First Race!! Soar on Folly!

My First Race.

My mom signed me up for a race called, Soar of Folly. Soar on Folly was a 5k that  benefited special need Olympians.  The run would happen on Folly Beach, South Carolina.

This would be my first run and I was feeling good, but I knew it was going to take a lot of work.  The run would be on the beach on sand.  So each day I practiced on the beach.  The training was very hot, so I used a waterpack.  The waterpack gave me cold water to drink and helped me cool down.  

The race day finally came.  I woke up early, and had my favorite breakfast meal, Breakfast Burritos   We drove down to Folly Beach.  We went to the sign up tent and got our race day packages.  My mom had signed up also, because this was my first race.  My special number on my bib was 344.  

We walked down to the starting line, which was on the beach.  The morning was awesome.  The sun had just came up. The tide was down, there was lots of hard sand to run on.  I was hoping there would be no soft sand because it's hard to run on.  

We got to the front of the line because we were early   We waited for the starting call.  

The we heard, 1!, 2!, 3! BANGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Off we went burning up the sand.

We ran one and half miles down the beach.  It was hot and tiring. We turned around and ran back one and half miles.  I ran the whole time except  for a small walk almost at the end.  I saw the finish line and sprinted to the finish line.  

The finish line was on soft sand. I had to sprint on it to reach the finish line.  My mom was right behind me coming in fast too.  When I saw the finish line, I was thinking, Almost there! 

Victory was mine. I was the first kid to cross the finish line.  

My time for my first run was 28 minutes.  

Mom came in right behind me.  I was excited about going to the award ceremony because I was sure I won something.  

The man in the gray shirt made all the trophies by hand.  He was excited to hand out the trophies.  

I was excited to receive one.  I was the first kid across the finish line. I felt good about myself.  

This was my first race. I came in first because I trained hard.  I really enjoyed running but I liked winning the trophy more.  I had so much fun I wanted to do it again. 

Training with new shoes

When I first started my training I would bike while my mom ran.  She would run 3 miles while I biked beside her.  It gave me exercise. Doing this showed me that a 5k was not very long at all.  I decided I wanted to run a 5k.

Here I am on my bike during moms run.  

Before I trained I would have to get some running shoes.  Mom took me to four running stores and we shopped for running shoes.   I was looking for a lightweight shoe that was bendable.  Our last stop was the Nike store.  Here we found a pair of lightweight, bendable shoes in my favorite color, BLUE!

Nike Run Free

The next day I whipped out my new running shoes, put them on and felt alive.  I used Jeff Galloway's training of walk one minute and then run one minute.  I ran and walked around the path in my neighborhood.  I ripped up that path.  My goal of running started on this day and I hope one day to be an Olympic Gold Medalist.  

First Virtual ~ Jelly Bean 5K ~RunwithJess

One day my mom was looking up races and she found a Virtual Race called the Jelly Bean Run.  She found it on a website called, Run with Jess. http://www.runwithjess.com/

Jess had a race bib that you could print off, we colored it because our printer was out of ink.  I liked coloring it so I could use the colors I liked. P.S. My mom colored her's just the way it looked on line.

My running bib.

We started our run on the first day of spring.  We ran to a park called Celebrate 2000 Park here in Ocala, FL.  Then we ran all the way to the end of the park.  On our way out of the park we stopped by to visit the cave.  

When we came out of the park we hit our first mile.  Just two more Jelly Bean miles to go. We ran our next two miles on sidewalks around our apartments.  We made our 3.1 miles and then walked to Wal-mart for some delicious jelly beans.  Mom also bought me a refreshing cold  Monster Drink.  

We walked back home snacking on our sweet treats.  

Here is our running stats.  I was a little slower on this race because I was thirsty.  Next time I will drink more water.   I liked doing a virtual race, but I did not get a medal, because Jess was all sold out.  I still liked running because it was fun and my mom gets me a Monster when I run.  

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I think Virtual runs are good for kids because they do not have to get up early like you do on race days.  They can also get medals for Virtual runs.  Virtual runs can be done whenever you want to do them.  One day I hope to sponsor my own virtual run and encourage kids of all ages to run.

 Running helps everyone to stay healthy.

My Running Starts

This is me when I was playing soccer.  I am good at soccer because I can run fast.  

My mom has been a runner, and one day I decided to go for a run with her.  

I didn't know it at the time but I am really good at running.

So I entered at 5K and won first place. (See post, Soar on Folly Beach)

I wanted to keep running after that so I could get  more medals 

AND

It was fun!!

All my time I spent practicing soccer has helped me at running. 

So being a good soccer player has helped me be a good runner.