Wells takes Age group gold at Order of the Arrow 5k!

I would be remiss if I failed to mention the other running highlight in our household yesterday.  While I was running in Queens, the rest of my family was in Wantagh to cheer on my eldest son as he ran in his second ever 5k.

Wells and I had prepared him by working on pace and distance over the past two weeks.  We started with a mile, but his last training run was actually 3.4 miles so we were confident the distance would not be an issue.  Wells also takes a while to settle into a grove and runs sorta spastic for the first couple hundred meters because he wants to sprint - he's getting better and has shortened his stride a bit and runs with his arms tight.

I gave him a kiss and told him to do his best as I headed out for my race - he told me he would pace to Mr Honerkamp.  Mr Honerkamp is the father of one of Wells friends, a scout leader, and Wells track coach.  I checked on his last few race results and his pace was one that Wells could handle so I was off and my wife took Wells to his race.  The fact that the race was enclosed into Wantagh Park was a plus - if for some reason Wells stopped/quit/got hurt ... he would not be running through streets.  Plus even with my mother, sister, wife, and other son going they would not be able to keep eyes on him the whole time - I was just hoping he would not be discouraged if no one was watching him the entirety of the race.

He lined up behind Mr Honerkamp (Frank) and kept pace with him the whole race.  Wells told me he would pass him and then Frank would pass him back.  At some point in the race Wells stopped to pick up seashells - when Frank asked him what he was doing Wells replied that the shells were beautiful.  I guess we need to go to the beach more or something - but with Franks urging Wells was back in the race.

While he doesn't look so fresh here - he was running into a headwind (see the reeds) and it was cold down by the water - my wife pulled his soccer sucks up way past his knees and left his sweat shirt on but he was chugging away.

 The sprint to the finish - Wells is looking fresh as he chugs along.  Finishing first in his age group despite stopping to pick up sea shells.  Definitely stoked that my son seems to enjoy running for distance - I am hoping he and I will be doing some trail runs in the near future at Hempstead Lake State Park.

After the race he had - track practice (haha) - in second grade and almost as tall as his Mommy!