Notes
As a part of Lance's running crew I had Connor, Emily, and Andrew all in the 3rd grade. After running with these guys in practice I felt like a 9 minute pace was realistic and breaking 28 minutes would be in sight. Based on practices it seemed that Emily would end up taking off after the first mile and then Connor and Andrew would run together as they seemed to have equivalent ability. I kept telling the kids we would stay at 9 minute miles and then pick it up after 2 miles if they had something left. It didn't work out that way. The kids did a good job of not sprinting at the beginning of the race and were running right around 8:45s. But the longer we went, the more the pace picked up. I was having a hard time holding them back. Connor in particular. Around 1.5 in we caught Jean Taylor and she told me to take off with Connor if he wanted to go. Plenty of people around to watch after Andrew and Emily. So sure enough, I let Connor go. Mile 2 at 8:17 and he looked really strong but I was worried. The kid just turned 9 and he's just run 2 miles in 16:50. But he looked strong and caught up to his buddy from soccer Liam Daily who is a greyhound. Connor and I run with him the rest of the way and he never stops talking. It looks easy for him. I keep asking the kids if they are ok and they kept telling me they are fine. With .3 to go I tell the boys it's time to pick it up as we are almost finished. Connor looks at me and says, "I'm going as fast as I can". Ok. Can you keep this pace up? "Yup." When we hit the 3 mile mark the watch reads 7:47. Holy shit. My 9 yr old just ran a sub 8 minute mile after running 2 miles. When we hit the final turn to run the last .1 to the finish line it looked like the boys were looking each other as if to say, “what do you got left?” I kept telling both the boys, “this is it. All out! Let’s go!”. Connor bears down and leaves Liam in the dust and I cruise in behind him. At this point, no matter the finish, I am so proud and a little shocked at what I’m watching my 9 yr old do. But to bust out at the finish like that, to run the negative splits , amazing.