Canyon County Classic

Saturday, October 8th, the kids got to participate in the Canyon County Classic 1 mile fun run. They were so excited for this race! They have been looking forward to it all year and counting down the days until they got to have their special race again. We had a week of rainy, cold weather, so we were a little worried about weather conditions on race day, but the sun came out and it was a gorgeous day!

Here's the kids before the race:

Lexi practicing before we start:
And we're off:

We were so proud of our kids this year! There was such a difference between their attitudes and confidence this year. Tyler fell at one point, but we got him to get up and keep going. He ran with Marc the entire way. At times, he would reach up to hold Marc's hand when he was getting tired, but he kept saying "I'm not going to stop" then he'd let go and keep running. Tyler's competitiveness is beginning to come out. He would chase down the older kids and then say to Marc "Dad, I passed another big kid!" Apparently, some of the big kids didn't like being passed by a 5 year old and they would speed up and pass him, but a little ways down the road, Tyler would pass them again. Maybe he's got a future in running :)
Bryce was amazing this year! I was so proud of him. Last year, it was everything I could do to get him to the half way point. He was constantly stopping, needed a lot of encouragement, and all I heard about was how hard it was. This year, Bryce stopped to walk only a handful of times, and when he did, we'd count to 10 and start running again. He was very determined to finish and tried his hardest which was awesome to see.
Miss Lexi rode more than half of the race in the stroller, but when we were about 3/4 of the way there, she wanted to get out and run. Some of Marc's co-workers were cheering people on, and clapped and cheered for her, and she got real embarrassed and jumped back into the stroller. But soon she was begging to get out again and she ran the last little bit all the way into the finish line. She will tell you "I ran!" in the race and is very proud of her accomplishment, which she should be.The kids each got a medal and a bag with string cheese and an apple in it.

A smile like this is rare from this kid:
Can't wait to see how they do next year!