The "Big" Race(s)

We spent the last 4 1/2 days in BEAUTIFUL Colorado celebrating Memorial Day with my Aunt Kelly and Uncle Pat and their family. Tim signed up to do the big Iron Horse ride - 50 miles (mostly uphill) from Durango to Silverton - on Saturday.

On Sunday, Will and Jared each had their own "big rides" as they took part in the Kid's Sprite Race. Jared was so darn cute anticipating the excitement. When we went to the Expo on Friday to sign Tim in for his race, both boys also got their own bibs, complete with race number and other momentos for the race. On Saturday evening, Jared went to bed early and stayed in bed because he knew he needed plenty of sleep for his big day. On Sunday morning about 6am, I heard him doing some self-talk. He said, "Ok, I need to go back to sleep so I can get plenty of rest for my big race."

He told us all he more than once that he was pretty sure he was going to win ... He said he knew he was going to be faster than the other kids. ;-)

* On a side note, this event provided a good opportunity for Tim and I to grapple with how to encourage a healthy competitiveness, and yet balance it with the mantra of having fun while "doing your best." Jared was pretty disappointed that his dad didn't "win" the race to Silverton and we wanted him to have a good time in his kid's "race" without being super disappointed if he didn't come in first. Aunt Kelly gave him a great talk on how it was a "ride" and not a "race"... meanwhile, Uncle Pat prepped him the morning-of with a power shake complete with "Hammer Gel"...

Our sweet cousin, Shannon took some videos:

This is the pre-race video of her interviews with the boys (who apparently are not too well versed in the art of delivering a captivating pre-race interview!) ...





And here is the full video of Jared in his race in the 4 year old division ... Jared is in the white helmet (mostly in the center of the screen) with a navy shirt, and khaki shorts. And, not that you can read it, but his bib number was 2583.



You can hear my Uncle Pat and his other ardent fans cheering him on in the background. This was some serious competition! Since I was lined up with Will and the 3 year olds, I didn't get to actually see the race so I am so glad we have the video. He did sooo great - he would have made 3rd place if anyone actually kept track in the "Kid's Sprite Race" ... (and as Tim noted, Jared probably could have placed first or second had he not stopped pedaling and braked to stop on the line instead of crossing over it). Seriously, how cute is this??

This video is of Will working it with the 3 and unders ... he did pretty great himself!



Will is on the third bike behind the pacer. The "cheating" Shannon is referring to is Will's cutting the corner ... you can't see it in the video, but he shaved a good 3 or 4 cones off the length of the course in the first turn. We were all cracking up. AND - he clipped a little competitor on a stryder bike - you can see me run up to put the poor kids shoe back on! He was tough! I'm pretty sure he didn't quite get what all the excitement was about, but he came in 5th nonetheless... Ha ha ha.

So much fun.

More pics of Tim's ride and Durango to follow ...