Just a few more of these meets, and we'll be Olympic stars!

We all went to the city parks and rec fun track meet on Wednesday. This was the first time that Kaia or Carter had done anything like this after begging to do races like Alexis. We figured this was a good starting point because these were all short distance races where they did give placement ribbons, but EVERY child got a participant ribbon/lots of cheering and support from the sidelines.

Carter did the standing long jump (fell in the sand pit, got up and giggled), the 50, and 100.

I can be seen covering my mouth and trying to control my laughter in the shot from Carter's race because his sweat pants were falling down so he was running and holding them up at the same time. The other lady doing the same in the orange sweatshirt and black pants was one of my Team Tiara teammates (when we were fundraising for GOTR)-one of her sons ran this 4-6 year old boys heat too (in the middle).

Kaia was finishing a dance class when the meet started but it was only a few blocks away so I was still able to get her in time to do the 100 and 200. She got a finisher ribbon in the 100, and won her little age group for the 200, which was a neat surprise!

Alexis was scheduled to run the 200, 400, and 800. Funny story there is that dumb mom got confused and was thinking she was running this one, and holding up the start by being nowhere near when it was time for 7 to 10 girls. They held the start, I flagged her down quickly and she lined up for it.

She was leading most of the way, then about ten meters from the finish looks at us like "but I'm not supposed to be running this one!" and starts letting up/pulling up like they're going to realize this and tackle her or something. This is just enough let up for two girls to catch her but she still finishes third. We told her it's no big whoop, this is a fun track meet so she could just sit out the 200 instead since she'd run the 100. There were only two other kids in the 400-the middle two kids of that same TT teammate of mine. They're solid runners too, and the three of them mostly stayed together, her son pulling away and coming in as the first and only boy in the heat in about the last 100 meters. Alexis just edged out her daughter at the finish and it was really a nice effort from both girls. They seemed to keep pushing each other the whole time.

The two girls were the only kids running the 800, and by now the two girls seemed like old buddies and we were laughing at how they kind of socialized and chattered side by side the first 600 like total girls, much to the chagrin of the college cross country runners who were running the meet. The girls finally kicked it into high gear for the finish. Again, it was Alexis by a few yards but a good race in the end from both girls. I should point out that this other little girl has also run several 5K's with her mom, and always does well-so like Alexis she hasn't done a heckuva lot of sprint events. They were both pacing more like a 5K, since that's what they're used to, which is funny, since normally it's the other way around with this age where the kids go to 5K's and go out too fast. Anyone who has ever been to a Girls on the Run race around here is all too familiar with that oft-employed "sprint-stop-sprint-stop" technique you usually see. ;)

So, that was it! A nice chilly evening with pants falling down, banditing in to unscheduled races, and Kaia the wild child getting out there and winning a race. They're already asking when they can do it again.