Monday, October 08, 2012

Running the Distance...

Some of you may remember Dietrich's epic battle in last year's Twin Cities' Medtronic Half-Mile Race over in St.Paul at the capitol. Well, this year, Brad says to me, "Hey, we should sign the three boys up for that race again." Me: "Really? (remembering last year)" Brad: "Yeah, it will be good." Silent pause while I stare at him trying to decide if he's joking. He's clearly not. Me: "Okay."

Here they are with the other runners from Hale Community School. Their P.E. teachers are truly great at what they do -- some of the most fun, well-organized and enthusiastic teachers I have ever met. So...how did it go? - Right? Well, Atticus ran with the first graders on his own and ran hard and strong and finished way ahead of his pack. Next year he will definitely do the mile. He is good and loves running. Yay! Lincoln, probably the youngest runner in his group, ran straight through, no complaining and when he saw the finish line banner, he said he wanted to run hard to the end on his own -- so he took off and did great! Dietrich. Well, a week before the race he decided that his personal goal was to not stop and to not freak out. We agreed that these were indeed good and sensible goals. So he took off pretty hard from the start line and went 3/4 of the way far ahead of us, eyes straight ahead -- good running, no wasted emotions. Lincoln, being so much shorter and younger, couldn't keep up with him, so I stayed back with him. As we rounded the hairpin at the halfway mark, I looked up and saw Deke only about 50 feet away from the finish line. He suddenly stopped, looked around, and emotionally fell apart. I found out yesterday that he thought Lincoln and I had already finished and that he had lost us in the massive crowd of runners and spectators. At the time, all I knew was that I had a broken 4 year old who was going to be pretty disappointed in himself if he didn't pull himself together and finish. As Liz Berget asked me, "How'd he do on a scale of 1 to Animal [from the Muppets]?" Well, it was probably a 4. But considering last year's drama, it was a decided improvement and I think with some better coaching next year and him having a better idea of the length and what to expect, I think he will fly next year! So Brad was right [surprise. surprise. (-:] -- It was good!



Check out the oldest kid...How about a closer look here...






2 comments:

Jeff Wencel said...

I love the beard, Brad!

liz@carpeseason said...

I'm glad you thought the muppet comment was clever. So did I :)