Sunday, August 14, 2011

We Start 'Em Young

As most of you probably know, one of our favorite past-times in Mauneyland is racing- well, marathons and triathlons mostly.  I realized today that I started this blog a little over two years ago and this has never been a topic because I've been on a two-year hiatus due to always being pregnant or nursing!  But once upon a time, there was not much that I liked better than a race day.  Josh and I have run several together and a few separate and have plans for more in the future.




After the 2009 Disney Marathon
So it was much to our delight that we heard that one of the biggest summer events here is the "Midsummer's Night Run" downtown.   The event includes a one-mile family fun run, a 5K, and wait for it...... the Fastest Kid in Town Race...... complete with a division for 1-year-olds!  As soon as I heard this, I knew that it was time to introduce our little boy to something that his mom and dad love so much!  And then to make it even better, my sister and brother-in-law decided to come down for their night and enter Adam into the race, too!  It's one of the perks of having us all living close to each other again!

At first, I think Josh was a little nervous that my competitive streak would come through and I would become some crazed lunatic about this whole thing.  However, I was surprisingly okay and just wanted to see Jake have a good time.  We went downtown plenty early and got the boys signed up.  The best part?  They even got official race bibs and numbers... how cute is that???




Our little racer... built for speed!




Adam is ready to go!  He even practiced "ready, set, go!" all week.
It was quite hot outside, so by the time race time rolled around, Jake was losing it a little bit.  We knew that it could go either way... he was either going to love it, or have a complete meltdown.  I stood at the other end of the racing field, which was quite a bit farther than I expected them to have to run!  I knew that Jake would never be able to see me from the other end, but at least I was at an angle to take pictures!  After the kiddos and their parents were all lined up, we heard "On your marks, get set, go!" and off they went!  Well... most of them anyway.  Thanks to Adam's training, he set off at a dead sprint (well, for a 1-year-old) and we pretty much thought it was in the bag.  About halfway to the finish-line, however, he noticed all of the folks on the sidelines cheering and clapping and became far more interested in clapping and cheering along with them than he was in running any farther!  It was incredibly cute (and comical).  Jake, on the other hand, took about three steps and just stopped!  I started yelling his name as loud as I could, but he just stood there!  There was another kid standing back there, too, and I could tell that Josh just couldn't get Jake to move!  Finally (after a winner was already determined) he came charging down the field and all was fine and good until he fell.  At that point, he was over it!  I ran out to try to coax him to the finish, but as soon as he saw me, his arms went straight up and he wanted to be carried the rest of the way.  Oh well... I guess our little bruiser wasn't built for speed after all!



Mindy and Adam on the far left, Jake and Daddy STILL standing at the start!




Go, Adam, Go!
Later I did learn that (as I should have expected) our little man was sabotaged.  The dad of the kid next to him had a sippy cup, and as soon as Jake spotted it, that's all he could focus on.  In retrospect, we should have come prepared with an apple or Goldfish to bribe him with since our kiddo loves to eat so much!  Oh well, maybe next time.  Josh ended up running the 5K later in the evening (along with many others in our family) and I took the boys home to bed... they were pooped!  And let's be honest, so was I just from standing in the hot sun for awhile!  The entire event was so much fun though and we're already excited for next year.  Aside from the races, there was some other fun that our little man was a big fan of as well:



Wheeeeeeee!!!!




Mmmmm... a cherry sno-cone.  Yes, please!
Once our little Lillian comes along, I hope to pick something to train for and get back into the race world again... it's been too long!  But I did enjoy being a spectator for once and think that I could get used to doing that more often as well!  All I know is that when the race rolls around again next year, we'll be ready!  Look out 2-year-olds... here we come!  

If you want to see a video of the cuteness, you can check out the post on my sister's blog here.

2 comments:

  1. Oh man, I wish we had one of these around here!!! You know I would be on that...and kyra runs everywhere (not that that means she would do so in a race). But I bet that was the cutest thing ever! Love the adorable pictures of Jake too!

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  2. Now THAT is some cuteness! Hilarious. Let me know when the next one comes around and I will walk along the race and show ice cream to all the other kids. ;)

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