Her school was down the street from one of the trails. The last miles was run together on the trail on a Saturday morning. The morning of, we met in the parking lot. They got t-shirts and bib numbers and then we all walked down to the trail. The 5th graders started first, after a 30 sec wait, the 4th graders started, followed by a pause and the 3rd graders. They ran 1/2 mile down the trail turned around and came back. I was standing with my friend Patti who has a 5th graders. We kept looking for her daughter since she started first. All of a sudden, I noticed Katy was coming down the home stretch. She ran her mile in about 9 minutes and finished before a bunch of the 5th graders. It was a super hot and humid morning so all of the kids did a great job in those conditions but we were especially proud of Katy. At the end they had bananas, water bottles and granola for the runners.
During the last two weeks of Katy's Read and Run Marathon, the other girls' school started a Triathalon. They had to read 26 books, eat 26 healthy snacks, and run 26 miles. I wish the timing had been a little better so I could've taken them all running at once. Again, there were alternate activtities but the girls logged most of their miles by actually jogging. Bella had a tendancy to be a little melodramatic about it. The neighbors probably thought I was torturing her because she would moan the whole time she ran. I wasn't even forcing her to participate. It was purely optional and she choose to. By the end they could both run 2 miles without stopping. They both have a tendancy to be more concerned with being social than applying themselves and doing their best. (Katy always wants to see how well she can do a task but the other girls could care less as long as they're with friends). I wanted them both to try hard they day they ran the final mile at school. (Their school had each grade level run the last mile separately at the track at the junior high next door. Since Jared was already commuting back and forth from Chicago, he happened to be home the Friday of the race and was able to come watch.) We decided to give them some incentive to try their best. I told them that if they ran the whole mile we would go to Bobby's. (Bobby's is the best frozen custard stand in the world) It didn't have to be fast, they just had to run the whole thing. The Kindergarden students went first. The whistle blew and Bella took off. She was flying. We were worried she was going to wear herself out by the end but she just kept flying around that track. She ended up being the first girl to finish and was either 3rd or 4th overall. I was completely astonishished (especially in light of the constant moaning while she ran at home). Needless to say, we were super proud of her.
Warming up:
The whistle blows:
Gotta love that stride!
The kindergarten participants
Then it was time for the 2nd graders to go. Once again they lined up and the whistle blew. Once again, we were amazed as Xandy took off and never slowed down. She was the first girl in second place to finished and was only beat by 3 or 4 boys. We were so proud of them.
It turn out that when it was time for the 2nd graders to run my neighbor Liz asked how Bella did. (Her son was in Xandy's class and she knew about our Bobby's incentive) We were standing with the class and unbeknownst to me, Xandy overheard me tell Liz about Bella's incredible run. Not wanting to be out done by her little sister, Xandy decided to run her hardest also. Hey, whatever inspires your best hon!
Warming up:
And she's off:
Jenna, Avery, and Xandy (or Alex as she known at school)
The inspiration behind the perspiration:
I love that the schools were encouraging reading and a healthy lifestyle. The kids really enjoyed it and was a great way to get the whole family involved (even if I did ruin the healthy part but frozen custard bribes!!)
Here's hoping the schools here in NW Indiana do this!
1 comment:
Wow - your girls are amazing. They take after their mom.
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