Running with my niece

My 8 year-old niece, Madeline, has been part of a group called Girls on the Run.  From what I know, it's a 12-week program where girls grades 3-8 can not only run together, but learn about life skills, character education, etc.  The last hoo-rah is participating in a 5K.  So, my sister invited us as well as my parents to come and support Madeline in this race.  I decided to run it, too (outsiders were welcome!).

So, this morning was the race.  It was pretty chilly at first, but it quickly warmed up.  We participated in Zumba ahead of time, did a little pre-race stretching (though apparently not enough, based on how sore I am now!), did a last-minute restroom trip, and headed for the starting line.  Madeline was already up at the front, and I was racing to just get there when they were counting down from 30. 

The race was fun, despite having to dodge little kids, forgetting my ipod, forgetting my stopwatch, and my pants falling down the entire time.  I carried my phone with me in case I really needed some tunes, and I was hiking my pants up every 20 seconds with my other hand.  l-o-v-e-l-y. 

Anyways, about 1.5 miles in, I see Madeline ahead of me!  I catch up to her, and she grabs my hand and we are off.  We held hands the entire rest of the race... it was so sweet.  We had great aunt/niece bonding time.  We talked about school, her friends, music... we laughed a good bit... she filled me in on this Girls on the Run program... it was awesome.

We made it to the finish line!  Here are some pics from the race: