Running is a Family Affair

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Being a race spectator today I again was reminded how running is such an interesting sport collectively and individually. There were some who clearly were out to win while others were just out to finish. The 5k distance might have felt like a piece of cake for the speedsters and super fit, but for others it felt grueling. There were some clearly dropped a pretty penny on apparel, and others who showed up in cut off jeans. Truly an interesting blend.

Joylynn ran the 5k and the younger two ran the 1 mile.
She was going to run the 10k, but a calf injury set her back and she dropped down to the 5k earlier in the week. An all too familiar story. But she trained well and I'm super proud of the effort she put in. She took up the mantra of less talk more action and found ways to train with consistency.

E. fell apart when he found out he got 4th in his age group because it put him out of contention for a medal. Pure, raw, unfiltered disappointment in the form of tears. It added some insult to injury because the same thing happened last year. He understands that winning is more fun than losing, but has not reached a place of contentment with simply competing.  He wanted to know his stats. Place out of how many runners, place by gender, place by age. Chip Time. Gun Time. He soaked it up. His road to success is going to be a long one and the lessons he learns from competition are going to be deep.

V. says she doesn't like running except for the Volkslauf which doesn't make sense because that 2k race is uphill. She didn't have an explanation for it, but I guess she really doesn't need one. 

P. just noticed people's shoes and talked about how he could have done if he ran the race. But he didn't.

S. knew her role as spectator and cheerleader. She did surprisingly well at these considering the race started at 7:45am. I expected more resistance, but perhaps she felt satisfied with her purpose. 

When we all got home I did end up going out for a run. A hot sweaty 8 miles that was suppose to be 10, but oh well. 


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