5K? Or Was it?

C ran his first 5K on Saturday.  It was for a foundation established by the family of a little girl that passed away with a rare type of brain tumor.  Our elementary school supports this foundation every year.  All the 5th graders were invited to train for the race by practicing with one of the teachers after school.  About 8 kids decided to do this.  C was one of them.  He ran in 100 degree heat at 3 pm every day and he loved it.  He trained and trained and trained.

Finally, the big day was here.  He was excited and ready.  The teachers and students that were around all commented on how C was fast and how he was the one that ran the whole way at practice.

 Here he is right before the race.  :)

 And, they are off!!!

And then, we waited and waited and waited.  The first runners came back at about 16 minutes, but there were not very many.

And, then more and more came back.

The girls that trained with C came back, all saying that C was ahead of them, yet no C.

Hmm...odd.

One of the teachers that is a runner came back and said that the course was not well marked and she had run at least an extra .4 of a mile.

Hmm...30 minutes....35 minutes...40 minutes....

The principal that walked/jogged the whole thing came back.  No C.

The teachers started to talk about how the male teachers hadn't come back yet and last year they ran it in 26 minutes.  Hmm...odd.

People that definitely walked the whole thing came back.  Pregnant women pushing strollers came back.  No C.

45....50....55 minutes.... No C and no teachers.  Hmmmm....

C's dad started to worry that he'd been abducted.  Because the teachers weren't back either, I started to worry that C had twisted or broken his ankle and that they were carrying him back.

Finally, at about 58 minutes....he comes running in!!!

We found out that the path was not clearly marked and most of the lead pack went the wrong way.  They estimate that they were off course about 2 miles.  C said he ran the entire way, stopping only for a few seconds when they realized they were off course and turned around. 

He was disappointed, yet I was still proud of him.  He ran much further than the race for which he had trained.  He kept going even when he knew that his being gone for so long would mean he did not have a super race time.  I am one proud Mama.

Now, I hope he finds other physical things to do with his time.  This daily raced training he did really helped him to be happy and have a great attitude.

One final note:  At school yesterday, they presented him with a medal.  I guess that after he left and they did the ceremony that he placed 2nd in his division (0-10 boys), so a teacher got it and brought it to him.  I saw many boys cross before him, but perhaps they were 11 or 12.  Either that or they realized the race course errors and were able to re-calculate.  I don't know, but it is very cool that after all the work and all the frustration and all the heartache that he came away with a medal.