We have a winner!

Our town has a group of running enthusiasts called the Marshfield Road Runners. Each Wednesday evening in June and July, they sponsor races for children at the high school track. We had never gone before, so when someone reminded me about it the other day, I made a point of marking it on the calendar.

After a quick dinner, we headed over to the high school. I couldn't believe how many people showed up! Who knew this was such a popular event?

Each week they hold races of varying lengths and the heats are broken down into small groups such as 3 year old girls, 3 year old boys, etc. This week, the races for our girls were the 50 and 100 yard dash. Kids ages 5 and up could run the 400 or the 1 mile.

Eva was the first one up for the 50 yard dash. I stood with her at the starting line, making sure her feet were behind the blue line. She was all decked out in her brand new sneakers, which she has been breaking in this week by "zooming" all over the place. I had a feeling she would do well.


But when the whistle blew, signaling the start of the race, all of the other 3 year olds took off running... and Eva froze. Then she said she was scared and that she "only liked running at home."

Amanda's age group was next. The race coordinator reminded all of the children to run in a straight line, heading right for the orange cones and the line of cheering parents.

When the whistle blew, Amanda hesitated... but then ran like the wind!

And she actually won!


By the time I made it down to the finish line to congratulate her, she was already holding a blue ribbon and spelling her name for the newspaper reporter.


The first thing she said when I saw her was,"I'm going to be in the newspaper!" She was so proud!


After the 5 and 6 year olds finished their races, they announced the start of the 3 year old 100 dash. Amanda and Eva held hands and ran back to the starting line. It looked like Eva was feeling more comfortable now that she had seen Amanda run. Unfortunately by the time Dave walked them down, the race had already started without Eva.

Amanda lined up for her turn in the 100 yard dash and this time when the whistle blew, she was ready! She started out running a very strong race, when all of a sudden, she got a bit too far ahead of herself and lost her footing. Amanda tumbled to the ground, crumpled in a little ball for a moment, and then hastily limped off of the track. She cried for a while, disappointed that she fell during the race.

We saw one of Amanda's friends there as well as one of my students, and we cheered for both of them. It was a fun night and we have already made plans to try it again next Wednesday.