I took my 7 year old to a 5K about an hour from my house. I was totally amazed by my daughter. She finished 165 out of 265 people. The last 5K I took her to was in the summer during a very hot day. We didn't do well. So I backed the pace and run time down some. We did a 30 sec run and 30 sec walk the entire race. The kid sprinted each time the watched beep. When I say sprinted the garmin shows 8:15 to 8:30 min mile pace. During our walk breaks she skipped.
There was a prize to the school that had the most participation. I think what really encouraged her to keep running was the comment we kept hearing after the half way mark. There were different versions but mostly it went like this, "I can't believe that little girl just past me!!" We heard that from both middle school and high school kids. Those folks might/might not catch up to us on our walk break. When they did it just made her more determined to push harder in the next run cycle. I don't ever think I've seen such determination in her before.
The last half mile was all down hill so I turned off my watch and told her to run it in. I think she took one more walk break and was off again when she heard feet closing in behind her. Much to her disapointment, she took 4th in her age group.
She is already chomping at the bit to do the next 5K race. You know that I'm swelling with pride over here.
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