Pumpkin Run 2014

Cotton Creek Elementary has a neat event that they do each year called the Pumpkin Run. It was started by the PE Teacher as a way of introducing something new and competitive for the kids to participate in, to get them excited about running!

This is RIGHT up William's alley! He loves to run and run. He kept telling us during their "practice" runs that he won! We were kind of surprised, I knew he was fast, but had no idea he was that fast. Still, in hopes of ensuring that his dreams were not dashed on the big day we reminded him that he would be running against ALL of the other kindergartners on race day and not just those in his class, so there might be more kids a little faster that he hasn't even seen yet. William was undeterred. Good for him!

Here is a quick pic showing the kids lining up at the starting line. The kindergartners and (later) 1st graders would run a 1/2 mile course. The older grades run a little further - the 4th and 5th graders run a full mile.

Guess who spotted me?

 

I was so nervous for him. Nervous he would trip and fall in the HUGE group of 100 kids at the starting line. Nervous that he would not win or do well and be devastated. As a friend mentioned, this was definitely one of those times when the statement "to have a child is to have your heart running around outside your body" really felt true.

 

 

And they're off!

 

Lucas and I headed down the street in the opposite direction in hopes of catching him along the race course. Sure enough, even sooner than expected here comes this little knot of about 5 kids. Mostly boys, but a couple of girls - and William was right in there! Doing his best, chugging along!

 

We cheered him on! And followed him down the street. We didn't make it all the way to end, so we weren't quite sure where he finished in the group, but we knew he did well.

 

Here he is - he greeted us with a big "Mom, I got 2nd!!" Come to find out, he told himself he placed 2nd and in fact he was 3rd out of the kindergarten boys, LOL!

Our phenomenal runner!

 

So by placing 3rd (not 2nd), William qualified for a medal! The following Monday was the award ceremony and I was able to capture a few pics from the VERY back of the gym.

Top 5 kindergarten boys awaiting their medals.

Here they are - all so proud!

Our medal winner!

 

There is even a district cross country school team for 4th and 5th graders, so maybe one day he will participate in it. We'll see. Some of the 5th graders ran 6-7 minute miles. Granted, they only ran 1 - but that is WAY better than I have ever done!