Fun Run 2007

The Eldorado School Fun Run this year was held on Saturday September 29th. It is a 5k Run/Walk and a 1 mile run. After the running the school serves a pancake breakfast and has the awards ceremony. All the money raised goes to pay the salary of the PE teacher. In the past the state has provided for a part-time PE teacher so the PTA had to only raise half of her salary. This year the state in its wisdom has provided no PE teacher so the PTA has to raise all the funds.

Eva wanted to be able to run and finish in the top 3 in her class. She trained with the Ameri-Kenya Athletic Club runners after school on Wednesdays and also ran during school. The Ameri-Kenya Club is a group of Kenyan runners that train in Santa Fe for races all over the world. The kids learned about Kenya and why the runners train in Santa Fe and also about pacing, and form during the clinics.

If anyone remembers from a post last year my goal was to finish in the top 30 in the 5k this year. I trained for 3 months and was getting much better with my times, but my dream was derailed 10 days before the event. More about me later.

I ran with Eva and Aimee and her friend Hope walked and ran with the boys Grant and his friend Gavin. Eva did a great job running and pacing herself and it was fascinating watching her push herself every time one of her classmates would come up along side. She was actually pushing me to keep up. Her training paid off and she was able to run the entire 1 mile and had a pretty good kick at the end of the race which was uphill. We finished then went back to the finish line to cheer on the boys and mommy, but somehow missed Grant and Gavin since they ran ahead of the mothers and forced Mike (Gavin's Dad) to keep up.

When we caught up to the boys in the chute, they were excited and saying "We won, we won!" They had a great time.

After the pancake breakfast, the awards started to be handed out and there was a category for Pre-K. and I was shocked to hear that Gavin won first place, and immediately knew that Grant must have gotten second and he did. My excitement for him was short lived because if Grant won a medal and Eva did not then there was going to be a major meltdown right around the corner.

As I waited with anticipation for the second grade girls winners, Grant was showing everyone his medal. They announced first place, no Eva, second place, No Eva, Third Place Eva Canby. I was relieved and Eva was so excited that her hard work had paid off.

Here are some pictures of her and Grant with their medals.



As for me, I contracted some virus 10 days before the race and spent 7 days in bed and it progressed to bronchitis and I ended up on an inhaler and antibiotics. It made me even sicker to think that I spent 3 months training and was not even going to be able to run. Well, to make a long story short I ran the 5k anyway and sucked wind the entire time and finished 49th. I guess I'll have to wait til next year.