Whippersnappers and Masses of Runners

When we mentioned the possibility of running in the Whippersnapper races to Mr. Sneaky Pants he was nearly beside himself with anticipation.  Lately he's been obsessed with wearing "running clothes,"  which consist of athletic style shorts and pants.  He never wants to ride in the stroller because he wants to "run" on the sidewalk.  Mr. Sneaky Pants could hardly wait for the race.  He kept asking and asking when it would be time to go, and detailing his plans of running extremely fast in the race.

On the way, he fell asleep in the car, but the rest seemed to give him boundless energy.  His group was up first.  Dr. Peds took him over to the starting line while the rest of our group waited anxiously on the sidelines, ready to cheer.  There were so many kids that he ended up running the fifth or sixth heat.  

Here he is at the starting line, a bit anxious.  He's going over the plan to run down to the end of the line with his personal trainer.  Thankfully he met a running pal, the little guy next to him, and they made plans to run by themselves, without the help of their dads.  

Ready, Set, Go!!!!!!!!
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Note the tongue. Like his Grandpa Ron, anytime this little guy is concentrating on something athletic, his tongue is SURE to be stickning out.

Go Mr. Sneaky Pants! He hit quite the stride at about yard 35, and wisked down to the finish line with great determination.

Here are all the whippersnappers together, celebrating their cute little ribbons, and holding up their number one status.

Early the next morning, we headed down to cheer for our running friends. We brought tambourines to shake, and signs to hold. Mr. Sneaky Pants made a giant sign that said, "Run Super Fast!" which he faithfully held upside down for several hours. He cheered for all the people wearing orange shirts, because orange is his favorite color. It was amazing to watch the speedy elite runners, and then the streams of dedicated normal runners flowing past our spot on the sidewalk. It was a beautiful morning, and lots of people were out lining the streets and cheering the runners in. After squinting for an hour, trying to not miss our friends, we spotted them:


They jogged over and we gave them high fives (well, I didn't because I was busy taking the pictures, of course) and they were off to the finish line. 

We were having so much fun watching and shaking the tambourines that we stayed several more hours, watching the full marathon wheelchairs zip past, the phenomenal contingent of Kenyan runners who ran five minute miles for the entire 26 mile course (they were SOOOOOO fast!) and then more streams of deeply dedicated runners who looked more than slightly tired. A family next to us was cheering for a neat lady in a green shirt. They yelled out, "Do you need anything?" She weekly shouted back, "THE FINISH LINE!" We were at mile 24, so luckily she didn't have much farther to go. There were runners dressed in pink tutus, runners dressed as The Incredibles, happy runners, and runners who looked like they were going to pass out any second (which would definitely have been the group I would have been in). There were runners of all shapes and sizes. My first experience of watching a marathon was great. But I have absolutely no motivation to run in one. Shaking the tambourine is much more my style.