The temperature was in the upper 40s F this morning, and we tried to leave the house by 6:45 am. We failed. The natural consequence of our lateness what that when we finally finished the race we had to climb 5 flights of stairs in the parking garage. The impact before the race was that we stood in a long line waiting for a bus next to Victoria's Secret larger than life photographs of scantily clad lingerie models. This got the kids' attention. Their comments ranged from, "Ooohhh!" (as in "yuck"), "Oh, my!", "Those bras don't even cover all of her breasts!" to, "How can she even wear that under clothes with all of those studs?" The comments about the panties were even livelier! Henry told us to look at the evil one, which was a photo meant by a marketing executive to look seductive. Mike and I found this pretty funny, but we were glad when our place in line passed VS.
The sun did not shine, and the wind blew. Olivia ran alone. Her 6th grade girls' track team won their meet yesterday. She ran the 1600 m (mile race), open 400 m, and the 400 m leg of the distance medley relay. I figured her legs would be dead tired today, but she stayed strong. This was Olivia's eighth Trolley Run race because she ran the first one at age 3 with me a few weeks before her fourth birthday. She missed one the year we were in Oklahoma City. Olivia's hand was throbbing because last night while using my sharpest knife to cut a plastic Hershey's kiss candy cane shaped container, she deeply cut her hand to the bone. The wound required stitches, and her father sewed her up in his office with Nurse Mama assisting to calm the very nervous child.
Evelyn, age 9 in April, raced with Grandpa Mike, and her 40:11 time for four miles earned her 10th place in her age group of girls 10 years and under. She's a little dynamo with great mental toughness. She felt really lucky that she was the one who got to run with Grandpa, who drove in from Illinois for the race. I ran with Henry and Vivian. They did an outstanding job of staying near me because we ran holding hands for almost 2 miles, sweet, but rather challenging. When Vivian got too tired, she didn't walk. Instead, I scooped her up and carried her so she could catch her breath. I'd then put her down, and we were off once again. She didn't whine or complain while running, that big shot! She kept telling me that she was going, "Medium." When Henry did a small amount of fussing about wanting to walk, I reminded him that registering for the RUN was his idea. Vivian said, "I'm younger than you, and I'm not complaining about running." Her quote of the day at some point after mile two was, "This may not have been such a good idea." I recall Evelyn telling me at about the same point during her first Trolley Run that the race was the hardest and most fun thing she had ever done in her life. Love it!
Vivian kept asking when she was going to be able do do her thunderbolt to the finish. The race makes a sharp turn at the top of a hill right before the finish line. I turned Henry and Vivian loose for the sprint to the finish. She was thrilled with the news that it was time to run super fast. She wore her long hair in pigtails, and they streamed behind her. She was in a gorgeous long, fast stride down that hill. Grandpa Mike, Olivia, and Evelyn had finished the race, and they were cheering from the sidelines near the finish line. Henry zoomed forward and finished in 49:38. Vivian was only 10 seconds behind him, 49:48. I was so happy for the children. We waited (freezing from the cold wind) for Jude's Dudes team to finish, and the kids cheered for Jude and the Nicksons. It seems like yesterday that Jude was a baby in a onesie with a race bib on the chest. Today he is a talking, walking big boy loved and supported by many. Our family loves and respects the Nicksons, and we're thankful to have a personal connection to this fun family race.
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