Run Jared! Run! - 6 mo. Post-op

Time has been flying by lately.  It's hard to believe it's already been six months since Jared's surgery.  Some days it seems a lifetime ago, other days like it was yesterday.

One of the goals post-op was for Jared to get into shape to run the annual "Smile Mile" in our area.  It's a neat kids running event down the street from our house each March. In the past, he has never been able to fully participate.

To prepare for this, he joined the Track Shack Junior Running Club, which conveniently also meets at the track down the street from our house.  The kids in this group were really awesome!

One special day, the team met somewhere else for a trail run and it was drizzling.  At first, it seemed it might be only Jared and another young girl.  This young girl was one of the fastest runners in the group, a natural, with a beautiful heart.  She chose to take the slower and shorter road to run with Jared, and continued running with him even after some other kids showed up and she could have gone the longer distance.  I could have hugged her for her kindness.  These are the type of kids he ran with.

His first official mile race came February 16th at the "Run Around the Pines - Kids Fun Run".  Lance chose not to race but he did pose (reluctantly) with himself.

Titus ran the 400 meter race with great gusto, to the cheers of everyone.

Then it was Jared's turn to run the mile.  He did FANTASTIC!

He was the only kid from his club running that day.  However, his coach was there and ran with him toward the end to encourage him.

He finished his first mile in 13:25!  He shaved about 1:30 off his previous best time. Absolutely Awesome!

Chris was so proud, he posted on Facebook about Jared's great run.  Our friend from Track Shack saw it and asked if they could post it on Track Shack's Facebook page.  A few days later, she sent this email: 

"I'm about speechless.  Posting the pic of Jared and copying some of Chris’ comments (to be accurate) on our FB page garnered more Likes and Shares to a single post that we’ve ever had in Track Shack’s illustrious FB history.  Thank you for allowing us to share that little piece."

A few weeks following his run, Jared had his six month check-up, on March 8th, the day before the "Smile Mile".  The appointment was a full work-up including Stair Test.  The good news was they concluded he was "operating within expected parameters".  He was cleared to play baseball if he wanted (just not pitcher or catcher), but then came the "but".  Because of the Glen Procedure, they reminded us endurance could still be an issue; or so the Stair Test said.  I'd forgotten about he "Glen", mom's like to forget about things like the upper half of their son's blood supply being rerouted directly to his lungs. It's natural.  Then I remembered how Jared had already beat all the odds. God clearly has a special plan for him and I thought to myself - why should I worry?  We will encourage him to continue to beat them as he sees fit.  The other good news was they did ease him off two of his medications and if he continues without complications, he could be down to just one in the next year.  Now back to running....

Unfortunately, in addition to having a doctor's appointment the day before, Jared contracted food poisoning (we think from some bad milk) two days before the "Smile Mile".  Since he hadn't eaten much in two days, we figured he'd skip the race....we were wrong.  Jared wanted to run. 

His little brother joined him after the start of the race, for encouragement.

Then toward the end of the race Titus asked if he could run ahead.  Jared graciously encouraged Titus to "Run! Titus! Run!" and boy did he run. He zoomed past both his parents before we could recognize him and get a shot off. He finished around 11 min.  Jared was tired but kept going and finished to the cheers and accolades of his family and friends (including his both his grandfathers) and our friends from Track Shack, who were bragging about his accomplishment over the loud speakers. 

I'm glad I had the camera in front of my face to cover my happy tears.  Grandpa Bob had come over specifically to see him run and gave the best compliment of all.  Jared was a little disappointed with his time and I tried to cheer him up saying he had done well considering he wasn't feeling well and my dad interjected "He didn't do well, he did awesome!", which brought a big smile to Jared's face.

Running club has been a great experience for Jared.  He finished up his running season two weeks later with an inter-club track meet where he received his first ribbon, a 3rd Place in the 800 meter run with a time of 6:05!  What a kid!