There were those who sprinted with a steady stride, and then there were those who waddled.
At Baltimore?s Running Festival on Saturday, not all participants were seasoned runners. In fact, some were still perfecting walking.
While mothers and fathers competed in the Baltimore Marathon, children could join the Kids? Fun Run outside of Camden Yards.
“It?s a 100-yard dash, but it?s a fun one,” said Amelia Bothwell, 6, who was racing with her cousin Max Kline, 5, both of Federal Hill.
“I think I might win, but I have to help my cousin,” she said.
Warm-ups consisted of climbing on the fence, jumping up and down, double-knotting shoe laces and slurping on frozen lemonade.
In between gulps, Teresa Burke, 3, said, “I?m going to win.”
“I?m going to win, too,” added her cousin Michael Lee, also 3.
As the children divided into two age groups and lined up to run, tension was in the air. The herd of girls, most bundled in pink sweat suits, chatted behind the boys, oblivious to the race about to begin.
But once they took off, it was a mob of toddlers racing toward the finish line with mothers and fathers running close behind for encouragement. Some were speeding ahead while others hit the ground, bursting into tears instantly. Others strolled along, confused over why everyone was in such a rush.
As the announcer appropriately deemed it, “the 100-yard waddle” had no clear winner, but everyone received a T-shirt and medal.
Once across the finish line, Teresa put her arm around her cousin and smiled like a champ for pictures.
But it was the medal that made her day.
“I?m going to hold mine very tight,” she said.
