Tail of the Lizard

TJ loves basketball.  But he is also great at running.  We have had numerous people tell us how F-A-S-T he is.  So, when I saw a flyer at the basketball gym the other week about a road race near our house, I decided to try and talk TJ into running.  It didn't take too much.  Of course, it probably helped that the name of the race is Eye of the Dragon 10k and Tail of the Lizard 2m.  They had kids fun runs also of 1/4, 1/2 and 1 mi.

We knew TJ had won some races at his school in China (we even found this photo of him on the internet from an article in his town newspaper!)

So we asked him if he wanted to do the 1 mi or the 2 mi.  At first he wasn't sure.  We told him that it is about 1 mi around our neighborhood.  So, he set out one day around the neighborhood.  He came back and promptly said "1 mi too short!  I want to run 2mi."  So we signed him up for the 2 mile run.

We still never found out how many total racers there were, but we think there were over 300 and 17 in the male 9-11 age group.

Here are some shots from the race (remember, TJ doesn't like me taking his picture, so I have to take them on the sly!)

Lined up at the starting line

This was part of the course.  Up and over the bridge and BACK - with a 25mph wind today!

Down the home stretch

closer

closer

taking a breather after finishing!

And the result

FIRST PLACE!  in his age group

and 5th overall!!!

#616 in the first picture came in 1st with a time of 13:06. He is 13 and has been running for 4 yrs.  #691 in the picture came in 3rd.  He is the dad of the little girl #692.  She is 8 and came in 4th!  She has been running since she was 6.  The boy that came in 2nd (no picture) is 14 and has been running for a few years also.  

So I am VERY proud of TJ!  He came in 5th  (with a time of 14:18) after literally NO training and not having run any significant distance (other than playing basketball) for at least a year!  Because one year ago today, we were in Guangzhou visiting the Guangzhou zoo!  

Next week, we'll be at the zoo here!  There is a 3k race and TJ wants to enter it!  We also found out that because he won in his age group today, that he qualifies for the Champions Race in June!  I can't wait to see what his race time is for that one!