I never thought I would be running as much as I have been lately. I used to hate the idea of it and broke out in hives if I did it. It seems as if I am no longer allergic to the activity, and I find myself doing it at least weekly!
I started running to help Evie work on her run when completing her gymnastics vault. I continued because I have amazing friends. I love getting to run with my friends and also include my kids, and sometimes my husband.
The Palm Beach Marathon became our first opportunity to support my friends, including my kids, actually multiple of our homeschool kids. We also included families and our arts and crafts, and I did not have to run it!!!
My running friends had a relay set up for the marathon. I wanted to join but did not participate because I did not know Evie’s competition schedule at sign-up. Her States meet ended up being on a different weekend. I was able to step in to take on the organization of our own Co-op til we Grow up water station.
For the year, the Co-op had been on a gingerbread S.T.E.A.M. project that included making shirts, and Gingerbread houses that we had used for parties as well as performances at our favorite nursing homes. We typically do a Thanksgiving Parade at one and caroling at another, but this time we did the same visit! We brought our Gingerbread Village, and the Gingerbreads did a Gingerbread dance!
Since we had already done the work, we figured we might as well use it all again and theme our water station, a Gingerbread village. I had a tent, house, and decor all ready to go, because our morning started at 3:30am and the teens had to be up and ready to go. I am not sure why, because none of the organizers were there or came, and we ended up figuring out our setup alone.
The night before, we laid out our best Gingerbreadgirl looks, with our decorated shirts and accessories. I love all the pizzazz the girls put into their tops.
When we finally decided to start setting up on our own, the girls took on the table and water, while the moms took on the tent decor.
The girls had to mix up Gatorade and then have the table prepared with hundreds of cups of water and Gatorade. I had poster boards, and it was a great tool to use to put on the first layer of cups and build a 2nd layers!
Our tent had to be behind the tables, unfortunately, to keep the sidewalk clear. Another downfall of the organization of the race. We still did our best and secured our house and blended the pop-up tent. I think that we all did an amazing job putting our whole stand together. The goal was to support our friends, but we were also trying to win a grand prize of a thousand dollars for the best water station booth.
When the race started, we got out on the street with our cups and our gel packets. We even had some homemade cookies baked. The younger kids held up signs and cheered. We had Christmas music blaring and brought all the happiness and cheer. The runners appreciated us, though some knocked Gatorade down and made us sticky AF. Overall, we definitely felt their appreciation, and we cheered on our team too. Unfortunately, the judges never came! No one from the organization ever checked our booth. It was such a disappointment to us and the kids who put in so much time and effort. We still received the $200 gift for our service, and it goes into the parties we throw, but we all know we were never even in the running.
I am really proud of our kids and parents for their involvement. Don’t mind us boycotting this race for an unknown amount of time.
