What an amazing day. Cassie honestly surprised me.
I'm so exhausted, literally nodding off at 8:00 tonight while at a family birthday party, and it's now 11:00 and my eyesight is blurring but I need to get this out. At least I can sleep in a bit before I go teach.
I woke up at 6:00 am and got ready, then got Cassie up and out of the house at 7:00. Cassie was amenable to getting up since she was going to see Jasmine. We got to mom's house, sat the girls down for breakfast and then loaded the girls up in my van along with Amanda and her hubby Vince and off we went to downtown Redwood City. Parking was easy; we parked in the county courthouse lot and walked to the starting point. I ran into Claudia, a fellow teacher at another school, who was walking with her niece. There was a decent crowd but it was so laid back and relaxed, it was unlike the only other 1/2 marathon that I've been a part of - the San Jose Rock N Roll last year. Since it was the first annual OktobeRun, I knew there would be kinks to work out.
We ran into other teachers, Zoe and Jen, who work at Kennedy, Alexander's former middle school. Then we ran into Nancy and Randi, his teachers from elementary school. Of course everyone asked where he and his dad were at but Alex had some school meetings to go to for Homecoming week and Franklin was at a soccer game. We also ran into the Meak family, Liza, Van! Olivia, Erin and Carrie. Cassie was thrilled to see her friends, and the race began.
The race started and we were off. We began walking but after a block started to jog. The route wasn't pretty, downtown RWC is flat and through businesses. The way the city blocked off the route is definitely something they have to work through. The cones blocked off a small lane to run but the rest was still open to traffic. Alexis wanted to be out of the stroller and walk/run with the girls but Amanda didn't feel safe with the cars so nearby.
As we neared the turnaround point for the 5K (the 1/2 kept going out towards the bay and Redwood Shores) the traffic thinned and we were alternating walking with running. It started to feel really good being out running on pavement, even though hadn't done it for SO long. The girls were complaining a bit about running, but they were not stopping. Amanda had told them that we were not going to be losers, we were "wieners" because of how Franklin pronounces the word winners. That seemed to be our theme throughout the race - "let's be wieners", "lets go Team Wieners!" or "we're wieners, not losers"! It was funny and would fuel the girls on when they were getting tired.
Almost to the turnaround point, we were crossing on the overpass that crossed over 101. The girls got a kick out of waving at the passing cars on the freeway. We turned at the halfway point, grabbed a Dixie cup of water and headed back. At this point a bit of whining started to emerge, but Amanda and I kept motivating them, telling them we were almost done, they could do it, we are wieners, not losers, etc. Cassie would sprint ahead many times and then get so winded that I found my self running along side her giving her tips like relax your hands, slow your pace, move your arms like this, breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. It surprised me that she actually responded! This helped her to pace herself and go longer between walking breaks.
Toward the end, we ran into a husband and wife couple that kept commenting on how cute the girls were. Liza and Erin (5) ran ahead once Van finished running and came back to push Carrie in the stroller, so we finished the race with Van, Carrie(3) and Olivia (8)(who does not enjoy running!) The husband was teasing the girls whenever they passed us, and the last time, when we were about 4 blocks from the finish line he teased them again. We told the girls that we didn't want them beating us cause we were wieners and for some reason, it lit a fire under their butts and they took off running! I had to slow them down again but we made a deal that we would cross the finish line running not walking. We were a block from the end and running and I realized it would be great to have video, even though I knew it wouldn't come out great cause I would be bouncing all over the place. I am SO glad I did. As we approached the finish line, the announcer called out each of our names and the girl' ages! In the very bouncy, nauseatingly rocky video, you can hear him calling "Jasmine Hall, age 4! Cassandra Herrera, age 6! Amanda Hall, Kristy Herrera! You can see the girls putting a fist in the air as they run across the finish line! So amazing and precious, I'm glad I captured it even with the bumpy video. We stopped and volunteers cut off our sensors, we got our goody bags and stopped for pictures.
Most of this time, Alexis was either with Amanda on her back or with Vince. He ended up walking the whole way with her while the rest of us jogged with the empty stroller. At one point I pushed the stroller as we ran. That was freaking HARD! It's a regular stroller, not a jogging stroller. Once we crossed the finish line, Amanda ran back to get Vince and Alexis and I took pictures with the girls and gave then snacks I had packed. I checked the race times after we finished - 55 minutes, 18 minute miles! Not bad for the first time for these little monkeys!
The look of pure happiness on Cassie and Jasmine's faces at the end was priceless. They had a great time and I know they felt a sense of accomplishment. I personally found that I actually miss running. It wasn't really hard for me, but I worried about my heel pain and found it was actually OK. Even tonight they are not sore, but we didn't do the kind of distances I used to when I was training. But it made me realize I want to start running again. Maybe not training, but getting out and running.
Amanda and I decided we are going to start running, even a mile at a time, during the week. When the hell I will have time, who knows. She asked Jasmine if she wanted to run and got a NO. She asked Cassie and surprisingly Cassie said yes, to which Jasmine promptly changed her answer to a yes as well. They had a ton of energy as we walked back to the car and kept talking about "their 5K". I hope the excitement lasts, but the rest of the day this was the hot topic. Amanda and I were beyond proud of our girls. 3 miles is a lot at their age, and we both had thought we would be walking the entire course. The fact they ran at all was amazing, when their energy waned, with some motivational cues and coaching, these little girls rose above and beyond what we had dared hope. They are amazing little girls! Since they only got shirts and no medals, they decided their reward for a job well done will be a trip to get frozen yogurt, which we will do after I teach BP tomorrow.
After a much deserved stop at Starbucks, we went back to mom's, fed them and then Cassie and I went home to shower and ice my knees. I was already stiffening and feeling some pain, and knew that Kendra's ice skating party was at 3:00.
Alexander had promised he would skate with Cassie, as she had never put on skates before. Well, he decided that he didn't want to hurt himself before his soccer game tomorrow, yet I was terrified of getting on ice skates and injuring MYSELF when I have to teach BP the next three days in a row. Plus I've NEVER liked ice skating. Maybe because I was so fat I would fall HARD, and my ankles were weak and I could never balance well on those blades.
We arrived at Winter Lodge in Palo Alto, which had both an indoor rink and an outdoor rink. Tiffany handed us two tickets for skates. Franklin didn't want to skate so guess who stepped up? Yup. Me. Damn. I was so terrified of falling down. It's been more than 20 years since I'd ice skated. I like to roller skate - maybe because I had 4 wheels to balance on.
Well these skates were so stiff that I couldn't even bend at my ankle. They were extremely uncomfortable, but off to the ice I went with Cassie. We spent the first 4 times around the rink being rail huggers. It was so unnerving being on ice skates. Cassie kept wanting to hold my hand and I had a hard time balancing myself, let alone her and trying to stay upright. Had to uses some serious core strength to maintain my balance!
At times Cassie would go off and hold hands with here friends parents, or her friends. After about 45 minutes on the ice I realized how famished I was and remembered I never really ate after the race. I snacked a bit and then had my coffee but I was starved. I took a break, had some cheese, crackers and turkey and then hit the ice again. At this point, Cassie was feeling more comfortable and was happily hugging the wall with her friends. I tried to get her to take a break but she kept plugging along. She was pretty fearless. Again, I was immensely proud of her because this is not the Cassie of late. She would not be so willing to put herself out there independently, usually wanting me or her dad to do things with her.
Today, for the first time, I saw her exert her independence, in a very different way. In a good way. It made me see her as a bit more grown up, laughing and enjoying herself with her friends and doing something completely out of her comfort zone with no fear. She took a few dives, got right back up and kept going.
My little monkey. Growing up.
Tonight we had to go to a family birthday dinner and she had so much energy I couldn't believe it. I was nodding off at 8:00 and she was going full steam. Of course, we left at 10:00 and she was asleep in the car before we got to the corner so I'm sure she will sleep well. Me? I'm freaking exhausted but I had to get this day down before I forgot.
My little Rock Star.
No comments:
Post a Comment