The biggest event of the year for their track club is the Festival of Miles (which they ran in last year, too). It's a charity event which features a mile run for the kids, and a variety of races that elite athletes come from all over the world to compete in. It's an absolute blast. My favorite event of the night is the elite men's mile run that is finished in less than four minutes. It's surreal to watch. These finely-tuned athletes are machines.
With pressure from Chase, McKay even decided to enter the race (though he had trained not at all and was hardly looking forward to it).
The day of the big race found Chase running a fever and sick in bed. It was tragic.
But with the other two registered and committed, we were still in.
McKay ran the mile that night in 6:35, which is pretty darn impressive considering he had not trained much at all. Hannah finished in 7:59, which was a new PR for her.
Chase laid in bed at home with a broken heart.
So, to make it up to him, we decided to host our own mile-run at the high school track.
Mindy, our fabulously expert private track coach, set each kid up with time goals for every loop around the track. Chase was aiming for a time of 6:28, well below his PR of 6:55.
And they were off! Mindy ran it with them to help keep them motivated.
I did my motivating from a bench at the finish line. You know, because I didn't want to intimidate the children with my speed and all.
Yeah, that's it.
Oh shut up.
And here is Chase, crossing the finish line in SIX-TWENTY!! A whole eight seconds faster than his goal, and a new PR for him, as well. Props to Nick for playing Rabbit and helping keep the pace.
Hannah was a trooper, too. She finished strong at 7:50. Four seconds faster than her own PR.
And the entire crew after the race:
It has been so great to see the kids work on something, learn discipline, and see results for their efforts. This mama tiger is hugely proud.
You know. From the finish line. With her donut and diet coke in hand. Go team!
13 comments:
Cheering from Concord! That is AWESOME. High fives all around.
Awesome! Just awesome!
We started couch to 5k... so far the one that really needs motivation is Tony...
I'm glad you weren't their coach...
Remember that time that we ran that marathon together, and we helped each other make it through the discouraging parts, and then you pushed me down at the finish line to get a faster finish time than me? Yup, I still do.
Nice job kids.
If you EVER see me running....call for help....something very wrong!!! Cheers to the kiddos!! So proud of them. Mindy looks like a freaking stud!!! I've been motivated to cut back to two sleeves of cookies a day to one.
The only place I run these days is to the grocery because I'm out of Coke light and wafer cookies....
Bravo! This made me happy.
Way to go!! Your cousin tried running for the first time this year at the local Hersheys track meet. He placed last in all of his running events. Hopefully next year will be better. Maybe Christie could give him some advice of how to surge past the competition at the finish line.
I'm so impressed! Those kids are awesome!
Hope you had a BIG diet coke. It looks hot.
Oh I love this! I need to find a personal track coach for me and Maya!
Ahhh, yes...you told us to shut up. You know I love it when you do that ;)
Your kids are super impressive, Stie. I loved this. It was indeed tragic that Chase was sick on race day...but, boy howdy, did he ever recover!!! That is so impressive!
If I lived there I'd have a big vat of cookie dough for us to share. You know...to keep our energy up so we can cheer properly.
Whoever Jennifer is (six comments above mine) I LIKE HER.
I AM TOTALLY IMPRESSED & a little embarrassed that Hannah can run faster than me!!!
Can Mindy come and train me!
I love those kids. They are becoming giants.
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