La Montpellier-Reine 4k for Mother's Day

Yesterday was Fête des Mères here in France, that's Mother's Day to all of you. To celebrate, Ma Fille and I ran the Montpellier Reine 4k benefiting breast cancer research.

4k is about 2 and a half miles, so not too long for my debut runner to finish.The route was around downtown Montpellier, starting at the top of the city at the Jardin du Peyrou, running under the triumphal Arch and winding down through the cobbled and slippery marble streets, passing shop windows, cafes and the Musee Fabre.

We wound through narrow lanes lined with apartments carved from 18th century buildings, their residents peering out over windows to get a look and cheer us on.


One group played the guitar, serenading us from their window, joggers singing and waving to them as they ran by. Some joggers were dressed up in wigs and big, over-sized sunglasses; a man in a huge inflated bum suit made us laugh.

Ma Fille loved the energy of it. I knew she would. She said she thought it was cool that everyone was clapping and cheering for us. And she just kept jogging.

Before the start we had decided to walk and run, taking our time and finishing comfortably. This being her first race, I wanted it to be fun. But she ended up jogging the whole thing, passing people who had stopped jogging to walk the final half mile back up the hill to the park, finishing in 26 minutes and collecting her pink rose and goodie bag.

{post-race, yay Ma Fille!}

I was so proud of her I (guess what) almost cried. She looked at me and said, 'Mom, you're so weird. You're not going to cry are you?' Of course not, don't be silly.

She stuck her number to her bedroom wall and wrote '4k' on her calendar last night before she went to bed. I think we have a new runner in the house.