Jog-a-Thon

Melinda and Jacob got to participate in the biggest school fundraiser of the year this week - the 2nd annual Jog-a-Thon. Each student was asked to get pledges from friends and family, either a flat rate or a per-lap pledge. Our family has been so generous, which we're so thankful for! It definitely motivated the kids to do their best.

Our schedule was so crazy on the day of the Jog-a-Thon. It was supposed to be a Walk & Wheel Wednesday, where students are encouraged to walk or ride a bike/scooter/etc. to school if at all possible. After looking at the schedule, I decided that it sounded simply far too crazy to add walking/biking into the mix, since it takes a good 15-20 minutes each way.
8:00am, had to have Melinda to school.
9:00am, had to be back at the school to cheer for the Melinda and the rest of the 1st Graders for their Jog-a-Thon scheduled slot time. They finished up at about 9:35, and then we had to head back home.
10:45, Jacob had to be fed lunch (I still have issues with lunch before 11am).
11:40, Jacob had to be at school. (Normally, if we walk, we're leaving the house at 11:15. You can see how we wouldn't want to shorten our home-time anymore than necessary this day.)
1:05, back at the school AGAIN to see and cheer Jacob with his turn at the Jog-a-Thon. They finished ~1:40.
And, at last, 2:30, we had to be back to school to pick them all up at the end of the day.

We further complicated this schedule by deciding to go to the mall and switch to Verizon for our cell phone plans, securing an awesome deal on new phones (which I desperately needed). We squeezed it into the slot between dropping Jacob off at school and the start of his Jog-a-Thon running. We badly misjudged how long it would take to finalize our contract, and we didn't even leave the mall until 1:15. At 1:05 when I couldn't stand the anxiety anymore, I speed-walked across the length of the mall while Jesse finished signing papers, got to the car, buckled Alex into his seat, and drove to the entrance of the nearest department store by the Verizon kiosk. When Jesse FINALLY emerged, he was running to me, and once he was into the car I drove as swiftly as I could back to the elementary school. I felt like I was going a million miles an hour, though I was barely going 5 over. I was just so heart-sick that I wanted to cry, thinking of Jacob starting his running without us there to cheer him on. He knew we were supposed to be there, we told him we would be there, he saw us there for Melinda, and he was so excited for the event.... but thinking of his typical reaction to hiccups in his day, and his ability to take everything very personally, I could only imagine him in a crumpled heap on the school field, crying his eyes out inconsolably. I was so afraid of what we'd find when we arrived at the school. We kept hoping for the best-case scenario, that maybe they'd spent 10-15 minutes discussing rules/expectations/encouragement, and warming up, and we'd be arriving just a couple minutes after they really started.

When we got to the school, Jesse hopped out of the car and headed quickly over to the field to find Jacob and run with him (Jacob asked for Daddy to run with him, I ran with Melinda... part of the way, at least!). I went to park the car and strap the now-sleeping Alex into a carrier to go join them at the field. By the time I got there, the PE teacher was announcing through the megaphone that they only had 30 seconds left!! I quickly scanned the field and found Jacob and Jesse at a water-cooler station just a corner before the finish line. I didn't even get to see my boy run! He sort of half-jogged to the finish, getting his last punch in his card. He and Jesse both came over to see me, and Jacob so proudly showed me that he jogged TEN (!!!) laps. The laps were 220 yards - half a normal lap on a track. Ten laps is 1.25 miles, and he did that in 20 minutes of allotted jogging time. Jacob!! The boy who I can hardly drag to school (0.8 miles) if he's not on a bike. The boy who non-stop complains about not having enough energy on a simple, flat walk. Jesse told me they did 2 laps in the time it took me to park and get back to them. Which means Jacob did a FULL MILE before his lame-o parents even showed up to cheer him on. It was amazing!!!! I've never been more proud of him and more impressed. I'm simply astounded that he could do that. I suppose it was the element of competition that kept him going - all those kids, running at the same time! Jesse said that Jacob told him a few times that he "had to catch up to Luke". And Jacob was all grins!! Did I mention that?!? When I apologized to him for being so late, all he did was grin and say, "Yeah! Good thing I had enough energy!" He was pink-cheeked and sweaty, but upbeat and proud of himself. I wish I could bundle up that attitude and put it inside him every single day. He was so amazing. I just wish I could have seen him running myself. Maybe I would have cried in amazement.

Melinda was just as great. In her 20 minutes in the morning, she did 12 laps, for a total of 1.5 miles. She only took walking breaks a couple times. I couldn't keep up with her. I probably only jogged 4 of those laps. But she kept right on going! I was originally just as amazed with her: In trying to guess how many laps they might do, I thought that tops, Melinda and Jacob might be able to do 8 or 9 laps, which is slightly more than the distance they walk/bike to school. I thought they'd get tired and have to take long breaks for walking. But nope, Melinda started the day by blowing my high guess out of the water. I'll know better next time!!

Here are a few pictures and videos of their day. Thank you so much for those of you who supported them and their jogging! And if you'd like to make a pledge still, we have until October 12 to have the pledge sheets and money turned in. Just let me know!

The 1st Graders begin their warm-up. Melinda's at about the left-hand third of the picture, in a light pink shirt and long purple pants, with her arms up in the air and her hand holding her yellow punch-card. This picture makes me smile because Melinda's morning teacher in on the right (in her blue school shirt), in the middle of a jumping jack, joining right in with the kids.

Here is a video of the start of the jogging! The PE teacher leads the group in a pacing lap.

Melinda jogging her 2nd lap. Woo!

Melinda's class at the end of the jogging, holding up their punch cards proudly, and enjoying their ice pops as a reward for all their hard work. (Melinda's in the back, clearly interested in something off to the right of the camera.)

Jacob's last stretch to the finish line

Jacob eats his ice pop and shows me his TEN LAPS punched on his card! (See his sweaty, pink face?!)

Jacob's Kindergarten class sits down to rest with their ice pops, their teacher in the white jacket behind them.

The PE teacher congratulates them on all their hard work, giving them final instructions on what to do with their cards. You can kind of see Jacob's head in between the two blonde boys right near the middle. Jacob loves to be up near the front of a crowd.

By the way... we had *just* enough time in between Jacob's jogging and the end of school to run and get food before picking everybody up at the end of the day. Phew!! So much back and forth. But the kids sure had so much fun!! And slept so soundly that night! And cooperated with each other all afternoon!! Maybe we need to run a mile every day. ;)