- anonymous
saturday was a big day for finn - his first race.
he said he wanted to run a race with me and i thought the annual st. patty's race would be a good one to start with. there were 6, 4 and 2 mile runs offered and we opted for the 2 miler since i had no idea how finn would do and since i would be pushing a 20 lb jogging stroller with 20 lb scout inside as well. it started out great.
for the first half mile, finn jogged beside me as i pushed the stroller. he was so excited and would run ahead and yell back "i'm beating you mommy." i had to remind him not to run too fast or he'd get tired. he seemed to have only one speed and sure enough, about 30 minutes into the run, he said he was "tired and needed to walk". we walked for a while then he'd get a second, third and fourth wind and run again and then walk. around 1.5 miles he said his legs hurt so i offered my back for about 10 minutes. somehow i managed to push scout and keep finn on back but it was not easy. he's getting big - too big for me to carry.
as we got closer to the finish line, he got his fifth wind and ran ahead of me and crossed the finish line. he was so excited. he was presented a medal and he wore it proudly. he wasn't shy about showing it to other runners and telling them he finished the race too. we picked up our race t-shirt and then sampled some drinks and snacks at the exhibits. later that day, finn told christopher "the gatorade and cookie" he got after the race was the best part of it all. the best part for me was experiencing his first race with him. although he wasn't quite ready for it, he gave it his all and had fun. in a year or two we'll try again and if finn has his way, we will be wearing matching green wigs or shamrock antennas like some of the costumes we saw. ;)
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| i ordered this photo from the official race site. it's not the prettiest pix but i had to have one of my partners for the day. |
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| proud finn enjoying a post-race cookie |
