Raccoon Day in Stow

At about 7:45 this morning, Mayor Drew officially declared today "Raccoon Day" in the City of Stow in honor of the big Raccoon Run, which is a major fundraiser for Grace's school.  They are on track to make $40,000 this year!  

We woke up early and joined hundreds of people for the 1 mile Fun Run and 5K race.  As is typical for this race (at least the 3 years we have gone) it is cold before the race starts.  Today it wasn't even 40 degrees! But the sunshine made it better.

Camryn, Isabella, and Grace - cold, tired girls.

McKenna and Grace

Face painting and colored hairspray were essential to run a fast race.  Grace chose red with sparkles. 

Everyone lined up at the start with lots of reminders that this was non-competitive and supposed to be "fun". They didn't want the adults and older kids to run over the little ones in the front. Grace seemed to love being in the middle of it all.

And then they were off!

Grace's friend, Carson - a 2nd grader - was the first person to finish.  

Grace did fantastic, finishing in less than 10 minutes.  I watched her come up the last hill and she was talking and socializing with the other runners around her.  My guess is that happened the whole mile! It looked like it was a fun run for her!

Great job, Grace!  We are proud of you.