Seahawks 12K Kids Dash, 2014!

I was excited for Chase to run another race and the Seahawks one seemed so much fun. Every since they won the Super Bowl last season the Seahawks have become so much more popular than they have ever been before. So it was really important for me to sign him up for this race as soon as it became open, I knew it was going to sell out fast.

Photo from thelandinginrenton.com

Because the race packet pickup was about a 30 minute drive from where we lived and they offered race day packet pick up, I didn't feel like driving there before hand and just decided to get the packed race morning. Unfortunately by the time we got there they had ran out of the bibs, they still had the T-shirts and the race bags, but no bibs :( They were super cool too, I was bummed, they had the Seahawks logo and the number 12 for the "12th Man" of course. But oh well, what can you do, right?

The kids course was not really anything nice, it just took place in the parking lot of the Renton The Landing shopping area. They did have fun kids games set up there, like throwing a football through holes, a bouncy house and a "how do you measure up to a football player". Chase had a really good time before the race.

Photo from Seahawks12Krun.com

The race went by really fast obviously, it was only a mile race, they had the SeaGals and Blitz there in the beginning to get everybody excited. The kids got ribbons for finishing the race.

I was a little bummed that there were no Seahawks players there, I didn't see any anyways. I was hoping to meet at least one or two players. I did hear from the past races that the players were on the 12K and the 5K courses at the water stations, but I didn't run, so not sure if they were there this year or not.

I do recommend this race for the kiddos, as they had fun games and ribbons.

Keep on running... with your kids!

Keili

Tacoma St. Patty's Day Kids Run 2014!

The reason I chose this race for Chase to do is that they were actually giving the kids race finishers a medal as well as a ribbon. Its pretty rare to find kids races that provide a medal and I thought it would be really fun for him to get a medal of his own.

How cute is he???

Since this race was in Tacoma and we live in Kirkland, I knew that I had quite a drive down there, so I made sure to get up early to make sure I got down there in time. The only problem was that the kids race didn't start until 11:00 which was super nice, however the packet pick up ended at 8:30. So I had to be down there by 8:30 and then hang out for 2.5 hours until the kids race started. I had paid $5.00 extra to pick the packet up on race day, they did have packet pick-up the day before, but it was way too far for me do drive just to pick up a T-shirt. Speaking of shirts, the race did come with a cute kid size T as well and I think I paid $20 all together including the packet pick-up fee, which by the way I could have gotten away without paying it since they didn't even check to see if I had prepaid for it or not. Oh well, it goes for a good cause at least.

So we hung out at Tully's for a few hours and had some breakfast, to kill some time before the race. The weather had been kind of iffy, rainy and then nice and rainy again, I kept hoping for a dry race and it stopped raining right before, which was super nice for the kiddos.

I had only found a parking space for 2 hour parking, but it was nice that the kids race was later in the day, by the time my parking meter had run out the half marathon runners were leaving and there were plenty of great spaces by the starting line to choose from, so I moved my car and off to the starting line we went.

I love that both of his feet are airborne in this picture!

This was a 1K race and there were probably about 50 kids or so, some really small, some that could have probably ran the 5K, but fun for all nevertheless.

Off goes the air horn and off goes Chase, he always starts out super fast, its impossible to try to pace a 5 year old kid, so I just let him go and told him that he could walk whenever he wanted to. So we ran a little and walked a little. Chase is super competitive, so when he saw kids smaller than him passing him, he just took off without looking back half way through, so fast that I had a hard time keeping up (needless to say, I should probably start training for my marathon in October). He bolted through the finish line, we even had somebody yell front he sideline "Mom, keep up!"

Chase got his medal and a finishers ribbon, the medal was the same as the half marathon finishers, but he didn't care, he was super happy about the glittery colorful St. Patty's Day medal.

At the finish line they had Little Caesars Pizza, bananas, grapes, candy and water. We grabbed a bite and headed to the Tacoma Children's Museum for some fun.

Hope you enjoyed the recap, I would definitely recommend this kids race for all ages of kids, there was no rush, even the littlest ones could make it.

Let me know of any kids races you or your children have participated in the comments below, I'm always looking for something new.

Thanks for reading and keep on running!

K and C

See ya later Pre-K, bring it on Kindergarten!!!

 

Its that time of year again, when all the kids are graduating. This time however our little one is graduating as well. Chase just graduated from Evergreen Academy Montessori School and is now going to summer camps there. He has made lots of new friends and kept in touch with his old friends from when he was a little baby. Next up for him is Kindergarten, I'm so excited for him to go to public school, we'll find out what that's all about. The nice things is that one of his friends from his class is going to the same school, hopefully they'll be in the same class too. I think its always nice to have a familiar face around when you are in a new environment.

The graduation ceremony was so cute, they were all wearing caps and gowns and they walked down the carpet and sang some songs for us. I'm pretty sure that Chase actually didn't sing a word, but nevertheless it was adorable. Their teacher presented them with a certificate and a rose, then they changed the tassel and threw their caps in the air! Seriously the cutest thing you've ever seen. They has some snacks for us and we got to collect all of their school projects they had been working throughout the year and that was it. The school was officially over and our baby had graduated from Pre-K.

He has grown so much in the last year and learned so many new things. I think the biggest change that I've noticed is how well he is doing in reading. He can read three letter words and can sound out a lot of longer ones. He recognizes words in sentences and when we are out and about he will recognize some words randomly in a grocery store or street signs. I'm so proud of him every single day. He never seizes to amaze me. I do believe that he has learned so much from this school, he knows more than I know in some areas, do you know what shape a quatrefoil is? Well I didn't either, but I do now! He has learned organs and bones that I didn't even know where they belong. But my four year old can worn me ahead of time when he is going to kick me in my gallbladder while he practices his karate kicks :) All you Moms to little boys know exactly what I'm talking about, right? Go figure, now I know where that is as well. Its amazing when he knows geography and about continents and planets and plants and seeds and animals and things that I never thought that they would teach a four year old. But they did and he remembered and learned so, so much.

(I just love this series of pictures so much)

 

So what we've figured out is that our son is definitely the class clown and I think he will be his whole life, I'm positive of that. He gets such joy from making others laugh and that includes us. I'm pretty sure he gets his sense of humor from his Daddy and I love that. Who doesn't love a guy who makes your laugh, right? Another thing I love about Chase is that he just loves life, he is a very happy little guy. I love that he gets joy and happiness from the little things like the beach and bath time and stories and the iPad and running barefoot, playing in the dirt, sidewalk chalk and riding his bike super fast down hill. This is just a few things, there are just too many to name.

 

As we are enjoying out beautiful summer here in Seattle, I'm slowly starting to buy school supplies. I just like to be prepared, what can I say. I was amazed how many things they are asking for a Kindergarten class. I think more than anything its a change from what we are used to, he is actually going to carry a backpack to school, how cute is that. I'm so excited for his first day of school that I'm probably going to have his bag packed like a month before school starts.

 

Wishing everybody a great summer, enjoy the sun and spend lots of time with friends and family. Make sure you check out the little video clips below of his graduation!

Keili

Run For Your Lives 2012

I decided to do this run last summer because it looks different from all the other races and it looked really fun. All the zombies were already sold out so I just registered for the race.

For those of you who don't know what this race is about I'll tell you a little bit about it.
There are three things that you can register for, one is to be a spectator and yes you have to pay to be a spectator in this race, second is a zombie, they go all out and have professional make up artists who make you look like a "real" zombie (they really do an amazing job) and third you can be the runner. The race is 5K, ours was about 2 and a half hours south of Seattle on a dirt bike track. It happened to be one of the hottest weekends in Seattle, I think during my waive at 4:30PM it was about 90 degrees out. This race is not about the obstacles, but about not getting your flags taken by zombies.

When I got there I checked in, they gave me a belt with three red long flags on it (think flag football), they were attached to the belt with Velcro. You put the belt around your waist and you can adjust the flags however you want, back, sides, front, wherever. The rules are that you cannot tuck them in your pants or shirt, they have to be visible, otherwise you will be "disqualified" and won't get an official finishing time. I think you still get a medal though. then they had three staring lines: slowest, faster and fastest. I went into the fastest line since I was going to finish at a decent time. They let each of the lines go separately, so we got to go first. So they had the zombies right out of the gate and I got my first flag taken right away, I was bummed. I did face plant as I was trying to run away, pretty embarrassing, but I didn't know any of these people so I just kept running :). I lost both of my last flags as we were running thru the trees. There was even a zombie sitting in a tree. I finished the race, however I DID NOT SURVIVE :(
I got a medal anyway though. For 2013 they will have two separate medals, one for the survivors and one for the "dead".

It was a fun race, I don't if I would go down there again this year, it was such a long drive and the course itself was pretty boring, it was lots of sandy hills and some woodsy areas. I think the course used to be and old motorcycle rally area or something like that. I don't know. I was also disappointed in how many zombies there were, well its subjective I guess, it was cool seeing the costumes and make-up and all that, but truly unless you ran in a huge group where everybody else can protect one person it was impossible to not loose your flags.

We'll see, I'll keep you posted if I will run it or not.

Keili