After my half marathon in February, my kids started asking to run with me all of the time. I started taking them around the block once or twice a couple of days a week. When the Corona Panthers Track Club announced their upcoming 5K and 1K fun run my sister and I decided to sign up the oldest of our kids. So, on May 8th, 2010 my 6 year old son, 7 year old niece, brother-in-law, and I ran the Dos Lagos 1K. The kids did great and had a great time. It was this race that got my son thinking.
For the next several days he wrote up notes on starting a track club. He listed who he wanted to be a part of it, the day they would run together, that water and Propel would be given out, etc. He spent quality time on these details. Then my good friend made a comment on Facebook about the monsters we have created with all of our running. This started the ball rolling. Finally, we all agreed we should get the kids together to run. My sister suggested the park every Wednesday and everyone agreed.
Last Wednesday we had 12 kids running lap after lap around the park in our community. The kids ranged in age from 7 to 2, and each of them was so excited to be running. It was at that point in time that I realized that I am not only running for me, but for them. If I show them now that I enjoy living healthy and being active, they will also want to be healthy and active in their lives. The best part is they don't do it to lose weight or look better in a pair of jeans. They do it because they think it is fun and they want to follow in our footsteps. This reason alone is the #1 reason I continue to run!
What I love the most about the Kids Running Club is that we all thought they would run around the field once and then head off to the playground, instead, they kept going. One lap, two laps, sometimes four laps. Kids are amazing. I wonder what's going through their heads when no one is forcing them to do anything and they still push themselves.
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