Enthusiastic Racers

Last summer, I was determined to make the kids into runners. I downloaded a "Couch to 5K" program, made charts to show their progress and really hyped it up. I'd read the blog of another mom who did this and thought, "If her kids can do this, so can mine!" It took me too many weeks to realize that I was torturing all of us. Since I don't like to quit something I start, I was very stubborn about bailing on my plan. Morning after morning, the boys grumbled and complained. I tried bribery and encouragement to no avail. Here is what they looked like most mornings. You should have seen the happy faces when I told them we weren't going to continue our early morning runs together. What a relief!

Several weeks ago, I learned about a fundraiser going on at our church to benefit the preschool. Luke attended the preschool back when he was four and I was eager to support it. This year, the fundraiser was a running event. Without much thought, I signed up all FOUR kids and myself. The kids would do the one mile run and I would run in the 5K trail run. Maybe what they were missing all along was having Irina run with them? The "Run for the FUNd" event was this past Saturday.

They were super excited and maybe a bit nervous the morning of the run. 

 And they are off!!

Luke did great. He came in 5th place overall with a time of 7:26. 

It is not surprising that he is wired much like his Momma. After the race, he kept 

thinking of ways he could have run faster and beat the boy in front of him. Very competitive!

 Ethan had a smile on his face the whole time. After it was over, he asked 

if we could run some more. He came in 8th place overall with a time of 8:00. 

I was most surprised by Aaron. He was pretty tired at the end, but came in 10th place

with a time of 8:12.5. He was really hustling his five year old legs!

Irina was the most excited for the race and started off very fast, grinning and grinning. 

She couldn't keep up her fast pace, but she didn't give up. She finished in 15th place overall 

with a time of 9:05. I love how encouraging the boys were as she came into the finish line!

 So proud of her! She was the 2nd girl to finish the race so she got a little medal and gift card prize. 

Can you imagine her delight in hearing them announce her name? She was beaming!

And of course she plopped down on Daddy's feet as soon as she was finished. 

My 5K was on some pavement, but mostly on trails lined with pine needles. It was a new experience for me. Lots of ups and downs and twists and turns. I loved having my cheering committee. Do you see Aaron on the left as I'm crossing the street? I'm thankful that Darin hung with the kids while I enjoyed this run. I had to miss my favorite 10K run a couple weeks ago because I broke my toe the night before. :( I'm so glad it is healed enough to get back to my running. My time was 27:33. Not bad for my first trail run. 

A great event for the whole family! The kids are signed up for another 1 mile run in two weeks. 

And of course, after it was over, we were all so eager to get to my parents to 

spend time with my Canadian brother, his wife and the cousins. More pictures coming soon!