The Wild Chicken Run

Fitzgerald, Georgia is home to The Wild Chicken Festival.  I have posted about Fitzgerald's wild chickens before and you can read about them here.  Our annual festival is a fun time that host everything from a street dance to a chicken wing eating contest.  It is also the host for the annual Wild Chicken Run that is put on by our local Kiwanis Club.  The Chicken Run is a 5K event followed by a shorter one mile "Fun Run".  My son Reid decided that he wanted to run in the fun run because his best friend Taylor had participated for the past two years.  I wasn't sure how Reid would do since he has never run in a race before, but we signed him up to let him give it a try.

Reid and Taylor before the race.  Two peas in a pod!

The night before the race, Reid was full of questions.  How do you think I will do Daddy?  Can I beat Taylor (a two time champ I might add)?  Will you be proud of me if I finish last?  Will you pray for me?  I tried to reassure him that he would do just fine.  Reid is a pretty good athlete but he lacks his father's confidence.  I was always the type to know that I was going to beat you no matter what game we were playing.  Reid is always scared he will not do well, when in fact he usually does better than most.

The race started and I watched the crowd run out of sight.  Reid and Taylor were at the front of the starting line and were keeping up a good pace as they turned the corner to go one block over and race back to the finish.  My wife and I waited with the other parents for the runners to come back into view as they would cross back over to our street.  I saw the police car move into the intersection and I knew that the runners would be right behind.  The first group of runners was made up of 3 high school kids that had set a very fast pace, but at the end of that group was another group.  I could tell that it had a couple of smaller kids and I could also tell that one of those kids was wearing blue and red.  It was Reid!  Not only was he going to finish the race, he was going to finish very well!  How well?  How about 6th overall and 2nd in his age division!

In the 8-10 age group, the top three finishers were all kids from my RA group at church.  My friend Todd's son finished first, 4th overall (he runs in a lot of these races), Reid finished 2nd, and Reid's buddy Taylor finished third!

I was one very proud Daddy!!!!

I am hoping that Reid has learned a valuable lesson in his first race.  If you believe you can do it, then you CAN do it!  I hope this is the first of many races to come!  Run Reid Run!!!