Madeline’s first race

This weekend Madeline ran her very first race. If you’re reading this blog, you probably know that I enjoy running, and I had been looking forward to registering Madeline for a race for a long time. But I also wanted to make sure that it was something that she wanted to do and not just something I wanted her to do. As soon as I mentioned the idea to her a few months ago, she became pretty excited about it, so we bought her some new running shoes and signed her up for a 1-mile kids run that took place at the track of a local middle school. She even marked the date with a smiley face on her calendar.

The race was a big success and Madeline had a great time. I don’t think she stopped smiling the whole way.

After the announcer shouted, “Ready, set, Go!” we took off. Madeline started laughing out loud as she ran past cheering spectators. It just happened that her preschool teacher from last year was nearby watching her son’s soccer game, so Madeline has some personalized cheers along the way, in addition to those coming from Lacey and Juliette.

Madeline didn’t take her first walk break until the second lap (a mile on the track is four laps), but she was still happy and started running again after she caught her breath. Near the end of the third lap she said, “I’m tired of running.” But she was still running with walk breaks interspersed. She was happy and I was proud, not knowing how her little legs would handle a full mile of running.

As we rounded the last corner of the fourth lap, she was very excited that the finish line was in sight. She said, “I’m running all the way to the finish” – and she did! Finishing strong is one of the key tenets of racing. She ran – fast – all the way to the end (the yellow triangles in the photo below).

At the finish she collected her medal and was tired but very happy, and already says she wants to do more races!