The Great Cougar Chase

The Congdon Park Cougar Chase is a morning filled with running races for kids and adults that serves as a fundraiser for the big kidlets’ school.  The event had been greatly anticipated in our house, with three kidlets and one dad registered to run.  The Banana ran a  .5 K for kids aged kindergarten and smaller.  Mr. SP ran a 1K race, and YaYa trained very diligently at running club after school for months to run her first 5K race.  Dr. Peds also ran the 5K.  There was also a 10K race for the hard core runners.  (Not that a 5K race is anything to scoff at in my mind).  Grandma Kathy and Auntie Dot, Alex and Baby Katherine also happened to be visiting, and they made a great support contingent along with Mr. Trouble on Feet and myself.

The 5K and 10K racers were off into the forest first.  Dr. Peds and YaYa did not run together, because YaYa was determined to do it herself.  Dr. Peds crossed the finish line in about 29 minutes, and YaYa followed close behind at a very fast 32 minutes!  She ran the entire way, and earned a third place medal for her age group.  We were all super duper duper proud!  I think she’s going to be hooked on 5K races from now on!  It was a great first long running experience for her.  All that practicing really payed off.

Next, the smallest kids were off on their race, which unlike the 5K race did not go into the forest. The route was marked off around the park area, so it was fun to watch them the entire time.  The Banana was a little concerned she would not know where she was going, but she nailed it.  It helps that she’s a good head taller than everyone else even remotely her age, and she came bounding across the finish line well ahead of the many, many other little people.  The .5 K racers and the 1K racers all chase a teenager dressed up a cougar mascot costume (hence the “Cougar Chase.”  One little girl caught up with the cougar and held onto his tail for the rest of the race.  It was very cute.

The poor costumed cougar actually does a lot of running if you do the math, since there are actually two heats of the 1K race for different age groups, and let me tell you, he looked a bit winded by the end.  It can’t be easy to run 2.5K in a mascot costume.

Mr. SP zipped right through the 1K race, and while he was a bit disappointed to be not the exact first grader across the finish line, I will say that he meandered around after crossing the finish line, guzzled a full water bottle, walked about a city block to the bathroom and back, and ate almost half an apple, and there were still people from his heat running the race, so I consider him pretty fast too.

Personally, by the end of the morning, I was tired out and ready for a nap just watching everybody exert themselves.