Midnight 5k & 1 Mile Fun Run

Last Friday the kids and I started back up a favorite family past time...exercising! We used to work out at the Y all the time but when I lost my job 17 months ago I had to cancel our membership. My plan is to sign us back up but until that happens, we are trying good ole' fashioned walking/running. I found a Midnight 5k & Fun Run that benefited Special Olympics and the kids thought midnight would make it especially fun. They were super excited and spent a lot of time taking silly photos. It was a great way to get us limbered up for the race! We danced to the music and just hung out as more and more people showed up. 

There were almost 400 people who participated and Noah and Lucas decided to RUN the 5k!! Lucas got off to a slow start but finally made his way to the front of the pack. After about 10 minutes he was still in the top 130 runners....and they were all adults!!! Had he had on better running shoes I am convinced he would have taken off another 5-8 minutes from his time but as it is...my amazing 8 year old ran his first 5k in 40:30!!! Noah, did an amazing job as well for his first 5k and came in at 31:24 and 108th overall!! Autumn and Eli did the 1 mile with me and they ran half of it too. I really want to be a runner but my left achilles heel keeps getting "stuck" when I start to exercise and I can barely walk when it does that. It is very frustrating but I am trying to exercise anyway. After I finished my walk, I walked back out to the road and found Lucas with a half mile left. I jogged along side of him and finished the race by his side. It was awesome! My poor baby wanted to raise his arms at the finish line but he said he was too tired. :( But, I was one proud momma!!! It was a great way to kick start our exercise program again and the kids can't wait to try it again.

I feel I should explain my row of pics....Eli gently hopped in my arms and felt so light...Lucas was squirmy and wiggly and with Noah, this was our 5th or 6th take...and he was running and jumping into my arms and you can see the pain in my face! He is getting sooo heavy!! But, we had a lot of fun taking silly pics before the race...