Everyone who knows me knows I have a superstar runner for an 8 year old. I mean, the kid's best 5k time is 27:53, which totally would've been fast enough to be on Varsity in Clio. I mean, we weren't great, but we were high schoolers, and she was 7 when she ran that. The race with her best time was last October, and she hadn't ran a race since. She has, however, been running and biking with me a lot this summer. She has been getting super duper fast, too. The Crim was a few weeks ago, and she asked to run the 5k like she does every year. She was so excited, and I told her that she was running so fast when we were just running at home, that I had a huge feeling she'd PR. Which pumped her up even more.
The morning of the Crim came. And I had the 10 mile first. (which I ran for fun again... times don't matter!) I haven't ran 10 miles in like 2 years, so I was super stiff after, and still had the 5k with her. It was also super hot by the time her race came around. She was struggling. And there were a few times during her race where I said for her to go ahead so I could stretch my back. I think it confused her and that set her back even more. She ended up finishing with a 30:30. Still NOT bad for an 8 year old, and I was of course super proud! She's 8! We're just running for fun, and I've always made sure to emphasize that to her. But somewhere along the way, she got it into her head, that times matter and she did terrible. She cried. She said she never wanted to run again.
Over the years, I've made it a point, and I think even blogged about it, to not mention weight/eating issues around her. And to tell her that it doesn't matter what your shape is, just be happy and healthy and everything will be fine. I also have told her that times aren't everything and it's ok to run for fun. But I don't think I've done a very good job of showing her. As different as eating/self image issues are from running times, they're kinda the same. I feel extremely guilty that somewhere, sometime, I made too big of a deal about a bad race or run, and she picked up on that. She hasn't ran since then, although she has ridden her bike along side of me a few times. I haven't pressed the issue, but it doesn't stop me from being extremely guilt ridden.
I realize that she may grow up and want to do other things. She has played soccer, T-Ball, and the plan is to be in Karate this fall. But if she decides to do running, I hope she has a happy, healthy relationship with it because if she's anything like me, which she is, that can be super difficult to find a happy medium sometimes.
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