The Last Run

The girls finished up the Healthy Kids Running Series last month.  It was a tremendous accomplishment for all three.  They certainly ended on a high note.  All three girls ran their best time yet.

Miss Lila worked hard on her last run.  She brought her time from 2 minutes 34 seconds to 2 minutes 16 seconds.  I am so proud of her.  She is my girl that has little drive to push herself in a competitive situation.  Lila is just happy being Lila.  This time was different.  She ran her heart out.  Here is a clip of her last chug up the hill to the finish line.

I am very proud that Lila could cross the finish line and independently walk through the shoot and then wait patiently without a parent until Adeline finished. Lila just had to hang by herself in a large crowd and for her, it is a milestone.

My oldest and most competitive runner, ran her socks off for this last race. She also learned about positioning herself at the start line. Savannah was positioned so that she bottlenecked into last place a the beginning of the run. She over came this and ran her best time ever, which of course would have been even faster had she been on the opposite side of the starting group. Here are some pictures of her start.

Savannah's times were excellent.  She hung in fourth place for three races and then her last race, was joined by a new runner which bumped her down to fifth place.  She was disappointed until she saw her time.  She went from 3 minutes 56 seconds to 3 minutes 38 seconds.  That is a pretty fast half mile!  She has really learned to use those long legs.

This post wouldn't be complete without a video clip of Miss Adeline crossing the finish line.  As noted before, she won the hearts of many at this race.  It was very apparent this time as well.   I can't put into words how emotional it is to watch my girl fight for every step of her quarter mile.  She knows going in that it is going to be hard but never complains and is happy to do it.   No other runner worked as hard as Adeline did during this running series.  Most would have quit if they had to run her race.

Each and ever race my eyes overflowed with tears as I held the camera up to get a clip of my girl finishing.  This clip is shaky because I started down the hill and followed her up.  The voices you hear are her fans, as I was too choked up to say anything. The best two seconds are when she gives Jeff Long (the man responsible for this running series) a high five.  He was her loudest cheerleader and met her at that finish line EVERY time.  Adeline's race was over when her high five was complete.  I hold a very special place in my heart for Jeff and yet, I don't even know him.

Here is my AMAZING girl!!!


Each girl received a medal for their efforts.  They were very proud.  Adeline insisted on holding it in front of her face, "so everyone can see it in the picture." 

Here are my running girls and their running friend.  Next spring they will be at it again.