A 5K in under 25 minutes...

while wearing navy blue canvas boat shoes. That's my son, Pele.

Yesterday I was telling the boys my plans for Saturday--to help out at a 5K race for Jay's Hope. I was to (wo)man the runners' snack food and drinks tables. The founder of Jay's Hope has been a close friend ever since she was a starry eyed newlywed and her first child, a daughter, was a colicky infant who had a smile to light up the sky. The daughter no longer has colic but still that smile. The family also contains Jay, born in 20001, and another son, a dimpled upcoming baseball star.

Jay died in 2006 from cancer. Jay's Hope, a foundation to support and improve the quality of life for kids with cancer and their families was born out of the grief that grieves with hope. Helping out at the Jay's Hope events is a way to remember Jay and celebrate the life that kids with cancer can have.

Pele promptly informed me that he wanted to race. He has not trained for a 5K. Although he runs weekly with soccer. The only other 5K that he has participated in was in Montreat, NC, over July 4th. Where he ran up a mountain and then back down. He did that in about 28 minutes. He would have run it faster but he stopped to take his inhaler for his asthma.

So we got up at o'dark early this morning to go to the race. I asked him about the shoes, but the navy blue canvas boat shoes were what he wanted to wear. He wore the race t-shirt and camo shorts. He looked like a kid headed to hang out with friends, not like he was about to run a 5K. And run he did. He started out with a friend who eventually told him to quit waiting for her and run on. And just under 25 minutes he came across the finish line. He placed third in his age group.

Imagine what he could have done with running shoes at full throttle. Boggles my mind.

He's an amazing kid. I'm thanking God for him today--his God-given strengths and his heart for living life full out.