Race Day!

Today was our official 5k race.  When the girls started running in January, they couldn't even run 1 mile.  They have come so far.  They were so excited. 

We had to delay the start a bit because of heavy rain.  But eventually the weather cleared and we gathered everyone at the start to send them off. 

It took about 24 minutes for the first racer to cross the finish line. Goodhope's mother is one of the madams at the school who supervises the children on the weekends and in the dorms.  After crossing the line, Goodhope collapsed into her mother's arms and let out a few tears of exhaustion.  It was really sweet.

The rest of the girls trickled in over the next 10 minutes or so.  Trevor ran with the girls so I could take pictures at the finish line.  He ended up cheering on the last two finishers who held hands throughout the final stretch to encourage each other.  Such great teamwork!  They crossed the line to the chants of all the students at the school.

We had cookies and a t-shirt for the top three finishers.  But we also had all the runners over to our house afterwards for a soda and a hot dog.  And to celebrate the end of the term, we have the DJ coming back tonight to play music.  All in all, a great way to end the semester.  The students wrap up classes next week and we won't see them again until mid-July.