Niko's First 5K

So, despite the fact that I am still sore from really pushing myself last weekend, I did another 5K this morning. The original plan was to drop the kiddos off at my friend Caryn's house during the race, since Gus is out of town, but they both rejected that idea completely. They were mad that they didn't get to go to the race last weekend, and REALLY wanted to go today. Nikos swore he was going to run, but I didn't know if he would actually do it. So I borrowed Caryn's double jogging stroller and hoped for the best! There were a few differences in this morning's 5K. For one, it was FREEZING. Well, technically, it was below freezing. It was 21 degrees when we started, and there were icy patches on the ground. Absolutely frigid! And the course for this race wasn't flat, like the one in the city was. Nope, this was pretty much the exact OPPOSITE of flat-- I don't think there was more than a few feet of flat road along the entire course! It started on a slope, and there were probably three or four good-sized hills before we had to turn around and do them all over again. It was BRUTAL! My legs simply did not want to go.

About half a mile in, though, Nikos threw off the blanket and hopped out of the stroller, ready to run! I quickly took a picture, since I didn't know how long it would last. But he ran the rest of the race!!!!! More than two miles! It was a jog, but I was so totally impressed and surprised. And you should see the look on his face when he talks about it now-- he will tell you that he WON, and that he passed TONS of people! The truth is that we were at the back of the pack, pushing strollers and dealing with various kids melting down (mostly my friends' kiddos). It took us 50 minutes to finish, but it was absolutely, positively EXHAUSTING. Nikos is really eager to run another race, so I am going to look into finding a 1K kids' race for him-- he will love that! As for me, well... As much as I love my kiddos, I don't plan to push them in the stroller in any more races, haha! Everything was twice as hard! I am just as tired, if not more so, than I was after the last race. I am ready for bed, and it's not even dinner time yet!

Once we crossed the finish line, a teenage volunteer handed Nikos a bottle of water, which he will tell you is the PRIZE he got, hehe! We went into the hall (it was at a church) to get some food, but poor Maya was just DONE. So no corned beef for me, sadly! And I will never know if I won any raffle prizes, because you had to be present to win. Oh well! I took my babies and got them treats at Dunkin Donuts, just for being so good. And Nikos practically inhaled them. The kid worked up an appetite! So proud of my little runner!!