Written by Daddy:
Last weekend was a busy athletic weekend for Connor. Recently, the airport closest to our house,
Ft Lauderdale/Hollywood International, expanded their south runway. This project has been decades (yes decades)
in the works and was finally completed. Back in August, prior to the runway opening,
the American Cancer Society announced they would be having a 5k on the Runway.
Unfortunately, a week prior to the event, they postponed it. I assumed that meant cancelled but they were
adamant that they were going to have it.
In late January, I received an email stating that the run had finally
been rescheduled for Saturday, February 28, 2015. I immediately signed back up and emailed the
event organizer to inquire about pushing a stroller. I figured Connor and I have spent countless
hours watching planes take off and land at that airport, how awesome would it
be if he could be out on the runway. At
first I was told they wouldn’t allow strollers.
I kept pestering and eventually they informed us that strollers would be
allowed but we had to officially register and pay for the child as if they were
running. Within minutes of receiving the
email, Connor was officially registered.
I was so excited. Two of my
favorite thing (running and airplanes) were being combined into one event that
I would get to experience with my big little buddy.
Connor loves to
run. I can’t tell you how many times I
get home for work and Connor asks to go out and run around the block. Sometimes he asks if we can go around twice
or expand our route to cover other blocks.
I love running with him. He has
so much energy it’s hard not to enjoy the time outside. I have taught him that running as fast as you
can is not always the best plan and sometimes it is better to go a little
slower allowing yourself to go farther.
When I registered him, the plan was to let him run as far as he could,
then push him in the stroller the rest of the way. I didn’t know how it would work since the
longest we had ever run was just short of a mile. The days leading up to race day, it was all
Connor could talk about. We were out to
eat one night and the waiter asked what he wanted to drink. Connor replied by telling him that tomorrow
he gets to race on the runway. By race
morning, I am pretty sure half of South Florida knew Connor was running the
5k.
Unfortunately due to security concerns, we had to be parked
by 6am. That meant waking up around 5
and being out the door by 5:30 to account for inevitable traffic (which proved
to be a smart move). With the weather
forecast clearing up, Mommy decided to bring Caleb to cheer on Daddy and
Connor. So out the door we went an hour
before the sun came up. Mommy dropped us
off and drove to a park on the south side of the runway to watch us go. At around 6:45, they opened the gates for all
3500 runners to begin the almost half mile trek the start line. Of course we stopped for pictures. I think it took us almost as long to venture
that half mile as it did to run the 5k.
After stopping for pictures in front of the runway, sitting
on the tire marks, sitting of the 29L sign and countless other places, the race
started. We lingered towards the back
because I didn’t want to run people over with the stroller at the start
line. Connor ran for the almost a full
mile before jumping in the stroller. He
would get in and out about every quarter mile but definitely ran more than
half. At one point as we ran up the
elevated portion of the runway, we stopped to take a picture overlooking the
Spirit Airlines fleet which was cool because they planes were on a lower level. Connor loved going back down the sloped
portion of the runway especially when I would let go of the stroller and run
alongside him. As we came to the finish
line, Connor jumped out of the stroller and ran the final half mile. I was super excited when I glanced at the
race clock to see a clock time of 32:04 as we crossed the line. After we finished, we walked back towards the
entrance gate to collect our medals. As
we glance back up the east end of the runway, it was monsooning. We called mommy and told her to start heading
our way and we would meet her in the middle.
Mommy found us and Connor proudly displayed his medal. He was so proud of his accomplishment. He wore his medal the entire day (he even
showed it to Brad Meltzer later that day).
In
the end, our official time was 30 minutes, 33 seconds. It was an awesome experience not only to be
on the runway but because I got to share the experience with Connor.
Sunday morning was another fun filled, sport packet
day. Immediately after church (another
early morning) we raced to the ballfield (my old field) so Connor could participate
in the Opening Day Ceremonies. Anyone who knows me, well most people who
know me well, knows it take about 13.2 seconds after meeting for me to mention
that I love the Boston Red Sox. Love
might be not be a strong enough word but that’s another story. This is Connor's second year playing for this league. Last year he was in the 4 and under t-ball league
which is organized chaos on a good day.
Don’t get me wrong, it was fun and he learned the basics. This season however, I wanted him to learn
more so I signed him up for the 4-6 year old Sr. T-Ball League. This season the coaches begin to teach and
develop the basics and then some. There
was a tryout and draft. A week after
tryouts, I got an email informing me that Connor has been drafted by the Red
Sox. DREAM.COME.TRUE. It is highly likely that the most excited
person in the house was me. My son plays
for the Red Sox.
Opening ceremonies are simultaneously fun and boring. All the kids get to parade out with their
teams dressed in their uniforms. Billy
the Marlin from the Miami Marlins was there.
The Commissioner and Mayor of Hollywood spoke and they had a ceremonial
first pitch for both baseball and softball.
The real fun began immediately following the ceremony. Connor’s team had there first game. The Red Sox played the Dodgers. In Sr. T-ball, each inning goes for 3 outs or
7 runs whichever comes first. They keep
score and stats and the win/loss standings are updated. All the kids hit off a tee the first time in
through the line-up. After the first
full time through the line-up, each kid is through up to 3 pitches from the
coach to hit. If they do not hit a fair
ball, they get 3 swings off the tee. Connor’s
coaches had been working with the team hitting off the tee and hitting thrown
pitches. It showed. Connor’s team won the game by mercy run after
4 innings. I can proudly say that Connor
hit safely off the tee and hit two of the coach pitched ball in his next two at
bats. His second at bat he grounded out
but his third he not only got a single, he also came around to score. All in all, he was 2 for 3 with 2 singles and
a run scored. Not a bad stat line for
his first game. His fielding needs a
little work and his attention span is still being trained but I could not be
more proud of how my little man played in his first big boy game. I am excited about his team and coaches and
how he will develop as a ball player.
