Running with My Daughter

The third week of the school year, I attended parent night and sat in my 4th grade daughter's desk as her teacher shared about what to expect for the year.  Glancing at her desktop I saw the large nameplate that each child had made for themselves, in the middle was the child's name and in each corner was some piece of information about the child.  The top right corner had the child's goal for the year.  I smiled when I read my daughter's goal.  It didn't surprise me because it's something she's talked about before, but still, the fact that this was what she listed struck me that it was more important to her than I realized.  Her goal:  Run 3 miles.

My daughter and I have been running together off and on for the past year or so and the place where we run has a 3 mile track.  When I run by myself I do the entire 3 mile loop, and with my daughter we just run part of it, but I'd told her that someday she'll be able to run the entire 3 miles.

Sitting in her desk that evening and seeing her goal there in writing on the desktop she stares at each day convinced me I needed to be more intentional about helping my daughter achieve her goal.

So, we've been running together every weekend, a little longer each time.  And at this rate, she is on track to achieve her 3 mile goal before Christmas!

I'm so proud of my girl!  She did 18 minutes without stopping this past Sunday and she runs at a good pace!  I don't have to slow down to run with her, she can keep up with the rate I'd normally run by myself!

Then we sprint the last little bit of the run and she leaves me in the dust every time!  My view as she races past me (grainy iPhone pictures while running):

I'm fully aware that these runs with my 9 year old daughter are the good stuff of life.  And getting to tackle this goal with my girl, high-fiving her along the way?  Well, I get choked up thinking about the privilege of it!