Kids' Bloomin' Mile

This year, we decided to join our cousins and friends who run in the "Kid's Bloomin' Mile".

Almost 1300 kids signed up to run 1 mile around our local high school's exceptionally beautiful campus. An orthodontists' office sponsors this event as part of the official Apple Blossom festivities. Included with the 15.00 registration fee, each child received a Tee shirt, a souvenir computer chip for their shoe to record their time as they cross the finish line and a dental hygiene kit with toothbrush, paste and floss. It seems like a stroke of genius to advertise orthodontics to this age group of 6-14 year olds and their parents!

We all got there early to register and brought drinks and snacks because after the race we all planned to attend the parade and fireworks, which we did!

The kids used their time wisely and we all enjoyed hanging out together on this lovely afternoon, waiting for the races to begin.

The miracle of cell phones made it so easy for other family members to find and catch up to us in this crowd.

For safety, the race was subdivided into age and gender groups because of the sheer number of individuals who entered to run in it.  In the Boys group, age 10-11 we had K.,C.,J., and our friend E. running.

In Girls, 10-11, we had Mh.,and A. running.

The city streets in this area were closed for not only the race but also for the parade, and the police provided an escort for each of the races both at the front and after the last runner (or walker) had come in.

My niece,  Miss K., who is a talented photographer, offered to take action shots for me and captured this photo finish of  J. giving it his all! This 7 year old athlete came in 10th in his age group with a mile in 7 minutes, 44 seconds! There are a whole lot of adults who couldn't beat this time!

After racing, each child was given water and other refreshments and a commemorative medallion.

  The last race was Girls, ages 6-7. K. and J. ran in this together.

This was a wonderful event that was put on for the children by many volunteers from the area's adult running club. After the race, we all watched the Firefighters' Parade mentioned in an earlier post and then stayed to watch these spectacular fireworks!

The whole day, beginning with the Firefighters' Rodeo, through the race, parade and fireworks, spent in the company of family and friends was a delight for us all, for which I am grateful!