I ran the Rap River 5K with my little one Dylan. Jared was supposed to run with us but had a stomach bug and stayed home in bed instead.
Dylan's run a couple if 5Ks with me and I promised him a medal at his next 5K race. Rap River was the race to deliver. We even talked about an age group award if he ran with me and did his best. I planned on running this race with Dylan but wanted him to keep up with my pace. I knew he could run a 30 min 5K if he tried.
On race morning, I woke up Dylan...earlier than he's used to because races start early. He got up on the wrong side of the bed. The race was in June so it was very hot outside. Dylan stayed grumpy, grouchy, and negative.
Photo by Aaron Stopford
Here we are close to the finish line where he started to run again. I encouraged him throughout the race as did people passing us on the course. They would yell "Keep it up!", "You can do it!", "Great job, you're almost there". He would respond with negative comments that were driving me crazy! He was in a funk and would not snap out of it.
We walked a lot of the course and finished in 37:05. I was disappointed he didn't try his hardest. I explained that this wasn't just his race, it was my race too. He eventually snapped out of his bad mood and apologized for how he behaved. Then he wanted to run another race with me! Really!!
Do you run races with your kids?
This was my 9th race this year toward completing 13 in 2013.
I run races with my kids as often as I can.
ReplyDeleteI've been there with a funky kid. It's hard when you know they can do better but they don't want to. Frustrating to say the least!