My youngest brother had a ton of questions after spectating at the Disney Princess Half Marathon. And he was super impressed by my race medal. So much so that he tried out for and won a spot on his schools track team! When I found out that my mom's job would pay the registration fee for employees and/or their family members I signed up so that my brother and I could run his first race together.
We got downtown a little before 5 so I parked in a metered space and only had to pay $1.25, instead of the $5 that the garages were charging *Score* After checking in, LB and I walked around Lake Eola a couple of times to warm up and then headed towards the corrals. Just before the race started I looked back and could not believe how many people there were. The announcer said there were 12,600 people registered!
I went into this race figuring I wouldn't set a PR. Both because I wanted to go at LB's pace and because I figured there would be a lot of people there who didn't know proper race etiquette. For instance, there were three different corrals, one for CEOS, one for runners, and a final one for walkers but there were walkers near the front of the runner corral. So we ended up doing a lot of dodging and weaving right off the bat.
LB fell a few minutes into the race. I tried to take a picture of it, but my camera didn't power up fast enough. What? I am his big sister lol. Apparently the poor kid was having a hard time staying on his feet because he slipped, but didn't fall, a few minutes later. After that he managed to stay upright for the rest of the race. He'd told me previously that he could run around the track at his school twice before having to stop so I made fun of him for wanting to take walk breaks before we got to mile two. That led to an argument about how long the track at his school was (I ended that one by telling him to ask his coach).
As we continued along the course which wound through a downtown neighborhood, I spent the rest of the race encouraging him and pointing out other partcipants. There were firefighters running in full gear and an amputee, all of whom we both thought were really cool and awe-inspiring. When we got to the last quarter mile I encouraged him to kick it up so that we could finish strong. While it wasn't a 5k PR for me, the huge grin on LBs face after the race was priceless!
After the race several runners high-fived him and told him how great he did. Then he asked where his medal was lmbo. I had to explain that they don't normally give them out at 5ks but that he could have my shirt. I found a medal on ebay that I bid on, hopefully I'll win so that I can have it engraved to commemorate his first race.
On the way home he kept saying "I did it, I did it!" :)
6 comments:
That is so awesome! How fun! What a great big sis you are. :)
Ahh your brother's so cute! Haha I like how you wanted to take a pic of him on the floor. I would've totally done the same thing. That's what big sisters are for right? I think I'm going to encourage my bro to run my first 5k with me. Thanks for the idea!
Congrats on completing that 5K, you and your brother!
I can't wait to start back running, not sure which plan I may use, I havent ran since June. Whatever plan it is I plan to get back into it slowly. I'm starting in May, and can't wait!
That is awesome! How fun! I spectated and it was so fun to see everyone take over Thornton Park! We still need to meet up one of these days missy!!!
Big sister RULE! :)
You are an AWESOME(!!!!) big sister! And your li'l brother is adorable! Sounds like a fun race day for the two of you. :) And yes it was crazy-busy! Rick and I headed out for dinner around 4:30 and then were going to spectate, but just too many people! We watched from the living room. :)
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