Charlotte has been enjoying her first ever Summer camp this year by
attending the Sports Program run by the Marshall Active Program (MAPS). In
addition to structured sports in the morning and relaxed play in the afternoon,
the kids have been encouraged to run the 1km lap around Sullivan’s Pond, for
time, each Wednesday afternoon.
Given the fact that Charlotte has really enjoyed ‘beating the boys’ (on
the first few runs at least), I decided at the last minute to enrol the both
of us in the 2016 Natal Day Road Race around Dartmouth City.
Natal Day is the day the people of the province of Nova Scotia hold “birthday”
parties for our province on the first Monday of August each year, which of
course, for us, is a public holiday. Huge birthday cakes are prepared by some,
along with other events like communal meals, parades, sporting activities (like
our Road Race) and of course, the obligatory Fireworks to scare the geese on
the Pond. The options for the Road Race were 2 miles (3.2 km) or 6 miles (9.6 km)
so naturally, we started off with the easy option.
Charlotte was really up for it that morning as we pinned on our race
bibs, and was skipping all the way to the starting line, when we rounded the
corner and were confronted by a thousand people or more. Immediately, Tig’s
shyness got the better of her and the gravity of the situation she had got
herself into began to sink in.
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| A little shy at the Start, but not for long... |
No matter, it was only a couple of blocks or so, before Charlotte was
racing me to the next set of street lights, or the next parked car, or from the
man hole cover to the stop sign; of whatever.
I started out the day thinking I would have to call in a tactical
extraction from Michelle at some point along the line, and going by Charlotte’s
initial reaction to the situation, a small part of me figured that the
extraction point may well be before we even crossed the Start/ Finish line; but
Tig got the hang of it really quick, got a major kick out of the old guy who
stood at the edge of his section with the garden hose to spray down the
runners, and before long the collective will to run had settled into Charlotte’s
veins.
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| Off and racing... kinda... |
Before we knew it, we were crossing the Finish line, stopping only
briefly to hug Michelle who was waiting patiently on the sidelines as we entered the final leg; spurring us on to actually finish the sucker off.
Charlotte and I crossed the finish line together, having run-walked over
3 km in less than 30 minutes and she was totally elated. The energy of the moment completely
got a hold of her and young Charlotte felt her first rush of satisfaction for completing a
public running event.
The Dartmouth Natal Day Road Race is one of the longest
running road races in North America. The event is part of the Natal Day
festivities in the Halifax Regional Municipality, and first took place in 1907.
Apparently, when Dartmouthian Chris Wolfe ran the Boston Marathon that year, he finished in 23rd place, spurring the Natal Day committee of the day to add a road
race to the festivities for that year. Ninety-nine years later, and we’re still
running laps like headless chickens.
Charlotte might have been 551st overall, but she was 9th
in her age group and is now part of the public record.
Good on you, Charlotte.
You did it. I’m super proud of you kid.
Don't forget, next Wednesday, you've got to dig deep and beat those boys!
Don't forget, next Wednesday, you've got to dig deep and beat those boys!
Love Dad, xx
