Our little school does not actually have a track. So the fabulous Moms and Dads in charge of RFTA set up a loop in the parking lot. You had to run the loop 4 times to equal 1/4 of a mile. My son ran the loop 36 times! Doing the math he ran 2.25 miles today in 30 minutes!
He was completely exhausted when it was all said and done and actually very emotional about the whole thing. There was a moment 1/2 way through that he really wanted to quit. He had a stitch in his side, he was having a hard time catching his breath, he was "done" he said. I tried to talk him through getting some deeper breaths, I offered to walk with him while he caught his breath, rubbed his tummy, encouraged him and after a couple minutes the switch flipped and I could see this determined look come over him and he set off running again. And he ran. And he ran. And he ran. All the while I cheered and cheered for him! I was so proud of how he never gave up. It was hard. He knew it was hard. He wanted to quit. He didn't. That to me is the greatest lesson he could learn from this experience. Life's hard, you might want to quit, but don't. Don't quit. Believe in yourself and finish what you start. And finish strong he did, he ran all the way through the countdown of 5....4....3....2...1!
After it was done I got him a drink and some orange slices and told him how proud of him I was. He, being the critic that he is, was disappointed that he didn't run the most laps of all. But I introduced him to the idea of a PR-personal record. This was his PR and next year, next year he can work on beating his PR. It's not about beating all the kids in school, it's about doing your very best every time. It's about always giving everything you got and he definitely did that today. He gave it all he had and he did amazing! I couldn't be prouder to be his Mother.
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