College Race Day

Liam has been talking about racing ever since I told him about my triathlon. I looked around the internet for a local kids run and found one on Sept. 27th. With Dan travelling so much, we didn't pre-register in case something came up. Saturday morning arrived and everyone was happy and excited for the kids race.

The "college race day event" had a tailgating theme and all of the proceeds from the event supported the athletic programs at a local high school, so everyone was encouraged to wear their college gear. We were sporting orange and blue, of course!

Rosie outgrew her Gator gear. She'll fit into Liam's jersey soon and he's getting too big for it anyway. 

I bet you are wondering why Dan has a race bib, too? We had planned to just run along with Liam on his 1k and cheer the 5k and 10k runners. On the way over to the park, Dan randomly decided that he was going to run the 5k also. This was seriously like 20 minutes before the 5k race started!

We rushed to registration and Dan stretched and warmed up. Then it was time to go.

The kids 1k started about 30 minutes after the 5k, so we went to the playground. This was at Cook Park, the lovely park where I ran the 5k portion of my triathlon. At the playgound, we ran into our neighbors! The same family who had come out the previous weekend to cheer me on. Turns out the wife was running the 10k! 

When the finishers from the 5k and 10k races started to trickle in, the kids and I lined up along the finish line to cheer on the runners. As we waited, Liam was getting more and more excited for his race. He told me, "I'm going to run really fast! There aren't going to be any yellow lights!" So cute! 

I thought I would see my neighbor first, but Dan really surprised me when he finished the 5k in 24 minutes! Men! 

My neighbor finished shortly afterwards. She was really surprised to see me and the kids cheering her on the the finish line. 

Then it was time for the kids run. We had planned to all go, but the path was not conductive to pushing Rosie in the stroller, so Dan and Rosie stayed behind while Liam and I went. Not all of the parents had finished their races, so there were just 4 in the first heat of kids. 

Liam's a sprinter. He took off and passed everyone, including the girl who was leading the course! That didn't last long, but he did run the whole route without stopping. The group kind of spread out. I kept encouraging Liam on. He was focused and pretty quiet when, about 2/3 of the way through the course, he let out a loud "Meep meep!" 

The road runner is pretty much his spirit animal. 

There were quite a few people gathered around the finish line and the event organizer announced Liam's name over the loud speaker and he made his way to the finish line. It was awesome! I'm so proud of my little buddy!