Wellsville Mile

Yesterday was the Wellsville Mile. Of all of the wonderful things that I love about living in Wellsville, this tradition is right near the very top! Every year all of the 4th and 5th graders from the south end of the valley run a mile race that is hosted by Wellsville Elementary. There were over 1200 kids this year! They do 12 heats (6 for each grade, girls then boys). The cross country and track teams from the HS come run with the kids to help pace them and encourage them. And the streets are packed with parents cheering them all on. Nicole did great!! She has been training for the last 6 weeks, running a mile every day at school. The last few weeks she really worked hard to shave seconds off of her time each day, logging a personal best of 9:47 last week. Well, yesterday she came in 14th in her heat (of around 100 other 5th grade girls) with a time of 8:20! She said she felt like she was going to faint and throw up. I told her that means that she did a great job. We were so proud of her for doing her best. That is what I love about this race. All of the kids just work so hard and get such a great feeling for accomplishing something so difficult. Here are some pictures of her at the starting line and just past the half mile mark. The video is at the finish line and you can see that she didn't have much left to give.