James & Andrew's First 5k

Last summer, all 3 boys did their first Youth 1/2 mile race.  In the fall, James & Andrew did two different one mile races.  After the second race, they started talking about how in 2013 they'd like to do a 5k (3.1 mile race).  I promised them that we'd find one when the weather started to get nicer and that if they trained for it (ie...showed us that they could run 3 miles) then we'd pay the money to sign them up for a race.

Every spring our church does a three week Celebration of Hope where we raise money for different projects like wells, medical care, etc as a way to address global poverty and injustice.  As part of this Celebration of Hope, our church hosts a 5k to raise money to put shoes on the feet of children in Latin America and Africa.  These shoes will make it possible for them to attend school and protect their feet against injury and parasites.  We explained the purpose of the race to the boys and they both decided that they wanted to participate.

Unfortunately, our spring weather has been pretty terrible thus far.  The boys were troopers though and did their training runs in wind and cold.  They each did a one mile run, a two mile run and a three mile run beforehand.  Their favorite part of the training runs is getting to wear my GPS watch and hearing it beep as we finish each mile.

On race day, we woke up to discover that it had lightly snowed the night before.  Apparently, Chicago didn't get the memo that it is April 20th and time for spring weather.  We left the two younger boys with a babysitter and headed to church.  It was sunny but cold, so we stayed inside where it was warm until it was almost time for the start.

There were 4100 participants in the run/walk so I was hesitant to let the boys run on their own.  The boys decided that Andrew would run with me and James would run with Jon.

All four of us started out together but got split up pretty quickly once the race started.  I could tell from Andrew's breathing that he was trying pretty hard.  He wasn't super talkative, but he did respond to my comments and questions.

I was so impressed with his determination.  He never talked about wanting to stop, never said he was tired or asked when it would be over.  I just kept giving him updates on how far we were into the race and how good of a job he was doing.  Strangers running the race beside us gave him encouragement and spectators gave him high-fives.

One of my favorite parts of the race was when we got to see Jon & James (they were just a little behind us) but with several turn-around points, we were able to see them three times before the finish.  Each time, Andrew & I would cheer for James and he would smile & wave back to us.

My other favorite part was that he wanted to run holding my hand the whole time.  This isn't the easiest way to run but I know that he isn't going to want to hold my hand forever, so I cherished it even if it was sorta awkward at points trying to pass people while holding his hand.

When we were able to finally see the finish line, Andrew picked up the pace and sprinted the last bit.  He was able to finish with an 11:08 pace.  We grabbed some water and went to the finish line to watch James finish.  I didn't get to run with him, so I was excited to get to see him finish.  He finished strong too with a 12:58 pace.

Jon said that his run with James was pretty different from my run with Andrew.  While Andrew was focused on running and breathing hard from pushing himself, James was much more chatty and taking a casual pace so that he could keep up a steady conversation.  He did hold Jon's hand about half of the race.  

Both boys were able to run the entire 5k (something I couldn't do until I was 28) and only stopped briefly at the 2 water stops.  I'm so proud of them. Way to go Andrew & James!