Last Saturday morning, I drove CC out to the Reston Town Center to participate in the Girls on the Run Reindeer Romp. It’s a 5k race for girls ages 3rd grade thru 8th grade, and their buddy runners. The race was “sold out” and there were 5,000 people signed up to participate. We had to be there at 7:30 (AM), but the race didn’t start until 8:30, and then there was a staggered start. Needless to say, it was a little chilly. However, I know I should not complain because it was only cold…it could have been raining, snowing, or windy.
When CC first decided she wanted to participate in this afterschool program, I thought it was a great idea since she would be training 2 days a week after school, it was social, and it was another way for her to work excercise into her routine. Little did I know that because there are so many participants, each girl runner was required to have a “buddy” runner. Well, guess who that was going to be…ME!?! YIKES, I hate running, and I had not done so for a few years after pulling a hamstring in my right leg. Now what was I going to do? Well, I started working out and building up a little bit of endurance, and I got so I could run over a mile without stopping, and eventually up to 1.7 miles before I started feeling pain in my ankle. I figured I better stop training because I didn’t want to do any further damage.
CC ran with a “buddy runner”, and it was for the best. For one thing, she ran the race in 39.04 minutes, and never stopped to walk. Had I been able to participate, my goal was to finish in 45 minutes. Prior to pulling out, I casually asked CC one day after practice whether she was going to wait for me (meaning run slow with me) on the day of the race. Without missing a beat, she quickly says “I’ll wait for you at the finish line”!! Can you believe her?!?
I think it is so cool what she has accomplished, and she’s only 10 years old. She has done more in 10 short years than I have done in almost 40!! I wish I had been as fearless as she when I was her age. A lot of people that know me now can’t believe I was not outgoing as a kid…I didn’t really break out of my shell until I went to college. I guess I just decided that I didn’t care what other people thought of me, and if they didn’t like me…their loss!! CC has been born with that attitude, and I only hope that she never loses it!
In addition to running this race, two summers ago she donated 10 inches of her hair to Locks of Love. Again, as a kid, I would have been terrified to cut off that much of my hair. Not her…she never even flinched…like I said, she’s my hero.
