Fun Run...more of a walk, run, push

Today we participated in a Fun run and walk to help raise money for an orphanage in Haiti. We chose to walk because 1)The kids were participating and 2)I probably would have been carried off in a stretcher half dead if I'd tried to run a 5k. Our friends Amy and Angie showed their support and walked with us and it's a good thing they did. Caden decided he would run the mile instead of walking and of course, Ethan wasn't going to be out done by his big brother. Angie overheard me tell Justin that I'd push the girls in the stroller while he kept-up with the boys. Being the wonderful friend she is, Angie volunteered to run with the boys, despite the warning that Caden is pretty fast. They signaled for us to start and Caden took off. Angie had to sprint to keep-up. Amy was jogging alongside Ethan until he decided after about 1/4 mile he was a little tired and had Amy carry him on her shoulders. Meanwhile, at the back of the line, the girls had decided that they wanted to run too. So, Justin pushed the stroller and kept pace with Vanessa while Manoucheca (running her very hardest)and I were in last place. I finally convinced Manoucheca to get into the stroller and Vanessa joined her while Justin ran up to catch Ethan and hopefully get him off of Amy's shoulders (I certainly didn't want to be reponsible for an emergency room visit for Amy). At the front of the walk, Caden has decided that Angie is following him closely because his mom is overprotective. Mister Independent kept turning around and telling her to quit following him, he was OK by himself (he really thinks he's a lot bigger than he is). Eventually he lost Angie about the time we finally caught-up. Angie, being a trooper, sprinted ahead and caught-up to Caden and they finished the first lap together. Meanwhile, Justin, Amy and I are playing musical kids. Sometimes they would walk, sometimes they would ride, sometimes they would run. As we all finished the 1st lap, we spotted Angie and Caden hanging out at the side of the road (it was the first time I'd seen Caden since they'd said go). Caden was tired so he sat in the stroller with Manoucheca while Ethan and Vanessa ran. About half-way through the final lap, Ethan and Justin had to find a potty fast so they left the walk. Amy and Angie swapped pushing the stroller (which meant 80 extra pounds, not the easy job) and I got to be Vanessa's cheerleader as she ran most of the 2nd lap. As Vanessa and I crossed the finish line dead last...we were informed that they had mismeasured the race and we had actually walked 2 miles instead of one. That meant 1)Caden sprinted (almost non-stop) one full mile. I think that's pretty impressive for a not quite 7 year old. 2) Vanessa and Ethan ran about half of the time so they probably averaged a mile of running. Not bad for a 3 and 4 year old. and 3)I owe Amy and Angie big time because they either pushed or chased one or more of my kids for a full 2 miles. And they were really good sports about it although Angie claims we didn't inform her that Caden was that fast. Thanks ladies, it was fun.