Thank you from #BATCOW

      I sat in Chick-fi-a eating my chicken sandwich thinking of how gracious of everyone was to vote for me. 

      Then a idea hit me, POW!!!!!! What if I shared my chicken sandwich with everyone who voted. After all I get chicken for a whole year!!  I shared my idea with my mom, and she thought it was a great idea. This is what we decided to do.While we were at Chick-fi-a, I purchased a 5 dollar gift card.

 This is how you can win the 5 dollar gift card.

    If you want to win the 5 dollar gift card leave your name and your first race you did in the comment box.

 If you have not ran a race just put your name in comment box. [Please do not leave your name in the comment box if you did not vote for Batcow or Cow Princess. ] If you do not have a Chick-fil-a I will send you a Starbucks card.  

  Thank you again so much!  I am very blesses!  You all are awesome!1  I love my fans!!  #BATCOW

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"I may have looked like a COW, but I flew like a BAT" #BATCOW( My 1st Half at the Chick-fil-a Race)

  

Swoosh,

Ok!

Here I go.

FOCUS, speed, I am speed.

One winner and 42 hills,

I eat HILLS for breakfast.

Whoosh!

Breakfast?!? !

Maybe I should have had Breakfast!?!

 A chicken sandwich would have been good for me. 

NO, NO stay focused.

I am Faster than fast; quicker than quick,

I  AM  BATCOW!!!!

OH YEA!!!!

 

The morning of the race I felt just like Lighting McQueen at the starting line. 

  I had prepared the night before by setting out my BATCOW costume and packing my gear. 

  The morning of the race I went to the Spirit Tent and signed up.  The lady took a picture of  me and typed my name into her computer. 

  I walked up to the starting line and my chill bumps were higher than the highest hill.  I was a little nervous, but I had trained and I knew I could do this.  The gun went off and I started running.  The first hill was a down hill , which started the race off fast.              

  There was a lot of people.  The runners stretched for miles. At the top of one of the tallest hills I could see people for a mile.  There was under 2000 Chick-fil-a runners.  Some looked like cows and some looked 

like ordinary people. 

  The hills were monsters.  I trained on these Athens Hills  so I was ready.

  I ran by so many Athens Landmarks.   They consisted of Sandford Stadium, UGA Arches,  UGA Campus,   The Varsity, and even a statue of a GA Bulldog.   

As I was running everybody I saw cheered on BATCOW.  This made me want to go faster.  Around mile 10  I was surprise to be cheered on by my Grandmother and cousins. 

 

  They made me go fast because they were shooting me with water guns. 

                        

        

   I was very tired my last 3 miles.  All I wanted to do was finish.  Mom kept talking which made me a little annoyed.  I politely asked her to be quite.  On the last little bit there was a down hill.  Everyone kept saying I was almost there. 

 

       

  The excitement of the finsihline made me run super fast to the end.  I finished my first half marathon in 2:20.23.    

                 

     

When I was finished I ate a whole chicken sandwich in 1mintue.  

My Brother, Grandmother and cousins meet me at the finish line.

  I ran in the 10-14 age group.  I am currently 11.  I came in 6th in my age group.  The first place winner looked to be at the top of this age group. 

  

  My favorite part of the race was eating Chick-fil-a at the end.  Out of a score 1-10, I give it a 10.  I think they could have had cows along the race course cheering us runners on.  This would make it like a Disney race with character stops.  

       

     

 This was a great first half marathon for me.  I look forward to next year. 

  I may have looked like a COW, but I flew like a BAT.  

Even though I did not win first place,  like Lightning McQueen, 

 I'm a winner for just training and finishing.  

Lighting McQueen learned that, 

"There's a whole lot more to racing then  just winning", 

AND SO DID I.  

My Big Weekend Has Arrived

A runners race weekend starts with the opening of the expo.  The expo is a time to pick up your bib and get pumped for the race ahead.  Chick-fil-A  had one of the best expo's that I've been to.  It was held at the Classic Center here in Athens.

I walked to the sign in table.    The lady looked up my name. I was hoping she would ask for my ID.   My mom signed a waiver and the lady handed my bib to me.  

                                       

Next stop was the shirt table.  My favorite part about my new shirt was the Bulldog pictured on the front.

After my mom and I got our bibs and shirts it was play time. 

 Chick-Fil-A  did an awesome job at providing lots of fun activities for us at the Expo.  It was great family time.

                                      

 

                               A Chick-Fil-A race would not be complete with out seeing some cows.

Ok we are pumped and ready for race day!!!  

Highlights Along My Journey to my Fist Half

My Journey to my first half has been very interesting.   I have had a lot of cool highlights along this journey.  My first highlight of this journey was being featured, with my mom, in the news paper here in Athens.  Another highlight was my family and I making a video of my journey.   My third and most fun highlight was making my costume for my first half.
     I've always thought it would be cool to be famous.  During my journey I had the chance to be famous in my city.  The Athens Banner Herald heard about my story and wanted to write an article  about my running  journey with my mom.  See link for story.

                                        
                                       Photo taken from Athens Banner Herald website.

  http://m.onlineathens.com/health/2014-03-17/motherson-team-gearing-spring-half-marathon

I enjoyed training so much that I decided to make a video about all my training.  I wanted to use the Eye of the Tiger song and be like Rocky training.  I wanted to run by all the tourist attractions here in Athens.  In  my video you will see such places like, Sandford Stadium, The Arches on UGA campus, Memorial Park Zoo, Sandy Creek and  Chick-fil-a. Check out my video on YouTube.

                                           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugZ_D6U0RlU

One of the funnest(lol)  things about the Chick-Fil-A race is that you get to dress up just like at a Disney Race.  I enjoyed my training but making the costume was even more fun.  I wanted to be a super cow, so I went with #BATCOW .

I used my mom's craft supplies to create my batcape.  

Flat #BATCOW

I'M NOW READY FOR MY FIRST HALF MARATHON!! 

Inspiration & Training for a half marathon.

Here is my running path on how I got to a half marathon(13.1), one mile at a time.

Here is a picture of me (middle right) my brothers (right and left) and my friend (middle left) at Space Coast.

 I wanted to run a half after I saw my mom run a full marathon at Space Coast.  There was a kid 

 at  Space Coast that was 12years old and he ran the half.   I was inspired to run Space Coast the next year.   But mom said she would have to see me train and work hard before I signed up.  She said I had to run a local race first.  During this time we lived in Athens GA.  I heard about a Chick~fil~a race that was going to be held in our city.  I learned if I attended 10 training runs then I could be entered for free.  This would be the perfect race for me to show mom that I was a serious runner.  

I printed off the Chick~fil~a training plan and posted it on the fridge.  And off running I went.  

On Wednesdays we drove to Sandy Creek Nature Center where we met up with Ms. Katie for our training runs.  She would have us run trails through the park.  At first I did not like the trails but they grew on me and I enjoyed the nature that I saw while running.  I always had to lead my mom because she would get lost on the trails.  

 Because I was running lots of miles mom would make me eat healthy foods and would make me shakes.  In my shakes she would add milk, PB2 (which is powdered peanutbutter), and yogurt.  All these things helped fuel my body.