“It was like a miracle,” Kendall said of running with her peers.
Two days before the race, the Stiers celebrated Kendall’s eighth birthday, but Saturday seemed to be a bigger party, a definite milestone for Kendall.
“It’s a big day for the Stier family,” Shanon Stier said. “When someone tells you that your kid is not going to do something, or when doctors say this is never going to happen for you, you have to change your mind-set. That’s what Kendall did. She changed her mind-set immediately. She just kept on pushing forward. She’s never plateaued. She has always gone up. They’ve been baby steps. It’s been slow, but she’s never quit.”
Kendall was one of 714 children who ran at the OC Fair, as part of the weekend festivities for today’s OC Marathon, in its fifth year. There were seven races, as kids took their strides running two laps around the Pacific Amphitheatre, about a 1K (0.62 miles).
The number of cameras seemed to outnumber the children. Parents draped over metal railings, trying to get their shot of their kid running in the race. The children scooted past with bibs displaying their number across their chests.
Gary Drossell of Laguna Niguel hugged his three sons all at once after they finished the race with the 8-year-olds, just before Kendall would dramatically cross the finish line.
Drossell, who has competed in two marathons, was fascinated to see his boys run and finish the race.
“I just wanted to get them healthy,” Drossell said of entering his sons Nicholas, 6, and 9-year-old twins Matthew and Andrew in Saturday’s races. “I wanted to get them used to being off the couch, get them outside and enjoy the weather.”
