OK, That's Quick

It was a long day at the races. Ben and one of his good buddies from his class, Luke, decided that they wanted to run the mile at this week's Landsharks race. Of course, the mile is the last race of the night. So we sat on the grassy hillside in the sunshine and heavy wind until the sprinklers came on, waiting for Ben's race.

I was a little worried about Ben's choice in running the mile. It is usually open to only 3rd through 5th graders, but his coach had received an email saying that anyone who wanted to run it could. So Ben and Luke got all excited and were determined to do it. Ben's coach wanted to clear it with me and Luke's mom before letting them run it. And we figured, why not? We laughed and joked with each other that at least our boys would sleep well that night. But inside I was a little apprehensive. I didn't want Ben to be disappointed, he's so proud of his running, and I was worried he'd start out fast and then lose gas because he hadn't run a mile on the track in a race situation before and it's just different than trail runs at practice. Plus, as the time wore on...and on...and on...and on.... Zach and Josh were running amok and Tommy was getting cold and hungry. And I was ready for home and bedtime. I was thinking, "Maybe we should have just done the 800 and gone home."

But I am glad we stayed. I worried for no reason! Out of 30 runners, Ben ended up coming in 4th with a time of 7 minutes and 34 seconds, although on the official report from the website it says 7 minutes, 15 seconds, but I have a photo finish so I don't know where they got that. Ben was so proud of himself. And I was too. All I can say is AMAZING. I can't run that fast and my legs are twice the length of my tiny Ben's!