We walked into Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports, tickets in hand and hope in our hearts!
Jeremy said out loud....
I have a good feeling about this! And I did too! We watched the other races and cheered for our other team mates....Riggs' race was at 1:30...the last race of the day!
As race time approached we put his number on and put his spikes on with his timing chip attached.
About thirty minutes before the race they were put in a holding tent...we walked him over to the tent... told him good luck and I told him I loved him no matter what...and off he went!
About 15 minutes before the race they told them their box numbers and they lined up...no adult..no parents..no coach to tell them what to do. Riggs got in his box and started warming up and doing his run outs. I peeked under the fence..and Jeremy peered over it...watching every second of his solo preparations.
The gun went off and I prayed for him to be swift...and smart...it would be all over in 8 minutes. All the anxiety, expectations, and wonder would be over in 8 minutes...and I knew that because his best 2k time so far is 8:01 and I was so hopeful for a good race.
He went past me the first time and I cheered so loud ....I looked over to see him run as far as my eyes could see him and that is when I saw Jeremy yelling with all he had for our son and I knew what he felt...so anxious.... and almost empty as you think to yourself.... I would give
all of me right now in
this moment... to make this ending happy. I snapped this picture and made my way to the finish line to watch the end...would this ending be a happy one? From the time I lost sight of him to the next time I would see him anything could happen... a cramp...a fall...a burst of energy.....
When I did see him round that corner at the finish line...he was moving! I wish I could have been 2 people and taken picture after picture of him...but I took this one and picked of my video camera for the rest. He was giving it all he had...every ounce of his preciousness...and I was beyond proud of this effort...this Champion heart...this little boy who is mine....this little boy who made me a mother. I screamed ...
Go Riggs...you got it, baby!
It wasn't until I looked over and saw his time and heard Jeremy screaming....
that's how we do it.....that I understood how great his effort was. He had improved his 2k time by 27 seconds...that is amazing!
He is amazing.
We came to Orlando hopeful for a good race...and getting in the top 25 and getting a medal would have been great...we had no idea he would get in the top 8 and get to podium...what a dream come true! As they announced his name Jeremy and I screamed with delighted pride! And for the icing on the cake..his age group came in third...so he got another medal for his team! And then they announced that our Derby City team as a whole had placed second in the nation!
Jeremy was happy!
I was happy!
He was happy!
And for a moment he was on top of the world! I hope there will be many more moments like this in his life...where he feels this good about who he is and what he can do.
We celebrated with dinner at the ESPN Grill where we ate under this sign...so true...and at Christmas every ones heart is a little bit bigger!
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