Disappointment. That's exactly what I could see in Cassie's eyes. Now I'm not going to say, "you don't understanding disappointment until you see it on your child's face," but man, it stings a whole lot to see your kids let down. This is especially true when they are excited for something that you really hope they will grow to love - like running. And while our fall Sunday morning started out this way, we really made the best of it, and I'm so proud of my big little girl for persevering through and enjoying a great run with her Dad on a great day.
My two oldest kids up bright and early to head down to their first/second 5K race.
Let's start at the beginning. I'm a big fan of No-Shave November, and I fully embrace any support for awareness of men's (and any) cancers. A few weeks ago I came across an e-mail with a planned race with a "Movember" theme, and even better, it was going to be run over one of the bridges that crosses the Connecticut river - from one town to the next. This race was so cool that I thought that instead of going all out by myself, I would see if my kids wanted to run with me. Cassie (now 9) had already run a 5K in the Spring, and Kyle (now 7) was starting to finish our 1 mile runs around the block with ease.
Once the kids heard the details, they were in. On the top of their list was winning a mustache-shaped medial for finishing the race, and getting to sport their very own stick-on mustache for the race. I was more excited for running over the bridge than they were at first, but I knew that this would change once we got up there.
The kids in front of the Arrigoni Bridge in Middletown, CT.
Now, all this being said, it is fall in New England, and I wasn't really sure about the weather for the day. It has been getting cooler in the morning, and certainly if we were going to have snow, I don't think that the kids would have done well in poor conditions. So instead of signing up before the race, I figured we would just play it by ear, and sign up at the event.
The kids were super excited for the race all week, especially Cassie. Now I am not going to push my kids into any sport that they don't want to do, but if any of them gets into running, I would love that. They made no fuss about getting up early in the morning, and after getting all bundled up, we headed out to grab some donuts (kids) and coffee (me) before making our way down to the race start.
On our way to registration
It was a beautiful, crisp, and chilly New England morning, but we had on our gear, and I knew that once we got running, we would be all set. As we approached the registration tent, we could hear the music and see that there was going to be a fun after-party once all the racers got back to the finish line. We cued up in the line, waiting our turn to register for the race.
Now, I'm a fan of the Hartford Marathon Foundation, and they put on a lot of great races around CT and New England, but this day was not one of their best moments for our little running clan. As I got to the front of the line I was told that registration was closed, and there would be no race-day registration. Even with my two excited young kids, there was just no way to let us into the 5K race.
The whole thing seemed pretty un-American, and it was handled in a pretty snotty way, but so much worse was the look on Cassie's face. She was heartbroken. I was proud of her for holding back her tears, but man was she disappointed. We made the long walk back to the car, passing lots of kids and adults with stick-on mustaches. I even ran into a medical school buddy of mine who was running the race with his three boys. The whole things was just so sad.
The car ride home was silence. I was super upset with myself for not registering the week before. To put the whole thing in perspective, a lot of terribleness had just happened in Paris, and this was nothing like that, but in the moment it was pretty sad. And then it hit me, we were all dressed up for running. It was still a beautiful day. And the one thing that Cassie had never done was come on a 3.1 mile training run with me. See, the kids normally run a 0.5 mile loop around our neighborhood, but my training runs go out and back for 3.1 miles. While we might not be able to run this cool race together, it didn't have to mean that we couldn't spend some time running together.
Cassie not so sure if this training run was going to be as good as our planned race together
It took a little convincing, but by the time that we got home she was in. We grabbed our water bottles, and made our way out to the fire hydrant across the street to get started. Of course the run was great. The day was beautiful and after about 0.5 miles in, the fiasco of the race registration was literally behind us.
I again learned some important things when attempting adult performance from children in sports. Cassie got a pretty good cramp in her left shoulder, and then in her stomach on the run. Instead of pushing through, we took some time to run and walk. There was so much wonderful fall still around us, that they walking was great. We also played a little game of picking out how far we would run to, and how far we would walk. And of course, we made a pit stop at the playground in the park which marks the halfway point of the run.
Every good training run with a 9 year old needs a little pit stop at the playground!
After lots of good joking about "poop factories" (they actually made one of these in our town!) and answering questions about what I do when I'm out on this run, we made it back in record time 43:08 (not including the playground time). It would have made a great 5K race time, and my guess is that Kyle would have kept up. And the fact is, it made a great 5K training time, and by the time that we got back, we both realized that we got to spend a great morning running together, and the run was very good.
3.1 miles later, nothing but smiles
When I got back from heading back out and running my race pace 5K (24:50 - not too shabby), we talked in the kitchen about resilience. I told Cassie that in running you have your good days and your bad days, but if you just keep on running, you will always find that you feel better when you get back from the run. She agreed, and we decided to commemorate the day by making our own medal. I found a military ID tag site, and we printed up the following dog tag:
11/15/15
3.1 MILES
WITH MY DADDY
MY VERY FIRST
TRAINING RUN
I'll post the picture her of Cassie with her medal when it comes in. I'm so proud of you little girl, and it was a pleasure to get to run with you this morning!