This wasn't to be the last time I see the girls like last season, this is just our district's 5k. They pushed it up a week and pushed back the community service project by a week, which I loved actually.
So in tradition I took my daughter to have pizza and ice cream the night before. We sort of have a little tradition of spending the night together prepping for the next day. basically I spoil her rotten and then she passes out from a sugar crash and I stay up will 2 am making sure I have absolutely everything I need. Yep, I am that girl with the OCD about planning.
My goodness I got a tutu made, I got all the girls' gear ready, I made signs, I got my clothes and my daughter's clothes ready, music, backpack, socks, first aid kit, snacks/drinks for my daughter, camera, phone....it goes on. We wake up at 530 am and pack up the car, get dressed, try to shove something down our sleep deprived faces, and by 630 we are on the road to head to the race course and start putting up signs.
Then we arrive and that is madness. Girls are everywhere and no where to be found. I have a group of girls that runs off to go to the bathroom just as we are gathering for a team picture. We have girls freaking out because their running buddy isn't there yet. We have girls overly peppy and some that look like they could just curl up and go to sleep in the grass.
It is a beautiful day for running and let me tell you the things that go wrong first-
WATER!!!! They usually have more than enough water for our events but unfortunately the group is growing at such a rate and our volunteers are not coming out of the woodwork as quickly. Next season I am hoping we can make fliers for the teachers to volunteer to support their students. And trying to get a hold of a few local sponsors to come out and do water tables. Let me tell you how much it sucks when you have little girls running and it creeps up to near 80 degrees by the time they are done running.
And let me put this out there now-all you selfish adults that could have waited till the end of the race or when you got home to get a drink, screw you for making some of those little girls suffer. I saw you getting your second cup of water as the supply slowly dwindled. I have no shame in taking that cup from your hand and giving it to a little girl near tears because she is sweating and exhausted, her short little legs trying to keep up with you and you are chugging water like you are dying in front of her. yep, I said it.
My daughter and her friend Gianna (my assistant coach's daughter) were kind enough when they saw one of the girls on my team and they were drinking their water, they combined what they had left and gave her a full cup of water on the course knowing full well there would be no water when she got to the water stop. THAT is what adults should be doing and it took two seven year olds, both not even a part of this organization and smaller than most anyone else out there, to give up their water to help out another girl. I am so proud of my daughter and her friend for that. Trust me, I rewarded them well at the end of the course.
Now, as a coach I can't divulage personal information about girls and their disabilities or gifts even. But I have each season been given the gift of a girl with challenges. And each season I am proud to say that my entire team finished the entire course. And as I watched the most amazing thing, all my tired girls from the team rallying to cheer on my daughter and their final team mates and joining them at the end so that they would run strong and with their head held high across that finish line, it took everything to hold back tears. All you coaches out there can think you have the best team ever-but my girls were out there cheering even for your girls as they finished until every single girl came across that line. I can't say that there are a lot of people out there cheering when they hit that hour mark. And I am so proud that they do that on their own. I don't think my parents even know, I never ever told my team to do that, I have never asked such a thing from them. Yet I stand there surrounded by most of my team and they dragged their tired parents along and tell them to cheer.
I have the BEST TEAM ever. Cause they know that in the end what matters is getting everyone across that line and never letting them quit.
I will call out my team mates from Crazy 88! You guys made my heart soar as I saw you out there with your own children. Making your way through the course, cheering on kids that you have never met. You all have known me for only a few short months and you took time off your saturday morning to share this experience and understand why I am the weirdo that loves running so much. I can't wait to see you all at training and our own events coming up. (and as thanks for all the support through fb, twitter, and your physical presences I post a link to the gym's site: http://88bjj.com/)
And for those people who think I am crazy for wearing a tutu when I run, or carrying a backpack of gear while I run-I do it for the kids. Maybe that is why I see all of them cross the finish line is because I am willing to go any distance to encourage them and keep them safe. And by the way, the first aid kit that I carried came in quite helpful on the course. I am so happy that I made sure to bring it with me for those girls that took a fall while running. And the music-I have to say my favorite song right now for running with the girls is Beyonce's Run the World (Girls). Seriously a fierce song and I realize the lyrics very closely touch the border where I have to be careful about playing it for kids but I gotta say, that my 7 year old gave approval and she yelled along while running-Who runs the world? GIRLS!!!
So for mothers day, for all those mothers who came out, for all those girls who completed the 5k, for all those women who volunteered, for the women from my gym, and especially to my daughter who never ceases to amaze me in her 7 years of live...I give you
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