The race started at 10 A.M. I had told myself not to take off too fast. But with all the excitement, I couldn't resist. I took off along side first place--another girl! Soon, of course, I was left behind. Then the first man passed me. I tried to keep up with him, but that didn't last long either. Then the next runner passed me, and then the next. There were only 17 of us--I couldn't let anyone else catch me! It was windy, but a nice day otherwise. I kept running, keeping an eye on my watch. I finally finished with a time of 50:59. I had come in fifth. The girl in first place had ended up winning the whole race, beating the first man by over 8 minutes! My papa came in sixth (51:22), and my mama, came in tenth (54:16). We all were happy.
Then it was time for the best part: the post-race breakfast. It was perfect--Pizza Hut's pizza, homemade cookies, candy bars, chocolate milk and bananas! The run, the food, and the people were amazing. And it was for a great cause--to fight world hunger. I hope to return next year, and I would highly recommend it to all of you other runners out there. Save the date: March 3, 2018!
The next morning, one by one, we slowly started waking up.
"Do you want to go for a run this morning?" my mother asked me.
"Only if you do," I sleepily replied.
"I do only if you do," she replied. Neither of us really wanted to, but we did anyway. We jogged out of our hotel into the streets of Cedar Rapids. The cool air was refreshing. It felt wonderful. After a 30 minute jog, we were back. We were greeted by Papa and Bethany, who had also come out to enjoy the beautiful morning. When it was time to go back to our hotel room, Mama got the idea to take the stairs instead of the elevator. And we did--we climbed all 16 stories of the Hilton. It was exhausting, but the view from the windows was rewarding. We cleaned up, and took Bethany back for her third round at the Cedar Rapids Leather Jackets chess tournament. The rest of us got some rest and relaxation in, spending the whole morning in our cozy hotel room. Checking out, we were handed our free DoubleTree by Hilton complementary chocolate chip cookies. They were still warm, and were simply delicious.
We picked Bethany up, and went to get some lunch. Mama likes Vietnamese food, so we headed to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant! I ordered egg rolls, and chocolate bubble tea. I figured I couldn't go wrong with anything that had chocolate in it! The rest of my family ordered bowls of pho. |