Kids Rock!

For the third year in a row Cade donned his Nikes to take on the INGKid's Marathon (formerly known as the Country Music Kid's Marathon). Grant finally decided he was good to join this year and pounded the pavement with him. We got a late start this year and had to double up many days and run 2 miles. I could never get the boys running good on the same day....there was always one complainer. But, alas, we got 25.2 miles in and were ready to go on race day!

The drive to Nashville was completely stressful this year given the insane amount of traffic. I was pretty sure we were going to miss the whole thing but the good Lord rolled us in the parking lot just in time to hoof it to find our team waiting right at the front of the start line. (That was first! Usually we're WAY, WAY in the back.)

I only had a few minutes to get ready to take pictures. Bobby headed to the finish line area and I had grand aspirations of getting myself settled somewhere nice to get a few action shots of the boys running. Didn't happen. After only one minute of working through the crowd my pits were sweating and I found that I was only a few steps ahead of the runners. Durn that 'being in the front of the start line' stuff. I did manage one of Cade...
And I caught the rear end of Grant speeding by:
It was at this point in the race that I laughed at myself (it happens every year) because I was being that mom......sprinting, jumping over chain fences, ducking under tree branches, weaving in and out of helpless, slow people, just to catch a second glimpse of my little runners.
This is when Grant kicked it into high gear. He ran as fast as his little legs would go and he was right on Cade's heels. (We let Grant run with Cade instead of running in his age group to save time.)
I missed the crossing the finish line shots because I was stuck behind a goofy barrier thing and a lot of crazy parents....not counting myself. I found Cade in the kid crowd packing in some after race goodies.
He and Grant went straight for the ice cream.

These brothers worked hard to get to the end of this race! I was so proud of their perseverance (though it was sometimes highly encouraged...oftentimes with threats).
A pic with the dad:
Way to go, boys!! I'm already looking forward to next year. Grant? Not so much. Cade? Undecided. I can almost guarantee come February Cade will get the itch again. Grant's a wild card that only time will reveal. I can't wait!