Jacob's Race

And the winner is.....

Our school district does something fun each year by holding a running race for all the kids in the district. There are 5 elementary schools that participate so it's a highly anticipated event. This was our first experience with it since they start in the First grade. Jacob came home with his permission slip a couple weeks ago very excited to be in a "race" of his own. On the drive over there he even told me that he thought he was going to get a number on his shirt just like a real race. He told me his "strategy" as we were driving which was to keep pace with the kids in front, and then on the home stretch he was going to "turn on his speed." Too funny!

As he was talking about it I started getting the butterflies! I know that sounds crazy but up to that point I hadn't really thought about him winning, I was just excited for him to have this opportunity. After all, there were going to be a ton of kids there, and even though I knew he was a fast runner I honestly hadn't thought about him actually winning.....until that moment when I thought, "Oh my goodness, he might have a shot at this!"

I'll try to see if I can post the video clip of him but if I can't get it to work here are the race details.......

He lined up on the start line with all the other first grade boys. He started off not so well because he didn't cut the field like the other kids did. He was trying to stay on the line (very typical) of him. Soon though he was at the top of the hill and was approaching the front of the pack. The race is 400 meters (equivalent to 1 lap around a track). Half way through, the course looped back around the school where you can't see them. In a few moments I saw him coming around the corner with a huge lead. He didn't know where the course was (it was a little confusing) and so he almost missed his turn to the home stretch. Luckily there were people there to help guide him down to the finish line where he broke through the ribbon and took first place. It was such a fun and exciting moment!

One thing I really liked about the race was that they gave out ribbons for more than just 1st-3rd place. The first 20 finishers also received ribbons and they had the race timer above the finish line so that you could see your finishing time......that way you can challenge yourself next year to try and beat your time from the year before. Anyway, it was so much fun and a great "first" race for my little runner.

Now that's one happy kid!......(and one proud Mommy)