Last post, I talked about how I've been walking, and doing 5K races. At many of these events, there's a 1/2 mile or 1 mile Fun Run for the kids before the start of the longer race. I kept thinking, "I'd love to have the girls do these." Unfortunately, it takes me about an hour to walk the course, and I have no one to watch them while I do that.
So when I saw a Facebook ad for Healthy Kids Running Series, my interest was piqued.
The long and the short of it is, it's a 5 week series where kids run. I signed them up. There are different age groups, and different distances for younger kids, but Hannah and Katie are together, and their group runs one mile.
Katie was annoyed last year about being the second fastest runner in her class, so I knew she would be game for it. Katie finished her mile in 13:13.
Hannah was willing to give it a try, too. I knew it would be more of a challenge for Hannah, but she made it. Both girls ran/walked/ran/walked/ran as needed. Hannah finished her mile in 17:16, which is about my speed (I'm mostly a walker).
Remember I said it's a 5 week series? Well, the second week, the park was already booked for something else, so everybody skipped one week. I didn't want us to lose momentum, so I found a race with a kids fun run, and signed them up for that.
The race was in support of ovarian cancer research.
And instead of a full mile, it was a half mile fun run.
There's Katie! I screamed myself hoarse cheering them in.
And here comes Hannah!
Hannah could take it or leave it. She'd rather be reading, honestly. But Katie? She likes it. So we're going to see about getting her a running blade (a special prosthetic that is easier to run on). We start fittings for new legs for both girls next month.
I'm crazy proud of them for trying something new and challenging. We've done a variety of sports and extra curricular classes with the children down through the years. I would never have expected that Hannah and Katie would take up running. But I'm excited for them, and look forward to seeing where this goes.