I got up early this morning to get to the Atlanta Zoo. 7 am on an early-spring day and the temperature was nice enough for me to be walking around in shorts.

The Georgia Marathon weekend kicked off with a 5k run at Grant Park, outside the Atlanta Zoo, followed by “Fun Run” event for kids. After volunteering to help out at the kids’ race last year, I wanted to do it again this year.

When I was a kid myself, running was absolutely not my thing. I was always the one who was left behind. I was the one who could not did not did not want to could not be bothered to did not finish running what I was made to run. If my childhood friends still know me today and find out that I run, I bet they would fall off their chair.

Last year, when I saw some adult runners running alongside some kids, those who were “left behind” by their peers of the same age group, I was saying to myself, “Yeah, yeah, I want to do this next year!”

So there I was this morning, running with some kids. The children were divided into three groups, according to their age. The runs were over very quickly, rather uneventful, no exceptional drama.

Nonetheless, I did get some amusement watching the youngest group, which was the most funny to watch. These were toddlers not more than four years old. There was a little girl who burst into tears when the race started and the young, cheerful and athletic daddy just had to carry her in his arms when he failed to coax her to take a single step forward. Further along, another child wailed as mummy led her along. Then there was this nonchalant one who casually trotted behind everyone else, woolly toy in one arm, to the encouragement of mum and dad by her side.

Program for the rest of the day: collect my race pack at the race expo, then feast carbo-load at Golden Corral, a buffet place, which, by the way, is an economical carbo-loading hangout (second to eating at home) despite the quality of its cooking.

It looks like tomorrow’s weather will be similar to today’s. If so, it will be a day for running in shorts. This is the race weekend that I have been looking forward to. This is a milestone reached.