We have participated in the Too Good for Drugs Jr. Gasparilla Classic for five years now. Even though on the same day I had to make a long trek to Ft. Lauderdale for my long-awaited A1A marathon packet pick-up, I couldn’t miss this free Gasaparilla children’s race nor could I miss my kids running it.

Little Lion Man was ready to run his 30 yard dash and he liked his bib number, which gave him the confidence boost he needed for his race.  With sprints around the playground and Monkey Bizness, he trained hard for this moment.

He checked out the competition…

…and listened very closely to the directions.

Then, the three old July birthday runners were off!

Liam owned that track!  He paced himself nicely and finished that 30 yard dash strong!

And he was so proud of the medal he earned.

Since Emmalynn’s half mile race started at 11:30, we had some time to kill between races. While waited for the next race to start, we visited the vendors and played games scattered throughout the center field.

My rough and tough Little Lion Man loved the cornhole and tug-o-war.

But the soccer game was definitely a favorite past time for Emmalynn and Liam.

Stadium stairs are fun, too.

Since Allana is too old and too cool for the activities designed for the little ones, she sampled the food. With a spread of PDQ chicken tenders and Smoothie King strawberry smoothies, it was a pre-teen’s perfect meal.

Of course, no one ever outgrows balloon animals and face painting.

Sadly, Emmalynn missed her chance at face painting.  Her race began just as she made it to the artist and she had to dash off to the start line.

Before she ran off to her race, I reminded Emmalynn to find her easy pace.  “Just keep a steady pace and you will be fine.” My poor little super hero princess was so worried about running two laps around the track, but once I reminded her that she runs way more than that at Running Club, she felt much more confident about her performance…

…especially when she had her own personal Spartan pacer helping her finish.

Following the advice of her ol’ runner mother, Emmalynn maintained a nice easy pace around the track and finished just as strong as she started.  It was a proud mama moment indeed!

I love that we are an active family full of runners.  I’m proud to be a mom on the run, raising runners following in my footsteps.

A family that paces together finishes together.