We ran our first mile together a few months ago and registered for the Kid’s Hogeye Marathon. The race has kids log 25.2 miles leading up to race day and they run that final mile on the course — for a full marathon in total. He’s been talking about it for weeks and has been committed to his training log — even doing a few training runs (and a race!) in the rain!
He was ready. I picked him up from school last Friday and we headed to packet pickup at Lewis & Clark. One of the perks in his goody bag was a free pass for the climbing wall there in the store — so we headed over to try it out.
He didn’t make it much higher than that before he came back down, but he looked me straight in the eye and said, “don’t worry, Mommy. I’ll go a little higher next time.” Such a balance of bravery and caution in this one.
After a morning baseball game, Saturday afternoon was here! Race day! We pinned the bib and double-knotted the shoes and spiked the hair and charged the Garmin — all the essentials.
I may have insisted on running with him if I honestly thought I could keep up… but he was good to go. And he found a friend from his school at the start line and ran with her most of the race.
There were three waves of kids and he was in the final wave. So we cheered for friends and other kids we knew — and then it was his turn. Go Buddy Go!
The course was a full mile – out and back on a road closed to car traffic. It wasn’t long before we saw his bright red Keeping TIME shirt headed toward the Finish Line!
I LOVE CHEERING FOR THIS KID.
And I love that he’s proud of his hard work. And I love that he’s falling in love with running. And I love that he’s already talking about the next one.