A few weeks ago, me and two of the women I work with began getting together at 6:00 am two days a week to exercise. Jennifer, who was previously a walker, started running with us on the treadmills and really started liking it. A couple of weeks ago, she asked me if I'd run with her in the Mattoon "Races for all Paces" that is a fundraiser for the local hospital. It was a one-mile fun run; so, I said, "Sure." Well, Nick and I went out with friends the night before and stayed out MUCH later then I had planned, and I had to be in Mattoon at 8:45. I was exhausted the next morning (just ask Mom...I talked to her on the drive over), but I though, "No problem...I'll just walk some if I need to."
Well, when we got there, we were probably the only two adults there that didn't have kids with us. As we took off running, there were grade schoolers surrounding us. Jennifer and I run at different paces; so, soon we were separated. About a 1/2-mile into it, I really wanted to walk. I was so tired. However, in front of me there was a little five-year old boy in grey sweatpants who was still running. He kept looking behind his shoulder to see how close I was to him! I wanted to walk so bad, but at this point I was NOT going to let this little five-year old beat me in a 1-mile run! We kept on....me feeling miserable...and him looking over his shoulder every 30 seconds. In the last 1/4-mile, I started gaining ground on him. At this point, though, I wanted the little guy to finish proudly. As I closed the distance between us, he started giving in and slowing down. When I shouted a few words of encouragement to him, "Keep going! You're almost to the end!", he looked over his shoulder and shot off at a sprint. At this point, I'm not sure if he was playing with me...or if he was taking to heart his parents' advice of "beware of strangers." In any case, in all of my maturity, I 'let' the little guy win.
Here's the medal that Jennifer and I both received...along with all of the five-to-ten year olds that we raced with that morning. :)
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