Go Cort Go!

Last Saturday was a big day. 

Sometime around March, I decided that I needed a race to look forward to to get me back in "running mode" after totally losing my momentum due to an injury and a doctor's orders 6-8 weeks off that turned into about 5 months.  I decided to try the same race that I ran last May, a hilly local 5K.  When I looked up the registration information, I saw there was also a 1K Fun Run for kids, and it wasn't long after that that we were out buying new running shoes.

So Saturday was the moment we were waiting for.  Cortlan had done as well as I suspect any typical 4-year-old could do in "training" for his race.  The distance around my neighborhood cul-de-sac is 0.3 miles - almost exactly half of the race distance.  He had made it around once and three-quarters exactly once, never actually running the entire distance.  Cortlan can be a little unpredictable in pressure situations, so I wasn't sure how he would react to the race once we were in the moment.  He could have gone anywhere from standing still and refusing to move to tearing out of the gate on a mission.  When we got to the starting line, all that was on my mind was a start and a finish of any sort.

The race was really well organized.  They let the kids go in three volleys.  We were clearly in the youngest (and last) volley, which was the 1st grade and under group.  (There were a couple of kids that might have been near Cortlan's age, but most were closer to 1st grade than 4 years old.) When the start was signaled, we went.

And we didn't stop. 
Or walk.

We ran through the parking lot, through a soggy baseball field, up a relatively steep grassy hill, and back through the parking lot, chugging along at a nice steady pace the entire time except for a minor fall in the grass.

Along the orange cone-marked trail were volunteers in bright green shirts making sure we went the right way and providing the greatest words of encouragement for many first-time racers.  "Way to go!  You are doing great!" and "Looking good!  Halfway there!"  and, my favorite, "Great pace number 255!  Great pace!  Keep it up!"  Cortlan smiled a determined smile; I grinned ear to ear and encouraged him as we went.

We made it around a bend and saw the finish line and our best supporters yet - Daddy and Everly, and Uncle Leroy and Aunt LuAnn, who had made a sign to cheer Cortlan on.  I pointed out the cheering section as we approached, and Cortlan seemed to pick up the pace a bit.  We ran through the finish, where he got a participant's ribbon from someone in a bright green shirt followed by a huge hug from me.  I am so proud of you, Cortlan!

"I won!" he tells people, and I am glad he feels that way, because from the beginning it was all about a start and a finish, and that is a win in my book.