Animal Orphanage 5K

The weekend after the Healthy High, the Marks family decided to be spontaneous.  James and Madeline were really revved up to get involved in this whole fitness obsession and we really wanted to encourage that enthusiasm.  So, we skipped church (sorry, Mother Rita! sorry, choir!) and attended the Animal Orphanage walk/run in Old Town.  It was a great cause and a fun event that included participants of all shapes, sizes, and paces, canine as well as human.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alan ran the course and shaved 16 seconds off his time from Tuesday. Yay Daddy!

I walked it with James and Madeline (Nana Mary went shopping and met us at the finish).   J and M were so jazzed up by the whole atmosphere and by having race bibs pinned to their shirts which made it really fun for me, too.  They both worked hard to walk at a good clip and we only stopped once early on to dump the water out of their bottles (too heavy and one was leaking).  They were getting tired about 3/4 of the way through, but Madeline, in particular, kept her chin up and spouted affirmations like "I can do this!" to keep herself motivated.  I was so proud of them and--even better--they were proud of themselves.  Here's an action shot:

And here's the four of us savoring the moment (Jeremy took the picture!):