Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012

Daughter’s smile beats crowd’s cheers

Several years ago, I wrote that I had taken up jogging and planned to run a 5K a few months later.

Ever since I put my goal in print, I have found myself scrambling for excuses whenever people asked me how my 5K went. But the real reason I hadn’t done it was that I was waiting until I was able to run the entire race without stopping. I wanted the thrill of running across the finish line.

So when my husband called me recently to ask whether our family wanted to run a 5K together the next day, I hesitated. I knew the race would involve more walking than running for me, but I couldn’t say no to my kids, who were begging me to run with them.

But the next morning, I found myself spending 3.1 miles worth of my time trying to convince my tired 10-year-old daughter to finish the race in freezing temperatures. I honestly think my mouth got more of a workout from trying to bribe her to run than my legs did from actually running.

When I saw the cheering crowd at the finish line, I realized that I could still have my “Chariots of Fire” moment. But as I sprinted ahead of Laurel, I heard her crying, “Mommy, don’t leave me.” I let out a big sigh and turned around to grab her hand.

As we walked hand-in-hand across the finish line, I decided that the big smile on my daughter’s face was more rewarding than a cheering crowd.