Noah loves running, and is always running around the house, park, playground, mall… you get the picture. I’ve been wanting to sign him up for a kids run, so when I found out about the Cold Storage Kids Run, I signed him up for it. (We missed last year’s because we were away in Adelaide.) This was his very first run, and our objective was to get him to complete the entire distance on his own. “Complete, not compete,” as C would say.
C goes jogging semi-regularly on Sundays, and if Noah isn’t napping when he leaves the house, we usually tag along. Noah loves running at the park, but often gets distracted by his surroundings, and we end up standing around, looking at whatever it is that caught his attention. Recently, he tells me that he’s tired and needs to sit down for a while to rest, even though he barely ran 400m, and I got rather worried that he wouldn’t want to finish the 800m on race day.
Taking a break during a recent run at the stadium
My elder godsis and her family are regulars at the Cold Storage Kids Run, so we met up with them at the Gardens by the Bay on Sunday morning, with the intention of letting the two younger boys run together. Noah and Z are two months apart, and they like playing together, so we thought they could motivate each other to complete the run. Noah was really excited about the run, and kept asking me when he could start running, as we were waiting at the holding area for quite some time.
The two younger boys
Noah and mummy
At the starting line
Our category was the Jolly Kiwi Family Fun, for kids between 2 to 4 years old. This was a parent-accompanied category, so we saw lots of enthusiastic parents giving the kids pep talks. When our run began, Noah starting running with his hand in mine, but I told him to let go, and run on his own, so he did. Our original plan to have Noah and Z run together failed, because Z refused to run, and my BIL had to carry him for most of the run. Haha. Noah ran for most of the 800m, only stopping to walk when he was tired, or when he was looking around for Z. (He also stopped because there were people giving out balloons halfway through the run, and detoured to ask for a balloon, but that’s a different story.) The two boys did run/walk together for a really short distance, and did so hand-in-hand, but Noah decided to run off on his own after a while, while Z got his dad to carry him again.
Walking hand-in-hand
Running with his balloon
Whenever Noah stopped to walk, I would cheer him on, telling him, “You can do it!” I was determined not to carry him at all during the course of the run, and although I had to hold his hand while we ran towards the finishing line, he didn’t protest at all, and chanted, “You can do it!” to himself. He was so proud of himself after the run, and beamed happily when C and I praised him for completing the run on his own.
Proud finisher of the Cold Storage Kids Run
The three boys after their runs
I think Noah had a really great time at the Cold Storage Kids Run, though we didn’t stop to visit any of the booths set up at the carnival, as it was really crowded. We took a slow walk to our car, and stopped by an empty patch of grass to run around for a bit more, because Noah wanted to run with daddy too.
Group photo
Posing with his medal at home
His medal, bib, and cert
Napping at home after the run
It was a great first run for Noah, and I can’t wait to sign him up for more runs!
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