running

Evie’s First Race

/ Shane / 3 Comments

In what has become an annual event, Sara once again ran the Comer Classic 5k conveniently located in our neighborhood. However, this year there was an additional participant in the kid’s portion of the race.

We were really prepared for the worst, since the weather called for thunderstorms all day. However, the weather held all morning until just after we got home, it was unseasonably warm, and everybody had a great day. Sara even beat her previous time by an impressive 2 minutes and 11 seconds.

This year, there was again face painting, and the kids took full advantage. I am always stunned by how awesome people are at face paining these days. When I was a kid, you got a rainbow on the side of your face and called it a day.

Evie asked to be an angel:

and Ollie asked to be a “blue monster”. I’d say he fit the bill:

Oliver has never had his face painted before. I wish I would have had a video of him when the lady held up the mirror for him to see his face. Despite feeling her applying makeup all over his face, he was somehow completely unprepared for what he looked like. A slow smile spread across his face, and his eyes positively lit up. He spent most of the day baring his teeth. I’m perhaps a little biased, but he was far and away the cutest monster running around that day.

Finally, came the big moment: Evie’s race.

Evie has been looking forward to this for a year, no kidding. She was so excited to do a race. Just picking out her running clothes that morning was a whole thing. She could hardly wait until all the adult stuff was over to get to her part.

It was a little disorganized, but they finally got underway. Evie was in the youngest age group, and I really don’t think anybody else was quite as determined to give it their all the way she was. As she came whizzing past me, just the look of determination on her face, with just the faintest hint of a smile, told me that it was that perfect moment when you were a kid and you suddenly got everything you wanted.

It was a great moment while it lasted.

Afterwards, Evie was almost in tears. “I’m not even proud of this medal,” she said. It was a heartbreaking moment. I was worried perhaps she was upset that she didn’t “win”, which was something we had discussed before the race. “Why not, honey?” “The race was too short!” she lamented.

Evie has been training for this race, and taking it very seriously. Unfortunately, the race organizers did not take the 4-5 year olds quite as seriously, and just set up a little dash from one side of the field to the other. It wasn’t a real race, any more than someone saying, “I’ll race you to that tree! Go!” is a real race, and Evie knew it.

It was a sad moment, and my heart went out to her. She was right, but nonetheless I wish she could have held on to that one shining moment where she was flying over the grass and her fondest desire was achieved. So sad to see that ruined.

Oh well, I guess that’s life kid. Get used to it.

I’ll see you a 5k, and raise you a 5k

/ Shane / 2 Comments

Just a month after running her first 5k, Sara ran a 10k at Navy Pier last weekend. For some reason the chip didn’t record her time, so that means it doesn’t count and she has to do it over. No, just kidding, but it was a little disappointing. Sara’s unofficial time was 70 minutes, 50 seconds, which is pretty awesome. Especially when you consider this race was a lot more hilly than the 5k she ran.

To me, a 10k is a lot more serious that a 5k. The 5k had people who were just out for some fun, or just wanted to support the charity. This race didn’t have any jokers (to be fair, a lot of them were there to run the 10 mile, which is even more serious than the 10k). You can’t just show up and run a 10k the way you can a 5k. Therefore, I was twice as proud of Sara as when she ran the 5k. 🙂

Sara’s mom, dad and sister happened to be here, so they got to attend and cheer Sara on. And Oliver is still saying, “Go mama! Go mama!” if anybody happens to use the word “race” in a sentence.

Since the race happened to be at Navy Pier, we were basically sitting under the Ferris wheel the whole time. Evie has always wanted to go on a Ferris wheel, and talks about it whenever we go by Navy Pier. So as we were walking by, Sara figured, why not?

Did she enjoy it? More than I would have, that’s for sure!

She didn’t seem to be phased at all by it, but when she got back on the ground she told me that “Mommy was annoying me” by trying to sit opposite her to take a picture. She wanted Sara to stay put, right by her side. Every time Sara would move to the other side of the car to snap a picture, Evie would immediately move to that side of the car as well. I can’t blame her for that, though, considering I didn’t even want to get on the thing in the first place!

5k

/ Shane / 5 Comments

Over the weekend, Sara ran her first 5k. We’re very proud of her!

Evie, Ollie, and I were on hand to cheer her on. It was great, since the race was in our neighborhood, so we were able to walk there. Also, since it was such a short race, we hardly had time to eat a little snack before the runners started coming it.

There were lots of activities for the kids, such as some really professional face painting and balloons (oh, did I come to rue the day we saw those balloons).

Evie, or a butterfly?

Sara was a little nervous about the race, since she’d never run one before. Her goal was just to not embarrass herself, and to be able to run the entire time. Therefore, she was hoping to make it in under 40 minutes.

Well, she killed it. She finished well under 40 minutes (34:13 for the record), and when she was done, she wasn’t even winded.

Sara hotdogging it to the finish line, like she was out for a pleasant stroll

The morning started out pretty cold, but by the time the race finished, it was a beautiful day. Unfortunately, we had attended the Harvest Festival at Evie’s school the day before, and the kids were a little out of sorts. So we really payed for it at the race, which was too bad, because I was sad that it sort of put a pallor on Sara’s day. At one point I thought to myself, “Running the race has to be easier than dealing with the kids!” but then I quickly took it back, because I didn’t want to trivialize Sara’s accomplishment. However, even Sara agreed that running had been much easier than managing two tired, crying children!

The kids are so proud of their mama, can’t you tell?

At the end of the day (well, more like the beginning of the day), I was very proud of Sara. Not that she finished the race, since there wasn’t really much question of that by the time the race starts, but everything else that goes into it. Even just actually signing up for the race is a step more than a lot of people go. And lord knows I’m not signing up to run any races any time soon.

Sara’s already signed up for a 10k in November, so this is definitely not the last race. Also, Evie has been promised that she can run in the kid’s race next year, and she is ridiculously excited by this. She even wants to “train with mommy” for it (but only as long as there are no hills!) So maybe someday she will follow in her mother’s footsteps.

Congratulations Sara! You won the 5k for my heart! (Oh, I’m going to pay for that one…)