February 10, 2007

Mercedes Race Report (Troupe)

Today was the 2nd race of the season for 2 members of the TriJack Troupe, Tess and Emma. They raced the last mile of the Mercedes Kids Marathon in Birmingham.

So I was new to the kids marathon format until we started this adventure a few months ago. Each registered kid, and there were around 4000, ran 25.2 miles individually between October and today, then completed the last mile of the marathon together this morning.

Emma has been counting the days until racetime, even telling me yesterday how she was going to sprint at the finish to take 1st place. Tess wasn't quite as excited, although her interest level did increase dramatically when I promised ice cream after the race (how anyone can want ice cream when it is 25 degrees is beyond my comprehension...).

They divided the 4000 kids by grade, so Emma started at 11:00 with the 1st graders. She had told me for weeks that she wanted to run by herself, and I had talked myself into being ok with that, but at the last minute she decided she wanted me to run with her. Cool!

That girl ran the entire way, passed tons of peeps, and then finished with a kick that Carl Lewis would be proud of. Final time - 9:09.

I hurried back to the starting line for Tess's 11:15 start. She was a little more nervous, but was fighting the cold and a little nausea like a champ. She ran for the first half mile, then did a 100 yard power-walk, and then finished running! She was so proud to hear her name at the finish line. Final time - 12:27.

The kids collected their medals, and both have already decided that next year they want to "run another marathon!"

13 comments:

Lisa said...

Congrats to Tess & Emma! You're going to have to devote a few walls in your house to all the medals your family is/will be earning!

Triteacher said...

Now that is a beautiful thing!

Bullet said...

Enjoyed that. Looking forward to sharing the same with my kids one day. Glad to hear that you have gotten them on the right track to a healthy lifestyle.

LoneStarCrank said...

Proud moment for you TriJack. Congrats to you and the future stars...

Bigun said...

Very cool in a country of x-box kids - you've got a couple of stand-outs! Awesome job to the kidlets!

greyhound said...

Just like you (I'm sure) I'm always very proud of my girl when I go run the mile with her and the class. Dads and sports go a long way to keeping girls tough and healthy when teenage life wants to get them down.

Anonymous said...

congrats to the girls!

Carrie said...

Nice times kids! They look so proud. Great job.

momo said...

wow, with times like that, emma can come run with me anytime - i need a good pacer!! congrats to both girls, they rock - both on race day and in all the work they had to do to build up to race day. 25.2 miles in 4 months is pretty impressive at their age. heck, its impressive at our age!

way to go, emma and tess!!

SingletrackJenny (formerly known as IronJenny) said...

Wow - that is so amazing. What great accomplishments!!! You are creating such a wonderful environment for those kids of yours... I hope they wore their medals to school today... ;-)
Jenny

Michele said...

Congrats to the girls.
Awesome job.

I really enjoyed "training" with my kids last year for their "marathon". They wore their medals for days.

Audrey said...

Your girls need ponytails!!! Use your suturing skills (ER docs have suturing skills, right?) to figure out how to wrap those hair ties. :)

Congratulations to them both!!

Sixteen Chickens said...

Awwww! What a great post! Look at those proud smiles!