One Proud Moment- Riley's first race

A few weeks ago, I raced the TriRock Series Sprint and Olympic Double and it was a good weekend of racing.  Not my best performances, but there was another event that weekend that I will remember forever: Riley's first race ever.

Saturday afternoon after the Sprint race, TriRock held a children's "Fun Run".  There were different race lengths for different ages, but all I was concerned with was entering Riley into this race.

Once the wife and I decided that this weekend would be race weekend for me, we found the kids race and decide to make a full weekend out of it.  While Leo and I went up Friday afternoon to be there for our race Saturday, the wife, my parents, Riley and my sister all heading to Philly Saturday morning to meet us around 11 am.  Once we met up, we picked up Riley's race bib, t-shirt, and swag bag.  yes, even an 18 month old gets a swag bag.

Cheerios are the perfect pre-race snack

While we waited for Riley's race to start, we decided to "carb him up" with cheerios so he would definitely have some energy.  After eating his fill of cheerios and getting hydrated, they announce the 1-3 year old race was about to start.  With his race outfit on, which was definitely designed by me and matched my race outfit and bike, we headed to the starting line.

Guiding Riley to the finish

Yes Riley, you are winning

Knowing how races get, I decided to hold Riley from the crowd and let him start in the back.  (pacing is key in a 50 yard dash).  This way, all the kids would run to the finish and be done with their race in like 10 seconds, and Riley would be the only one on the red carpet finish shute getting all the attention.



Plus it was a good way to get clear pictures of him.

Even though Riley didnt let go of me until the very end of the race, it was the highlight of the weekend for me.  Not only was it Riley's first official race, but I got to escort him in it and we finished together.  I do think he won his Age group though :)

As you can see, he is definitely proud of himself and such a ham when it comes to getting attention.  I wonder where he gets it from.

Let it be known that Riley has now raced in more races in his lifetime than the wife. That will change in a few weeks.

Notice he is the ONLY baby in the finish line area

I will remember that race forever, and can't wait until the day we can run a real race together.