Caleb and Emma's school had a fundraiser last week, the ambitiously named "Fun Run." Don't get me wrong, I'm all for raising funds for the school and I'm also all for teaching kids that exercise and a healthy lifestyle can be enjoyable -but I don't think finding two words that rhyme and sound good together should be the deciding factor in the naming of an event.
When I asked Rachel, Emma and Caleb if they wanted to participate, Rachel and Em didn't even take a half a second to say no. Caleb however, wanted to Run and have Fun. I thought I would join in on the activity as well. (How hard could it be? It has the word Fun in the name. I just finished a triathlon for pity's sake!) I was a little disappointed that the girls didn't want to do it. Rach has mentioned that she wants to try out for the track team in the spring. This will be great practice for her! Both girls in years' past have dusted the 11-year old scouts in the physical fitness tests that the Scouts are required to do. Emma couldn't run anyway because she had gymnastics that night. Four hours of gymnastics is much more demanding than running around the school yard anyway.
Caleb is so cute. He and his friend have actually (in his own words) "been training" for the two weeks prior. Twice a week during recess, they run around the field a couple of times. He told me he was ready.
On the day of the Fun Run, we (Rachel, Caleb and I) rode our bikes over to the school. Rachel came to hang out with her friends and give moral support. Caleb and I got our racing numbers and the kids went to the side of the playground to warm up. The children's run consisted of running around the field as many times as they could in 30 minutes. There were no winners or losers. Some of the kids ran most of the time, some walked. Caleb did about half and half. All in all, he ran about a mile and a half. That sweaty little boy was almost as proud of himself as his mom was!
Next came the Women's Race, which was about a quarter of a mile sprint. I've been jogging regularly, so I thought it wouldn't be that bad. I discovered that jogging and sprinting are two very different things. I was running along side of a neighbor and my goal was to stay with her. With about 50 yards to go, the strangest thing started happening; my arms and my tongue were going numb. Is that normal?! Does this happen to Olympic althletes when they're breaking world records? Granted, they are in a completely different universe in level of physical fitness but all the same, they're pushing their bodies to the limit. I think my body was pretty mad at me for making it run like that. My neighbor and I decided that we were not sure we were going to participate next year.
After the men's race, they gave away prizes to the winners and held a drawing for some sweet things. I got a gift certificate for fresh flowers, which made me feel better about being numb and cramped up at the same time. Caleb waited anxiously to see if he was going to win anything but unfortunately, he didn't. He told me that now he has to wait another whole year to see if he will win a prize. I guess that means that he is going to participate next year.
After we were done, we rode our bikes home in the moonlight and had Arby's roast beef and ice cream. I will now set aside my curmudgeonly attitude and admit that-okay, I had fun!
3 comments:
Winnie, I believe what you described happening to yourself is called a Stroke. Are you sure that you are okay?
Congrats to Caleb...what a little stud. If he is really going to run again next year, you should encourage him, as we have Marcus, to yell while running as it scares the other kids and they move out of the way for you.
Fun Run!!! Fun for kids and Run for parents. I swear, kids can run forever at full speed! Sometimes Talmage will say to me, "Mom, I need to run." Don't you wish we had that need?
What an active little family you all are becoming. You rode your bikes to the school? And then you sprinted? Amazing. Way to go.
Post a Comment