I'm going to read everyone's report later. I've got to post now and fly to work!
My DS(9) and I left Friday to do the night races at Myrtle Beach SC (part of the
Myrtle Beach Marathon weekend, which now includes not only footraces, but also a trio of cycling events for folks of all abilities). We were registered for the 5K and the 1-mile Family Fun Run. The FFR was scheduled first, and is a contest between local schools to see how many folks per school they can get registered for the fun run. As such, it allows strollers, wheelchairs, grandparents with walkers and canes (I'm not kidding), toddlers, etc., etc. I loved the concept and the enthusiasm of all the schools participating, but because the course travels throughout Broadway at the Beach across bridges and through some narrow walkways, many times during the "race", we slowed to a shuffle or stopped altogether. There's also no cap on this race, so there were
a LOT of people and we didn't start at the front. Don't get me wrong, though -- I loved the course! The race started at nearly sundown, so we enjoyed all the bright lights and lighted storefronts, we walk/ran across the floating bridges, and we were able to run together here and there when the course opened up on wider walkways.
Because the race started late, then was so congested -- especially at the finish, which took us through the shark tunnel in Ripleys Aquarium, then meandered around inside the aquarium a bit before coming out again to finish, then fed everyone
BACK into the aquarium to pick up our free postrace Chick-Fil-a nuggets, fruit bowl, and drink -- we missed the start of the 5K altogether. In fact, we were so late getting through the massive crowd and back out that they'd already removed the cones along the 5K route, so we couldn't "catch up" even if we'd chosen too.
We had to return our 5K chips even though we didn't run the race, so we ended up running part of the route with the 5Kers anyway as they crossed the street and headed toward their stadium finish line. (Someone yelled "Cheaters!" at us, which I felt a bit guilty about, but we'd planned to duck off the course
long before they turned into the stadium. I just wanted my son to get a chance to run with the crowd for a bit since he'd trained so diligently.) In another incident, after we'd left the course and headed for the stadium entrance, some 20-something girl yelled "Boo!" out her passenger car window at us -- I'm guessing because she was held up in the traffic jam caused by the traffic being stopped to let the 5Kers across the street. We were so close to her car that I turned and looked directly in her face, and she smiled and said "Hi" -- I think she thought she was being clever and funny. Fortunately, I don't think my son even noticed.
My son actually handled his disappointment quite well about not getting a 5K medal, and I helped him to frame it as a really good fun run that we chose to finish instead of the 5K. I also pointed out that we had no real control over the timing of the race -- and he'd performed very well. He got a great FFR shirt (
two actually, because we ended up with two kid's shirts and I won't be wearing mine
) and a certificate -- plus the meal and a very crowded peek at the aquarium. (I got two very nice tech shirts for the 5K we didn't do, since they were out of kids shirts, so I'm not sure what I'll do with those -- I don't usually wear shirts for races I didn't do.) He also made it a point to tell everyone we met wearing a medal "Good job!" -- well, until I got tired of hearing him say, "Good job!" every second or so and asked him to stop for a while. (Bad, bad Mommie!
) I was very proud of him and told him so several times.
We had our celebratory meal at Margararitaville before heading for Charlotte where we caught up with the rest of the family at my daughters' swim meet. I don't think I've gotten more than 8 hours of sleep total since Thursday night, so I'm pretty beat -- and I have to go to work this morning.
GO WISH TEAM 
GO WISH TEAM
GO WISH TEAM 
GO WISH TEAM 
, but I'll report back!
