The Anse La Raye Marathon

Running with the bulls in Spain would probably feel tame after running the “marathon” with the Kid Step Preschool students.

Like all marathoners, the kids “trained” for the big event.  Here are the “Rising Fives” (the oldest children) with Teacher Henry, two days before the event. The kids are wearing the name tags that I made for them.  Hey, at my age, I need all the help I can get remembering names! 

Don’t you just love the ribbons in the little girls’ hair?

Time for an action shot. The photographer has figured out that while she is taking pictures, she is exempt from running!

The marathon commenced at 10 AM, however we began getting the kids ready to walk the three blocks to the starting point at 9:15.  Boy, did we need every single minute!

My wonderful volunteer partner, Edith, is in the white hat, leading the way, carrying one of the younger children.

The children were divided into three teams, which is the reason for the yellow, green and blue tee shirts.

Look at the little girl on the the right.  At the time, I didn’t notice  Nyla  lifting Sapphire’s skirt.  I love the look on Nyla’s face.

Was this a big event?  Well, most of the town turned out to watch.  Fortunately, some of the parents and older siblings joined the race, holding the runner’s hand.  That was a great relief, because the streets of Anse La Raye are not the smoothest.  I had been worried about scraped knees and elbows, but luckily no one fell.

FINALLY, everyone was at the starting point.  Notice the white truck in the photo above?  We even had police protection, ready to divert any traffic that might appear.

And We’re OFF!!

When we turned the corner, we saw the entire student population from the “Infant” school (our K through 2nd grade equivalent), and the 4 Global Volunteers from that site lined up on the street, cheering wildly.  Had I not been running, that too would have been captured by my camera.

Not to worry, though.  I had another chance, when they followed us back to Kid Step Preschool, and milled about outside.  This made  for an exciting and chaotic day for the preschoolers!

It took a while, but finally the crowd dispersed.

How to get the kiddies settled, after all that excitement?  Art!  Who knew that a little paper, water and paint could calm everybody down?  (I tried hard not to have favorites, but little Jaydin, below, sure made it hard.  They were all cute, sweet and precious, but I couldn’t resist those big, beautiful eyes!)

What a wonderful day! How great that most of the community participated.  Hard to tell who had the most fun–the kids or me.  I’m calling it a tie.

Tomorrow, contest answers and the last set of questions!