Back to School, HOORAY!

 August 29th was a glorious day!

Kathryn is off to grade 5. She'll be the big kid in the school and get to do all that big kid stuff and be a team leader.

Tansley is off to grade 2. She is super excited to be in Mrs Schmit's class and to learn more math.

Kymberly is off to Kindergarten. She is excited to walk to school and home again with her sisters and for show and tell day.

It's hard to cry while jogging.

This morning was race day. The day my girls and I had been training for since April. Three times a week we'd brave the elements and get up at 6am to go for a run. Most mornings the girls were the ones dragging me out of bed.

It was a fairly big group this year with quite a few kids. When the timer said "GO" we were off. You should have seen those kids go. It was good to for my girls to have some other speedy kids to keep pace with instead of their slow mom. I was so thrilled to see Kathryn coming back so far ahead of the pack out on her own. I knew she was taking first place for her age group. I was done in with emotion as I watched Tansley pass me by, knowing that she was running faster than she had the whole time we had been training. I gasped for air as I tried to keep back the tears and keep my pace. They were both so far ahead of me that I couldn't even see them finish. I was so glad that my parents were able to make it out to watch us race so that they'd have someone cheering just for them when they crossed that finish line. I picked up pace for the last three blocks, but I didn't feel like I had much more to give. As I came within a block of  the finish line I could here my Kymberly chanting "You can do it mom! Go Mom!" Once again I was overcome by emotion. Crying is not helpful when one is trying to finish a race strong. But finish I did, slower than last year, but I'm not dead from the effort. That alone is an accomplishment.

Our finishing times

Kathryn 30:30 - First in the girls 10 and under
Tansley 37:10 - Second in the girls 10 and under
Me 41:31 - I got a participation ribbon for the women's 30-37 group.

Last years times can be found here.

A little determination can go a long way.

I've been meaning to write this post since Wednesday morning, but one thing or another has stopped me from doing so. Better late than never.

Wednesday morning, bright and early at 6:45am, my two oldest girls and I are up and out for our last run before race day. We walk three blocks down to where the race will start for our warm up. Then we look down the road and out on to the hi-way, and tell ourselves that we can do it, and off we go. By the time we run the three blocks back to our house, Tansley tells me that her foot hurts. I ask her what kind of hurt and she says it just hurts every time she runs. I ask her if she wants to head home and she nods her head. I tell her that is OK, if it hurts it's better not to run on it. As she walks off she says "I hope it doesn't hurt for race day" I agree with her. She's worked so hard, it would be a shame if she couldn't run in the race. She turns to go home and I make my way out on to the hi-way. Kathryn is so far ahead of me she is only a spec on the road...this is normal. I can't keep up to that kid. Awhile later, and at least a third of the way down the hi-way to our turn around point, I hear footsteps behind me. Here comes Tansley with all her might trying to catch up to me. I grin from ear to ear and tell her how proud I am of her and ask her what made her come back. She said she got half way down the block and just thought to herself "I can do this" and so she did. She passed me and headed off into the distance with the biggest smile on her face. I can't keep up to that kid either. We all finished our run that day...at possible record slowest times ever for each of us(at least I know mine was). But we finished and hopefully we will all have more energy tomorrow morning for Race Day.