Doing the Girl Scout Cookie Run..

...was quite an interesting experience.

Why was I in a Girl Scout cookie run, you ask?

Rose signed up to run in the Girk Scout 5k run this past Saturday. Naturally, Benjamin and Daniel decided that they wanted to run too. The kids 1 mile run/walk/crawl started at 8:45, and Rose was scheduled to begin the 5k at 9:00. Marianne and I were enlisted to help with the boys.

I ended up jogging along with Daniel. Marianne was behind us, and Benjamin was a ways in front of us with Karia and Aaron. Yes sir, this was a real family affair.

Marianne and I were unofficial runners, but the boys were registered. That just meant that we were not in the mix for prizes and such. We were there to be with the boys.

The siren sounded, and we were off! Daniel took 4 steps to every one of mine. He was smiling, though. A couple of kids said "hi" to him.

We smiled back and spoke to several folks along the way. During the home stretch, Daniel was getting tired. He slowed to a walk.

"I don't wanna run anymore," he said.

"Look, Daniel," I told him, "See that orange cone?"

Daniel nodded.

"That's the end. Come on, buddy. We'll do it together."

"O-kay." Daniel said, jogging once again and chugging along.

We were somewhere near the end, but there were still families behind us. We were ahead of the crowd of runners bringing up the back of the pack, so the spectators could see us clearly. They began cheering for Daniel and clapping their hands.

"Listen to that, Daniel! They're cheering for YOU!"

Daniel smiled and chugged onward.

We reached the finish line shortly thereafter. Daniel received a bag of treats and a red ribbon.
Benjamin had finished just ahead of us and was already showing his ribbon to us.

I was proud of both boys for finishing. I remembered Daniel, only two years ago, going to physical therapy to help him learn how to walk. I had just completed this race with him.
A race he completed, and ran or jogged more than half of the route.

At a short awards ceremony afterward, Benjamin did win one of the prizes - a bag with flip-flops and a scarf.

We all went out to eat at Sonny's Bar-B-Q afterwards.

We're thinking of doing a run for the Baptist Children's Home together in a few weeks!