Mission Inn Run: New Family Tradition?

On November 9th, the boys and I, along with my niece Sarah, participated in the 31st Annual Mission Inn Run. It was awesome. I had a blast and the boys did awesome. It was fun to be a part of something with my family that so many other families were participating in. There was a great sense of community. Everyone had a smile on their face. Well, except for the really tired runners - haha.

I did the 10k. My family gathered on one of the corners and cheered for me each time I passed. Ethan ran down the street to watch for me and then ran up with me when I finally came by. Both the boys waved and yelled "MAMA! GO MAMA!" every time I saw them. During the last mile, I was running up toward my family and Brenden yelled out while Ethan ran up near me. The lady next to me said "Aw, that must be really inspirational." She was right. It was such a good feeling to have all the people that I love, the people who genuinely care about me, there to watch me reach my goal of running my first 10k, without stopping, in less than an hour. It was wonderful. And I finished without even feeling tired. I was only happy. So happy.

The kid's races were fun too. They were SO proud of themselves and I was SO proud of them too. Brenden and Sarah completed a 1/2k while Ethan did the 1k. As soon as the kids took off during the 1k (fast I might add!), a bunch of the parents (including myself) took off down the side street to meet them at the pass. It was so funny! I tried to run to get ahead of Ethan to take a good picture of him but he was too quick! Aunt Jay got one though!!!


Brenden and Sarah were quick too! Ok, well Sarah wasn't so quick but she is a lovely little tea party type of girl and she did FABULOUSLY considering that. Her mom Jocelyn ran with her the entire time convincing her not to give up!

I had done something similar a couple of days before, yelling at ALL the kids not to give up when they came down to the track for a "trial run". Since they had never run in a race before, I wanted them to experience the run so that they would get a feel for how far they had to go. They did well, but wanted to walk some, and I kept yelling across the field "DON'T GIVE UP!!!"

After the kids' races, they got their medals, we looked at the list of names and times, and then headed for a family lunch at our mexican restaurant. :)

I do believe (and genuinely hope) that this will become a new family tradition for us. Even Kel said that maybe she'll do the 1 mile run next year - hehe. It was terrific!