Navarino Nature Center Race

It was a beautiful day for a trail run!  It warmed up to the upper 40's, and the sun came out to greet us!  Naturalist Tim Ewing said they had put in extra work the day before to get the trails ready.  The board walk were under water, so the guys had to put on waders and get in the swamp to lift the board walks out of the water!  There was only a few muddy patches.  There were over 200 participants registered this year in the different races.

We had six kids from our Brener club participate, besides our 6 grader Claire, and 1st grader Jill.  Mr. Kuehl was also there with his kids.  We also saw the Onestis there from Shawano as well, who did the 5k. 

We were all very anxious to get going on the 1 mile race. There were 31 kids total who finished the 1 mile race. They waited until everyone were done from the 10k and 5k, just so that the kids would not be confused with the different turns on the trails.  We ended up with many medals.  My 6th grader Claire took first, since she's used to running 1600 m in track, with time of 7:35.  Lily Guenther and Jackson Boucher tied for 3rd at 8:35.  Thomas Keszo took 5th with 8:43.  Alex Montour took 7th with 9:02.  Mr. Kuehl's 6 year old son Josiah came in right after him at 8th place with 9:05!  Adan Reedy, Ethan Pleshek, Scott Baller, also completed the race.  This is the 3rd time my 6 year old Jill has finished a 1 mile race.

Coach Joe ended up 3rd overall for the 5k, and would have been 1st in his age group, except they pulled all the "club" runners and mentors out of the regular race rankings.  He still made respectable time of 21:04.  "Not bad for only running 2 days a week!"  

I lucked out with a medal for 3rd female mentor.  Not bad for only running 2 miles a day, and less than 2 weeks from foot surgery to remove a cyst!  27:19.  A cute little 8 year old girl from the Clintonville running club ran me over at the end!

The nature center had a variety of crafts and activities after the race to celebrate Earth Day.  We came home with walking sticks, decorated frogs, sand art, and got to pet live pheasants and hang out with snakes.

We hope that next year, we can have a bigger group of kids and parents, trained and ready to run the 5k race!

Lining up for 1 mile start.  Many parents and mentors ran with the kids.

Scott is really going for it!  It started with a sprint up a sandy hill.

Lily took first in age group 6-10 female.

Adan Reedy running with dad.

Joe running with Scott on the final stretch.

Jill and I finishing the 1 mile.  We talked about the mountain of cookies at the finish line while running.

Evie Kuehl got a medal for age group female 5 and under.  Josiah Kuehl also ran beautifully!

Jackson Boucher got first in male age 6-10.

Start of 1 mile.  You can see Ethan Pleshek, closest, really concentrating at the start.

Jackson Boucher and Thomas Keszo meeting up at the start of race.