Race for Ryan

The boys & I ran in a race on Monday that was held to help the family of one of our neighbor's sons who died tragically in March. I was a bit concerned that people would show since we woke up to a cold & rainy morning (side note: it was nice & sunny on saturday when I initially dragged my boys out of bed to go to the race...remember to ALWAYS verify race dates before going to the starting line). I was happy to see that there was still quite a good turn out.

Initially, I signed up to have the boys run in the 1 mile fun run & then I was going to run int he 5k, but our plans changed. The boys were all pumped up with the excitement in the air by all the runners. Aidan's sort of a veteran to the whole racing thing since he has quite a few races under his belt, but this was Dyl's 1st race. I'll just say he was less then thrilled to be out in the cold rain, but he was still a trooper...well at least until the race started.

BANG! The starting gun sounded & off we went. Aidan started out strong & was keeping up with the pack. I stayed with Dyl to make sure he was ok....um...he wasn't. I think there was too much chaos going on around him & he was NOT happy about it. We were all of about a minute in when he announces that he HATES races!

He continues to tell me this as we make our way up the first hill. at this point he is still running, but he is slowing down. I felt a little panic since I knew Aidan was running ahead & I didn't want him to turn around & not see us in sight (Aidan's a natural worry...he comes by it honestly...) . I looked ahead to see that Aidan had stopped to turn around & look for us. I waived him on & he took off running. Meanwhile, I am coaxing Dyl to keep it up...YOU CAN DO IT!!!

We made the first turn & I tried to encourage him that he was doing great & that now we were going down hill...yeah, this was not helping. His volume was rising & he was now shouting at me that he not only HATES running, but RACES ARE STUPID!!!! The other runners were just looking at me smiling...nice...here's the thing, to Dyl's credit, he was STILL running. Trust me, I was surprised myself.

Moving along...I of course, was trying to think of anything under the sun to get him to continue...I'll buy you more Indiana Jones LEGOS...I'll give you $5...anything to get him to keep moving. Well, eventually, the tears started to flow & he stopped running, BUT he kept moving (again, if you know Dyl, this means something...I have NO clue where he gets his stubborn, independent-thinking side from...).

So now we are walking, he is crying & still screaming at me the same old, same old. I'm just hoping that Aidan is okay. From here on out it is all down hill...literally. I was talking on my cell & noticed out of the corner of my eye that Dylan was trying to sneak by me so that he could run down the hill. If I gave any indication that I noticed, he would stop & remind me how stupid races were...so I played his game & pretended to ignore him. Finally, we past some house with a wheelchair ramp & I joked to Dyl that some cool skateboard kids must live there. FINALLY his mood had changed & he thought that was funny. He was distracted enough that we talked about that for a bit 'til we saw the finish line come in sight. From there on in he was determined to beat me to the end...which he did (wink wink).

Lucky for me, Aidan was there waiting & cheering us in. He'd finished quite a bit ahead of us & was feeling pretty good about how he ran. Good Job, Aidan!

I was also proud of my boys for the simple fact that I didn't realize they hadn't ever run this far. I thought Aidan was just out of shape when he told me that this run was MUCH longer than the ones he had done in the past. I told him nope, it wa the same as always...1 mile. Yeah...once again I was wrong. Apparently, the races he typically ran was about 1/2 a mile...YIKES! So I guess it was MUCH longer...DOUBLE! Kudos, Aidan for running the whole way! :)

Also, I have to say that the race was very well organized. There was music & lots of good fruit & water (Dyl LOVES watermelon so this was an extra bonus). There was bread & honey & even a popcorn machine.

All in all, we had fun...well, 'til Dyl felt like he was going to throw up. Needless to say, I didn't get to run the 5k after that...oh well...