There’s no better way to kick off the race season with a nice and easy tune-up race; something with a small entry group, in a scenic location, and a short distance.  That tune-up race was the Race For Success 5K on Saturday, March 8th at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA.  They had a 1K kids run after the “big kids” 5K so I dragged my wife and kids along with me; I pushed my son in our jogging stroller through the 5K course while my wife guided our daughter through the 1K.

The proceeds from the Race For Success benefited the local middle and high schools in Westchester, Playa Vista and Playa del Rey.  The event has been able to raise funds each year to save programs that would otherwise have been cut due to decline in budgets.  Each year local schools face financial hardships and must find many ways to raise more funds just to keep up existing programs and staffing levels.  While the race itself did not directly benefit veterans or their families, it was a great tune-up race to get ready for the race calendar to kick into high gear!

While there wasn’t an official category for “stroller pushing dudes”, I was told by an official at the finish line that my son and I were the first to cross the line in the category.  So while our time of 25:48 only manage to get us placed 182nd out of 1,127 overall, 137th out of 531 men, and 12th out of 46 age group men we were “1st” in the stroller group!

Overall the most fun thing about the 5k race with my son was him alternatively screaming “go go go”, “faster”, and “weeeee” as I pushed him along the course.  That’s better than any pre-programmed computer voice that you might have piped into your head from a fancy smart phone.  My son, the race coach!