Church 5K Fun Run

It’s that time of year for the annual ward fun run… Ben has won three times now, so he was feeling the pressure!! In the end, Levi, a young college athlete took first and Ben came in second. I think they were neck in neck until the last block, when Levi burst off and left Ben in the dust (with the other runners not too far behind them).

Good job Levi! He’s a wrestler at Northwestern. He’s in good shape, but I think Ben made him work hard for that first place win.

Ahhh old Ben :) A few people in our ward have nicknamed him, “Young Ben,” but I think he was feeling his age with this race. I’m proud of him for getting second, despite not being able to train as often as he would have liked with work, church, family responsibilities.

It was pouring rain, but the kids and I stood outside so we could see Ben finish. Charlie was excited when Ben ran down the block.

Here are some of the other runners before I decided I was done with the rain and headed inside… Adam -

John -

Caitlin -

Charlie of course munched on his apple the entire time.

Eli held our soggy signs that we made for Ben:

Can you tell how hard it was raining?? Ben was soaking wet and we were close behind.

The rain didn’t stop the pancake breakfast either – they set up a tent outside over the griddle and Keenan was the master chef for the pancakes and sausage.

Inside, there were lots of people enjoying the food and chatting.

Eli was disappointed that he didn’t get to run in the race (there was a kids' race too), so I think next year we’ll do that with Eli. I just had no desire to attempt to run with Eli in the rain while trying to get Charlie to keep up (and we forgot to bring a stroller, which would have helped).

Later, we scored some Northwestern football tickets at the last minute, so Ben and Eli walked over and got to see the first home game of the season. Eli loves going to football games and said his favorite part was the band. And yelling, “GO CATS!” :) That same marching band woke our kids up at 7 a.m. when they started practicing out on the field… (It is LOUD!)