Desert Boy's First 5K

 We had a great time at the Snake Valley Festival this past weekend. One of the events is the Snake Valley Slither, a 5K trail run/walk. Desert Boy decided he really wanted to do it. I wasn't so sure, as his longest race to date has been a 1 miler. But he seemed sure of himself, so I decided to let him give it a try.

He knew not to go too fast at the beginning, and he listened, doing a slow jog on gravel roads. Then we got to the trail section of the run.

 He ran short stretches, but walked quite a bit.

 He figured we had already passed the first mile back on the gravel roads (a little warning went off in my mind!). It was a bit later till we got to this really cute mile marker sign. Then everything started falling apart. His feet hurt (it didn't help that he had left his shoes out in the middle of the water fight field the day before and they were still wet!), then his legs hurt, then he asked what he got if he finished, and then he asked if someone came around to collect people who couldn't finish. Uh oh.

I encouraged him that soon we would be at the aid station and he could get a nice big drink. The last walkers caught up to us, and that was a good thing, as we could all talk together and Desert Boy was a bit more distracted.

Then we came into view of the aid station, and Desert Boy perked up. He got even happier when his friend Evan said he would walk the rest of the way with him. Suddenly it wasn't quite such a long race!

 It's always more fun to run and walk with friends!

An hour or so after he started, Desert Boy made it across the finish line. He had done it!

He got to have a smoothie as a treat. (The post-race smoothie and frappucino stand was awesome!)

The finishers and helpers. What a great way to start the morning!

And for Desert Boy, since he had done so well, he got to go to a friend's house for a few hours, making all post-race pains go away.