Couch to 5K Spring 2023
Our oldest daughter Harper discovered she loved running when she was 2 years old when we were running a 5K to raise money for Adoption. Halfway through the race, Harper asked to get out of her jogging stroller and once those little feet hit the ground, she took off running. She ran nearly a mile! It was mind-blowing. After that, we tried to do some little 1-mile fun runs for her but those didn’t pan out the way that very first one did haha. As she grew, we noticed her love for racing & sprinting. She wanted to race anyone and everyone all the time and would usually win, but when she wouldn’t win, she would try to figure out how she could (even if the kids were years older haha). I searched and searched trying to find running groups for little ones as young as age 4 and never had any luck.
It wasn’t until we had started Elementary school that I happened to be in the front office at the end of a school day and heard someone talking about a running club through the school. That person, in the office who was talking about the running club happened to be the mom of a new little friend Harper had made during her Kindergarten year AND she was the coach!! You better believe I jumped on the opportunity to get her signed up that next spring!
Season 1: Spring 2023 – 7 years old. Her first season in the running club was SO cool to watch. Not only to watch her run but to watch so many children committed to running, being healthy and active! It took Harper a few weeks of practice to realize that this was not a sprinting race but an endurance race as they were training to run a 5k, 3.1 miles. She would take off like a bat out of h*** and by the first turn on the track she was already slowing to a walk. But once she realized this, it was on.
For race day each child needs to be paired with a running buddy, 18+ years old, so I volunteered to be Harper's running buddy. YUP, I DID, ME, the NON-RUNNER! Running is something I have always loathed since I was a child, I have just never enjoyed it.
To me, it was a form of torture. Haha. But since I disliked it so much, I thought this would be a PERFECT opportunity to start maybe liking it because I would be doing it with my girl. So, the week she started her training, I started mine. I used Couch to 5k and that first ‘run’ was similar to a 90-year-old shuffling along with a walker. I didn’t push myself to overdo it, rather I tried to do it ‘right’ this time and build myself up. After a couple of weeks of following the couch to 5k, I couldn’t believe it when I uttered the words “I am starting to really enjoy this.” For me, the feeling after a run is such a different feeling than a weightlifting class, it's better. I don’t know why or how to describe it, but maybe because it's full body and mental all at the same time. Anyway, the fact I was beginning to enjoy it blew my mind but I was here for it.
Harper and I did a few runs together outside of her training at practice and my training while she was in school. When race day came, I was so nervous I wouldn’t be able to keep up with Harper, I told her probably 100 times that she could leave me, don’t let me hold her back, etc. I didn’t want to mess with her time. But to both of our amazement, we kept up perfectly together, we pushed each other when one of us was feeling weak, we had a blast throwing water on each other when we went through the water stations… and best of all….. as we rounded the final corner, we saw the FINISH LINE and we also heard ALL of the crowd cheering. I froze, my heart started pounding and my legs felt like they couldn’t go anymore. Like I had to tell my legs, MOVE. I got spooked, I got scared, I got nervous about finishing the race in front of so many people. (My heart is palpitating as I think back about it as I write this haha). Harper could tell I shifted, and she looked at me and said “Mama, do you see that, do hear that” I said “Yes” and she said “LET’S DO THIS… COME ON!!” Those words and her push were the only things that got my legs moving again. I was running through my heart trying to beat out of my chest from nerves but I wasn’t going to quit. When we got up to ALL of the people we saw my parents, our youngest daughter, my niece, and my Mother-in-Law… all standing in the street screaming!!!! Cheering us on. As we passed them, we wondered where Daddy was (Ryan) and as we approached the finish line we saw him jumping up and down with the camera taking a million pictures of Harper and me crossing the line!!! It was the most amazing memorable moment as a parent. She completed that race, 3.1 miles in 34.52 minutes averaging about an 11.4-minute pace. She finished 51 out of 116 females and 166 out of 390 kids overall. We are so proud of her!!
Onto Fall running 2023
