The not so fun race

I kept hearing sniggets about a race coming up at school. It was called "The Fun Race." Gavin said he was going on a field trip that day so his class wasn't running in it, and Kesley came home with a note that said if any kindergartner wanted to run in it they had to have a parent run with them or they would be cheerleaders with the rest of their class. I didn't really think much of it after that.

The morning of the race Gavin told me he was just kidding about the field trip and Kesley announced that she REALLY wanted to run in it. "Really?" I said. "You don't want to be a CHEERLEADER with your class??? " She thought that sounded cool until I dropped her off at school...then I got the phone call. "Mom, I really want to be a runner, so can you come?"

I called Brent, and he decided he was going to come too. He also had a little surprise up his sleeve for both of them once they finished the race. On the way to the school I kept seeing signs that said "Slow. Runner on the road!" I started to get the feeling that this wasn't going to be a small little 'once around the soccer field' thing--this was something BIG. You can imagine the horror when we got to the school and found out the race was 2 MILES LONG!! Doesn't sound like much for someone who is in shape, but we are, well, you know...NOT. Brent was wearing jeans, I had on a hot sweat shirt--this was not going to be fun.

The first 1/2 mile of the race was around the soccer field. The grass was long and still covered in frost from the light rain during the night. I was pushing Jenna in the Jogger stroller and I have to say--I thought I was going to DIE! Things only got worse for me when the next leg of the race was UPHILL. Kesley was ready to quit, but I knew we had to be almost half way done with this thing, and I now had to prove something to myself--sorry Kesley, but you were the one who didn't want to be a cheerleader! We pushed hard up the hill and caught up to Brent. I was happy to see that I was not the only one who was about to vomit. Brent took the stroller and Kesley and I set off to catch up with Gavin.

It took me a couple of minutes to catch up to him. The second he saw me he BOLTED off like he had just started the race! That kid was hardly winded! He let me catch up to him and we ran together. I really had to fight back the tears. This kid was running 2 miles without even thinking about it, when a little over a year ago he couldn't even run 20 steps without falling over! What a blessing.

The last 400 meters were hard. We were back on the soccer fields and now it was an uphill slant. Gavin wanted to walk, but I told him we should finish the race running. My heart melted when he reached out and grabbed my hand and we ran the last 400 meters together. How many more years do I have left where he will do that? Most boys don't want to hold their overweight mothers hand and run in front of the whole school! I love that kid.

Both kids finished the race and mom and dad both had jello legs and burning lungs for the next two days. The kids loved their trophy's. Here they are with them and their #1 dad!