Jah and Bella participated in their first ever run on Sunday during the Cold Storage Kids Run 2015. In fact it was also the first run for Joel and I :p and I have to say we had quite abit of fun.

The morning started really early for us! With the reporting time for our category (the Jolly Kiwi for 2-4 years old) starting at 8am, we made sure that we were parked and on our way to Gardens By the Bay (GBTB) by 7am. Honestly we would never have been able to catch such an awesome ‘sunrise’/ morning view if not for the race. We parked quite a distance away at MBS, just to make sure that we didn’t get caught in any jam or no parking situation.

Rewarded with an awesome view for waking up early

With our (more than 1 km) walk to GBTB, I was quite worried that the kids would be exhausted even before the race began. I noted Jah’s solemn face and quietness while we were waiting to enter our holding area and was wondering if he was thrown off, tired and perhaps almost tipping over to meltdown mode. But I soon realize that his ‘stillness’ was actually him mentally focusing and psyching himself up for the run. Wow!

Well organised and well ventilated holding area

Mr Super Focus did not want to be in this holding area family pic

I don’t know what everyone else is looking at…5 secs to flag off!!!

When asked if he wanted to walk or run, he very determinedly shouted Run! And boy, did this little fella run. In fact he ran for the entire 800m and even caught up with the kids from the first wave of his category, only stopping to check if I was still behind him. I stopped him shy of the finish line to ask if he wanted a balloon which they were giving out to the little runners.  He paused, considered and said no! lets go! I saw the determination and the competitiveness in his eyes and I had a proud mummy moment. 🙂

I can’t believe he is only 3.5 years old..call me bias but I think he did fantastic..

Congratulations my boy!

If you are wondering why there are no photos of Bella running, its because Jah and I blazed off right from the starting line and Papa Joel was left to deal with the little sister who insisted on papa taxi (riding on Joel’s shoulder) all the way. :p Nevertheless it was still really nice to be able to participate in the same category for their first run and to do it as a family (the advantage of having kids close in age).

I have to say that the organization of the run and the choice of venue was superb. We loved that the race was kept confined to a ‘safe’ location versus the ‘roads’ but yet we had tons of space and greenery to enjoy post-race. The process from holding area to start of race to the picking up of kids was very smooth and I have heard from a lot of friends who were equally impressed and very surprised at how well run the race was. Jah and Bella met up with friends after collecting their medals and certificates and had a nice time just chilling and savouring their ‘victory’/ achievement.

Jah with his first medal…a moment worth documenting

Enjoying a birds eye view

Celebration!

JahBella and Friend(s)

Jah was especially pleased with himself and wanted to go for another round right after. My worries about having to drag tired children across GBTB to MBS were unfounded as the kids were so upbeat and ready to continue racing each other.

I’ll race you to MBS!!

I am really glad I brought Jah to experience his first run..possibly and hopefully developing a new found interest. Super proud of him and the competitive yet sensitive spirit he showed. He couldn’t stop talking about his first race experience and in fact was still so pumped up all the way till bedtime. Despite his excitement, he stopped to remind me that he nearly bumped into some ‘babies’ in his hurry to get to the finish line. He wanted to know if the babies were ok and if he hurt them because he was ‘not careful enough’. 🙂

I expect to be hearing his ‘victory’ story for many more days to come and answering his questions so that he can relive this fun experience in his mind over and over again. I’m absolutely sure we will be joining many more races to come and hopefully Bella will be there for the running and not just the apples :p

Until Cold Storage Kids Run 2016!!!!

Disclaimer: We were invited to participate in the Cold Storage Kids Run 2015 and we had an awesome time! Thank you for the invite!