Kids Marathon

We have some racers!  The boys entered a race as part of the Fort 4 Fitness race to do a 1 Mile Race.  The goal of the race was to begin early in the summer and do 25 miles on their own or as a family over time.  This race would be the final mile in their 3 month long marathon goal.  Well, we started out doing a little bit of running, but we got nowhere near 25.  Regardless, this was a super fun event!  They were really excited!  Jaxton got motivation from somewhere and just took off!  Parents got to run with the kids, and Nate and I also took Kaylee and Dawson in the jogging stroller so they could participate too.  It was difficult to keep track of the big boys in the crowds.  Jaxton would run as fast as he could, but being the little mature guy that he has become, he would slow down, and wait and watch until he could see me and I could see him.  Then, off he went again.  I would panic in those moments that he was far ahead, but was always so grateful when he slowed down to "check in."  Cooper was much more nervous about the crowds.  He wanted to see me all the time and was worried about getting lost in the people.  Secretly I was grateful for his nervousness because then I wouldn't have to panic about 2 kids at a time!  We found some of our friends there and Cooper ran most of the way with his friend Cameron.  After the race he told me that if we had gotten separated from each other, that he had had a plan.  His plan was (in his cute 5 year old mind) that he would stay near Cameron and then he would just go home with Cameron and borrow some of Cameron's jammies.  He would spend the night there and he knew that Cameron's mom would call me.  :-)  It was cute that he had it all planned out what he would do if worst came to worst.  He was grateful that it didn't happen though.  Cooper did take a fall in the middle of the race.  There were so many people and he was trying to keep looking for me that he lost his footing on the curb and tumbled.  He scraped up his elbow and knee and broke down crying.  Nate helped him up and got him motivated again while I took off to keep up with Jaxton.  The next thing I know was Cooper had caught up to us and was racing on ahead.  I love that boy's determination and passion!  He fell, got up, got himself together and kept going!  That is Cooper all the way!  What a fun race!  The race ended at the Fort Wayne Tin Caps Baseball Field.  The last lap of the mile was in and around the actual baseball outfield.  The finish line crossed Home Plate.   The kids all got a medal for finishing!