Tessa's first race - The Bunny Hop

My kids had a race this morning.  All 3 girls ran the Bunny Hop 1k kids race at the Good Friday Road Races in Burlington.  At the start, I told the kids to enjoy the race.  If you have to slow down, that's OK.  If you have to walk, that's fine too.  Smile at the people cheering for you, and when you see the finish, run strong - because you're almost done.  We gave each other hugs and high-fives and lined up.  The kids were lined up according to ages, so Ella was up towards the front, Clara and Greg were somewhere in the middle, and Tessa and I were at the back.  Tessa being a year and a half old, I fully expected to be carrying her most of the way.  I was wrong.  When the race started, she was running with tiny steps saying: "Running like Mommy".  She would get really excited when spectators would clap and cheer and she would clap back.  She loved running on the yellow line in the middle of the road, and occasionally she would veer to the curb to check out something interesting in the gutter.  But she kept moving forward and doing her version of running.    As we were approaching the finish, Ella and Clara ran back and ran in with Tessa.  I was so proud of my kids.  Clara had run continuously the entire way - impressive for a 4 year-old.  Ella, had more of a run hard, take a break, run hard again approach, and finished among the first half of racers.  They all ran strong races and felt great about what they had done.  It's nice to see them enjoying running as much as I do.  A proud Mommy moment.



Comments