My Little Iron Horses

Yesterday was the day every true Durangoan lives for: The Iron Horse Bicycle Race. (They ride from Durango to Silverton going from 6,500 ft to 11,000 ft elevation. Out of the 54 miles, 37 are uphill and the goal is to beat the train-which takes about 4 hours.) This is something I have no desire to ever do. My J.Lo butt cringes just thinking about those teeny-tiny bike seats.
But since bicycling and Durango go together like Texas and BBQ, the Iron Horse has expanded to a weekend full of events. And my littlest Iron Horses raced this morning! (My biggest Iron Horse got nervous of all the competitors and bowed out before his race started.) Now Kyle and Reed can't actually ride a bike yet, (although Reed asks me about a million times a day, "Ride bike? Ride bike?") but you'd have never known it with the determination they had has they took off down Main Street this morning.

Not only were they the only ones competing on an Elmo airplane and a John Deer tractor, but they did awesome! They had to make the block and then go back. That's a long way for little 2 year-old legs to push. Here you can see the cheering crowd, and Reed getting a little distracted by the camera crew documenting his historic ride. (That's Harry telling him to keep on going.)

Kyle and Reed have loved their medals they "won". (Which are really nice, BTW) Reed is still wearing his and showing it to me saying, "Bike race! Bike race!"

Now to be honest, this is all second hand information for me. While the kids were racing I ran the Narrow Gage 10 mile run. I was seriously nervous at the starting line since everyone looked crazy in shape. (Even more so than your typical in shape Durangoan.) When I saw a group doing warm up laps around the block I was thinking I was in over my head. And although I had to walk the 2 biggest uphills, (Texans, they are total mountains...almost 1,000 ft elevation change) I still accomplished my 2 goals:

1. Finish in 2 hours (I did it in 1:54:27)

2. Not to be last (I wasn't!)

I don't have any pictures of my run, although at one point I almost got out my phone to take a picture of the ridiculousness I had just come up. (But then I figured if I dropped it, I might not have the energy to pick it up again!) But I do have a picture of us this morning before we left.

Yep, it's been a big race day for us Ingys. And I am so looking forward to eating everything I can get my hands on at dinner tonight!