Memorial Day Weekend= Running

For the past decade, Memorial Day weekend has usually been synonymous with running for me (and sometimes John).  We've either run the entire race or been a part of a 2 or 5-person relay team.  It's a great event and something that motivates me to get in shape in the spring.

Cally has been asking me when she gets to run a race for a while.  She has seen me train and thinks it looks fun.  I had heard about the YAM scram, a youth race organized the day before the real marathon on the waterfront in Burlington.  Last year it was pouring rain, so I was glad we didn't do it.  This year, I signed Cally up for the 1/2 mile race a month before the event.  Of course, that meant nothing in terms of "training" on her part and I was a little bit nervous about her actually being able to run that far.  But, my how she showed me!

Cal and John ran the entire way, with smiles on their faces!

The weather was gorgeous, her good friend Boden got into the race at the last minute, she got a medal, was fed good food, and most importantly, she LOVED it!

We spent the rest of the morning showing our friends, the Dormer's all the fun things to do on Burlington's waterfront-- the fishing peer and skate park among our new favorites.

The following day, I sweat through 13.1 miles while Cally hiked Mt. Mansfield with the Dormer's.  John and Hazen, once again attempted to watch me race, but never saw me run the course at all.  I think they should go for a hike next year instead of trying to navigate that scene.

We always love having the Dormer crew in town.  The kids play so well with each other and we have so much fun with Carlota and Matt.

We wrapped our running weekend up with the annual Jericho-Underhill Memorial Day Parade or "Candy Parade", as the kids fondly refer to it.  It's certainly not a long parade, but fun to see fire trucks, miniature ponies, the high school marching parade, etc.

I'm thrilled that Cally had such a fun time running.  It's something that has been an important anchor in my life-- a great outlet for stress and something I can do almost anywhere that I've been.  I picked up this little habit from my dad, who now warns me about it's potential harm and advises me to do more cross training-- to save my body. I am certainly not pushing Cal to go crazy with the running, but it's great to see he excited about it.