden talent to “predict” times – and you would have never uncovered it until now. Plus I bet you’ll win something! Rumor has it “awesome raffle prizes” and LOTS of them!
To register for the Tortoise and Hare Prediction 5k race, click here. You can follow the event on Facebook as well.
