My Family Has a Marathon Finisher

Hannah ran in the Mercedes Kids Marathon this morning and did great! I was so proud of her. She's been "training" all year at school in her P.E. class by running the first 25.2 miles over the course of the year. Then, she and about 25 others from our school ran the last mile on the official course today downtown along with who knows how many other kids (thousands I think!) There were about 7 kindergarteners from our school and two were in Hannah's class. After a group photo, we split up to wander around waiting for our turn. Kindergarten ran last. By the time we lined up for the race, it was so crowded and we couldn't find any of the kids she knew. But, she marched on out there to the starting line anyway..looking a bit nervous but determined. And my determined little girl finished her mile strong. Much to her delight, she received a medal and a powerade. And she convinced me to stop for McDonald's on the way home too.

I was very proud of Hannah for the simple reason that she's mine. And I know that as excited as she was, she was also scared...a mile is a long way for a 5 year old to run with a bunch of kids you don't know when you can't see familiar faces until you near the end (where I was). So - her efforts and bravery were well noted. But there were a handful of others I was proud of too: the third grader who rolled over the finish line in his wheelchair, the 2nd grader who finished behind the last 1st grader (grades started 12 minutes apart with the older grades going first) and had a huge smile on her face as she ran by me, the very small 1st grader with obvious disabilities who ran with her mother and did a limp/walk/run/shuffle all the way, and the parents standing near me who cheered every bit as loud for these kids and for every child that passed by as they did for their own. It was a good day.

Hanging out by the fountain at Linn Park waiting for her age-group to line up.

Here's all the runners from my school before their races.

Hannah with a sweet friend from her class

This is the only picture I got of Hannah running. By the time she got close enough for me to see her and I got my camera focused on her, she was past me!

Checking out her medal after the race