Fairfax Mighty Mile Race Recap

Back in March, Freddy ran the first race in Potomac River Running's Mighty Mile Kids Race Series. The first race was in Reston, the second race was today in Fairfax Corner. We picked up his shirt and bib yesterday, which helped get him excited for the race. His race packet also included some really nice coupons for some of the stores in Fairfax Corner - bonus!

It was nice that the shirt was such a different color from the first race's shirt:

The setup for the Mighty Mile races is really nice. The heats start at 8:00 am for the 12-14 year-olds, and move through the age groups backwards. Freddy's group, the 4-5 year-olds, was at 9:00. Kids aged 6 and above run a full mile, 4-5 year-olds run a half mile, and the tot trot is about 100 yards.

While Freddy was uncertain about running back in March for the first race, he was excited to run today and planned to run with his classmate Symphony. His friend Joseph was also running today, and it was Joseph's first race ever! Joseph's younger sister Rae was also running her first race ever, the tot trot.

The race course was very similar to the one in Reston, which is a rectangle with opportunities for parents to cut through and easily see their kids on both "long" sides of the rectangle. The mile is two loops of the rectangle (green + red) and Freddy's race was one loop (just green). 

Before Freddy's race we met up with my running buddy Karen, who was out cheering for her niece Sam. It was exciting to watch Sam cross the finish line - we all cheered loudly! And she is mastering the art of finish-line posing at a young age. Way to go Sam!!

Sam rocked it!

Look at these signs that Karen and her sister Kimberly made!
Clearly I need to step up my cheering...

Freddy's race was about 10 minutes after Sam's race. Below is a picture from the start of the 4-5 year-old race. Freddy & Symphony are in the back, but you can see Joseph in the front - he has blue and green shorts and is the tallest one:

The front of the pack

Freddy & Symphony in the back of the pack

Symphony's mom and I headed through the shortcut to see them on the other side. They rounded the corner together, but Freddy ran a bit away from Symphony to high-five Rick and wave to me. That turned out to be the location of the race photographer, so we have this beauty of a picture with Freddy looking for Symphony, and me in the background (pink shirt) with Symphony's mom already turning to head back to the other side where the finish line is. It's a cute picture, even if the logistics seem all wrong with Freddy looking behind him and me with my back completely to him!

Here's a picture of Freddy nearing the finish line. Symphony is in the middle of the group behind him, and Joseph had already crossed the finish line a bit of ahead of them. They all had a great race!

Me and my shadow!

Joseph coming in strong for his first race!

After the 4-5 year-old race we watched the tot trot. There were so many tots that they actually ran two separate heats! Here is picture of Joseph's sister Rae running with their mom (my friend Sam!):

Sam and Rae, having a blast!

All the kids get a medal and the top finishers got trophies. When we got home we pulled out our medal from the first race, knowing they were designed in such a way that all three race medals fit together. And guess what, they do!

The medals fit together!

The final race in the series is September 7th in Leesburg. I encourage you to register your kid(s) if you are local - it is such a great series!