My little runner

Since the beginning of Kindergarten, Brody has been involved with the Run/Walk Club at school and he has really enjoyed it.  They meet once a week and run/walk for as many laps as they can.  Brody usually does at least 5-10 laps which is 1-2 miles.  He really enjoys it, so when they had the opportunity to participate in the Jr. River Run in Jacksonville he was pretty excited.

When he woke up that Saturday morning, he actually didn't want to go, but thankfully his mind changed because I was pretty excited for him to be participating.  Now, Jason wasn't too thrilled about driving down there with all of these people because parking could be disastrous with 17,000 runners in the Gate River Run.  Thankfully, we found a parking spot pretty quickly and it was FREE!!  We were about 30 minutes early for his 11:00 1 mile run, but unfortunately we didn't find his school before the run.  

The race at 11:00 consisted of 9 and under boys.  Now, I wasn't dressed to run with him so I was hoping he would do this by himself even though he knew no one around him.  As the time got closer, I pushed him up to the front of the group where the boys were with no parents running.  He kept holding my hand and I kept explaining to him that I wasn't running this with him.  They said go and he was off.  I was a little nervous that he would get about half way and freak out that he was by himself.  

Well, within 5 minutes we saw a boy crossing the finish line - whoa that was fast - a mile in 5:03.  So we found a spot to watch for Brody - not really sure how much longer it would be for him.  Well, 3 minutes later here comes Brody trucking it.  As Trevor and I hollered his name and he saw us he ran even faster.

Trevor ran into one of the biggest dogs we had ever seen and since he is such a dog lover he had to stop and pet.

He crossed the finish line at 8:13.  We were so proud of him and I'm glad I didn't run with him because I would have slowed him down for sure.  He's the boy on the far right with the yellow shirt on.

Brody received a medal and a Jr River Run Finisher shirt.  He was so proud of his time and he had a lot of fun.

After his race, we waited around to watch Baylie and Mr. John cross the finish line.

Getting ready for their race - John and Baylie and Marianne and Laurianne.

Rounding the corner to the finish line.

All of the Run/Walk club kids who participated in the Jr River Run

Brody and Mrs. Bailey who heads up the Run/Walk club.  She is one of Brody's favorites.