Having a special needs child in our household has made it difficult to endure and participate in sports activities. If it is a good day and everything goes just right; we might just learn something and have fun. Often, sports activities don't end up this way. They transition quickly into an emotional meltdown, over-stimulation, or just plain stubborn non-compliance! I am happy to say that over the past few years I have found a few events that have that, just right mix, of not too serious and light enough on the commitment, to be fun. It also helps when I come prepared for anything, even leaving if we have to.
One such event that we stumbled upon last year was the Mountair Mile Children's Race, in which all proceeds go to The Sharing Place, in Salt Lake City. The Sharing Place is a non-profit grief support program for children and their families and also happens to be the generously donated space for our Salt Lake City Support group meetings.
The volunteers and staff do such a good job of making it fun and
exciting for them. Greyson, my typical kid, was so geared up, you would
have thought he was in the Olympics. He sees my husband and I run races all of the time, so for him it was finally his chance to be in a big event.
I was still prepared with all of our gear and also prepared to leave
if I needed to. Hudson, my autistic little guy, was huddled into the
stroller armed with his blanket and my iPhone and Greyson was armed with
his official number and water bottle. The horn sounded and we were off! They let me run next to Greyson with the stroller and I saw many other families running/walking together and cheering on their kids. I was pleased to see that Hudson really got into cheering for Greyson. Greyson ran almost the whole way and felt so proud of himself that he walked up the award table before the awards and demanded his ribbon. This was really a great and positive family day. We all had loads of fun.
Lindsay and I thought it would be a great idea to get all the families touched by our support group in Davis and Salt Lake, involved in the 2012 Mountair Mile, Saturday June 30th at 8 a.m. There are two versions of the race: A non-competitive Mini Mountair Mile, that the kids can run or ride their scooters, bikes, trikes, wagons or anything else they wish until just before the finish line and then they can park them and run through the finish and a competitive Mighty Mountair Mile, which is 2.2 laps: one on wheels, one without. We will be participating in the Mini, but if you have an older athlete that Mighty might be fun. If you pre-register the event is only $10 a kid and they get a t-shirt and a ribbon. After June 17th you can register the day of for $15 but that does not include a t-shirt.
Register through their website www.thesharingplace.org Please come and join us, it would be a great way to start the summer. - Jen
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