rain, rain go away - it's race day!

it's 6am and we are heading out in the rain to meet up with madelyn's team. what i forgot to mention in yesterday's post is that we (well, really, just matt) is babysitting our friend braxton. so madelyn and i ran around last night while daddy stayed at home with all the boys and got them fed and ready for bed. and now this morning we are counting on baseball being cancelled (the fields have to be flooded at this point) and are taking a chance by leaving all the boys at home while i take madelyn to the race. if baseball wasn't cancelled (which is was at 8am), i will have to run home and pick up braxton and manning so that matt can take mason and maddux to baseball/t-ball. so the rain is good for logistics. not good for racing.

but madelyn is excited anyway.

all of the girls are asked to have a "running buddy." no problem, matt runs. only this race is only for females and i can't run. madelyn decided to ask one of our neighbors to run with her - and she said yes! reporting at 6:30am in the rain didn't even scare her off. i did warn her that madelyn would either run happily (like the practice run) or she would cry and complain the whole time while she walked (like every other race she has participated in).

madelyn was r-e-a-d-y to run and the girls were super pumped to be in the rain.

"war paint" applied (and then they realized that it stains the skin)

running girl with the proud momma

 madelyn couldn't turn down star hair stencils.

our sweet neighbor who willingly turned out to run with mads.

pumping the girls up

the team ready to go

as they headed over to the start line, madelyn started to show how late she went to bed and how early she had woken up. i had no idea what to expect for her effort on the run, but at least the rain finally took a break. here is the start of her age section (the girl in front won and was still moving that fast at the end of the 5k):

i completely missed madelyn at the start even though they passed about three feet from me (i saw them when they called out after they had passed) so i hustled over for a prime spot near the finish.

a friend running the race took this shot mid-race

and then this is the only footage i got of madelyn during the race. she is behind the lady in the bright yellow shirt in the middle.

yes. not a great picture. i took a video too, but was not recording when she passed like i thought and ended up with a video of the ground and the shoulder of the lady in front of me. sigh. at least i was there.

everyone was caked in mud from the run. these are the backs of madelyn's legs as we went to get her medal.

i guess madelyn did okay. she talked the whole time and walked a little due to a back cramp (which our neighbor rubbed out for her while they walked). she was a lot slower than i was expecting her to be (almost double the time of her practice 5k), but she did it and wants to do it again next year.

one quick snap with our neighbor before she left to head out of town with her family. yes, she is THAT awesome!

madelyn's teacher was one of the coaches

her awesome coach

our lovely racer

there was a crazy long line for the post-race snacks and by the time we got there they were out of blueberry muffins. apparently that was a make or break item and madelyn burst into tears. so we left and i took her across the street to starbucks. she was willing to settle for a warm chocolate croissant. rough, huh?

she didn't want to participate in girls on the run AT ALL. she didn't even want me to see the flyer they sent home. but she loved it and can't wait to do it next year. so thankful that it was so positive for her. love.