#39= #1 (oh yeah, #38, too)

Yesterday was Hot Wheels first kids race at the local 5K. It was also Superdad's first 5K, along with his brother. Everyone had a great time. Superdad came in with quite a respectable 26:13, he was thinking it would be closer to 30 minutes so he was pretty happy. It was sort of funny at the starting line, the boys high fived dad before he took off and then we heard the start. As soon as Superdad started running, Superman broke into tears and wanted to chase him. For about 5 minutes he cried "I miss daddy" as we walked over to the playground where he was finally consoled by a ride on the see saw. The finish of the 5K was a little less than 200m on the track, so it was a good spectator finish, about 20 minutes after the race started all the boys headed over to the finish line and really enjoyed watching the runners come in. It was nice to see, people from 10-70+ years old were in this local event and everyone seemed to do very well. There were a little less than 150 people in the race and many were multiple family members running together. I was really amazed at some of the kids 10-12 years old coming in under 22 minutes! They were fast. I'm looking forward to running next year, although right now 30 minutes sounds like what would be a reasonable goal for me. Maybe some day I'll give Superdad a run for his money, but it will be a while.

Then the highlight of our day, the kids races. When they asked for all the kids 4 and under, only two lined up. The little girl was saying she's almost five so Hot Wheels was the youngest out there. When they saw it was only 2 kids they asked for 5 and 6 year olds to line up as well. There were either 6 or 7 kids in the race. They announced that parents could run with the kids. My nephew wanted his dad to run with him and we asked Hot Wheels if he wanted one of us to run with him. His response was "No thank you. I'll go by myself." He was the only kid out there that didn't run with a parent and I was so proud of him I could have burst. He ran the full quarter mile lap of the track without stopping once. I was at the start and then at the 200m mark (fortunately I made it across the muddy field without falling on my ample butt) he came along and puffed "Mom, I'm getting tired here." I told him he was almost done and he never stopped, right through to the finish line where he got his medal and gave me a big hug. The little girl that won his race was amazingly fast for a 5 or 6 year-old, we think Hot Wheels took somewhere between 2:30-3:00 for his lap and he came in third- not too far behind his five-year-old cousin. To see the look of concentration on his face out there just astonished me. I didn't think he'd be able to stay focused and keep running on his own out there for an entire lap, but he sure did it. He's got a rather unorthodox style to it, it looked like he was going to fall forward any second, but he didn't. He can't wait to wear his medal to school this week and show his friends. We checked with his teacher at church this morning and she said that should be fine, he's very proud of himself, as he should be. Next year we'll see if Superman can do it, he couldn't now but we've got a year to get ready.

Sadly for Hot Wheels, he may have inherited my tendency towards gastro-intestinal distress following races. It was a tough afternoon for him, maybe he'll need the pre-race Immodium as well. Poor guy.

On a personal note, this cold has completely got me knocked down. It's been almost a week now and I've been 'sleeping' on the couch at night so I can sit up and breathe. I've had a cough since Wednesday that's forceful enough that I feel like I've pulled all the muscles from my waist to my collarbone. I had intended to get back to the pool this week, with only six weeks until my swim leg, but that's just not happening. This half mile swim might be the least practiced event I'll ever have. The good part is that my team is only entering so that one of our members can get a triathlon under her belt as a team member rather than solo, neither of the other two women are ultra-competitive. Or at least, they're very understanding that I'm not likely to win the leg or anything. Between the first trimester morning sickness and the nearly constant colds since the last week of January, I suspect that Critter here has it in for me, quite a few people have commented that it's likely a girl for all this trouble he or she is causing me. Only 106 days until we find out!