Run, Eli, Run!

Eli ran his first official road race this morning! OK, so he only ran 700 yards (actually more like 700 feet), but he had a number, there was an official gun-shot start, and he took home a t-shirt. I got up early to head downtown for my 10K while Lehr got the kids up to meet me about an hour later. Eli's race didn't start until two hours after mine, but I had read there would be some activities to entertain the kids. When the three arrived, we got Eli's number and pinned it on his shirt. This got him really excited. Then I ran him through a few quick stretches. He seemed to get a real kick out of bending and twisting like Mommy.

From there we walked over to a small putt-putt golf course. This totally occupied Eli's attention for the next ten minutes. In fact, when I pulled him away to get his shirt (before the rush that would happen after the race), he was a bit unhappy. Lucky for me, the mascots showed up about that time. Right after Eli's race, there would be a mascot race (same distance) for local business mascots. Eli's favorite was the Planet Smoothie one. His costume was hard to run in though, and Homer (the Braves mascot) easily placed first. We had a short warm-up (dancing the 'chicken dance') and then it was off to the start line. Eli was pumped. He kept telling me, "Mommy, I gonna run faaaast." The official gave us a "On your mark, get set..." and then he shot the gun for us to start. A girl about 7 or 8 easily won, but Eli had a blast and ran all the way to the finish. He received a green "winner" ribbon and we let him put on his race t-shirt right away. On our way back to the car, we walked through the parking lot where the old Braves Field is outlined with concrete. Eli and Maddux had a blast running the bases several times. Eli ran around the bases without stopping: that's a long way! This was by far the best race I've done in my life...I cannot wait to do more with Eli and Maddux.