Last Friday night we ran our second 5k race. This one was called the Brick Street Firefly. It was held later in the evening and everyone who participated got a little flashing light and a glow in the dark t-shirt. For the two weeks prior to the race I had really been encouraging a few of our students to participate. I gave them the registration form and they were really excited at the thought of being able to race. Unfortunately none of them ever brought the forms or entry fee back. So on Friday we decided that even though they weren’t going to race we would invite them to come watch us race. We ended up with 6 kids, Jeremiah, Jerica, Mario, BoBo, LuLu, and Shauntay plus Ms Sarah and Ms. Elizabeth who were walking the race. As we were driving we decided that even though the kids didn’t pay for the race, what harm would it do if they ran with us?
Thanks to a sky full of clouds the evening was cool and perfect for a good run. We stretched out and warmed up as we prepared to begin. I was a little nervous about letting the kids run the full 3.1 miles. I thought about them getting really far behind and running off the coarse and getting lost. I worried about them getting run over by one of the big hot shot runners. But we set up a buddy system and the kids were adamant that they were going to run the race.
At the starting line they couldn’t believe that the man had a gun and was going to shoot it. He did and we were off. Emily, Mario, Bo Bo, and I began together while the other kids started back with the walkers. The beginning of the race is really fun, especially if you have some good music playing on the ipod. Your adrenaline gets going as you and hundreds of other people take to the streets with police escorts. It was fun to see little Bo Bo and Mario running among all the rich folks. Mario took off from the very beginning and stayed ahead of me until about 2 miles in. Bo Bo stayed right with me for the first mile and a half. I decided to step it up a little to try to beat my last time and Bo Bo stayed right with me. I kept looking over at him and asking if he was OK. He would give me the thumbs up and kept going. Eventually I did pull away and pass both the boys but they weren’t far behind me. I finished with a time of 28:26 followed by Mario at 29:41 and Emily at 29:55. Bo Bo came in a 32:00.
The girls ended up taking a shortcut but made it in which left only one of our kids out on the coarse, Jeremiah. Jeremiah is a small guy with short legs but he’s tough and will try anything. While Emily and the kids went to get water I began to back track up the coarse looking for Jeremiah. I made it back about half a mile and there he was walking up the hill with his shirt off. I told him everyone was waiting for him at the finish line and asked if he wanted to run the rest of the way. He took off. We made it down the other side of the hill and came around the last corner and onto the home stretch. As we came around we could see the other kids up ahead. Bo Bo began to race towards Jeremiah followed by all the others. He was in the middle of enjoying a post race apple but when he reached Jeremiah he put it in his mouth, grabbed Jeremiahs hand and began to run with him towards the finish line. Mario grabbed the other hand and the rest of the kids followed behind cheering him on. Jeremiah was dead tired. His head was down and his pants were falling off but Mario and Bo Bo were dragging him to the finish line. Emily and I ran behind just watching the whole thing take place. I felt pride like I never have before. I think that it was the first time that we’d been able to see them love each other. They didn’t care what was going on around them they were determined to see Jeremiah finish. He made it in just under 42 minutes. We spent the rest of the evening sitting on the grass near the finish line eating fruit and sharing race stories. It was a beautiful evening.
