A Runner Is Born

...or so I hope!

Eli has done a few short races with me. He always enjoys the fanfare, but doesn't ever seem to love the running of it when it gets tough. No matter how much I try to help him to pace himself and not get mad during the event, I'm never able to get through to him.

And each time I have a race that Lehr and the kids attend, Eli talks about running again, and how he wants to start training with me so he can do a 10K. I always remind him that I'm happy to train with him, but I'm not going to force him, so he's got to want it. He agrees and we plan a run for the following weekend. Then it comes time to get ready to go and Eli backs out, insisting we'll do it 'tomorrow'. He and I have been through that so many times that I don't hold any hope for the immediate future where running is concerned for us.

Eli's most recent request came just after my race at Disney. He asked if he could race there one day and I told him "Of course", just as I always do. We talked for a few minutes about training, but I hadn't given it any thought since then. Until this weekend. Eli asked me if we could run on Saturday. We had other plans that afternoon, but I told him we could on Sunday, only if he wanted to. We went to church Sunday morning and Eli talked about it a few times on the way, asking me if I was sure we could run after church. And would we run before bagels or after them. Again, I answered all questions and promised to run, but I still had my reservations that the run would take place. Eli loves to prove me wrong though, and he did by suiting up the minute we walked into the house after church.

I told him we were doing two miles, since he's done one several times already. I gave him some general 'advice' about pacing and warming up, and then we were off. Two hilly miles through our neighborhood. I didn't wear a watch so I have no idea of the pace, but what I do know is that Eli only paused to walk twice. And of those two times (two times in TWO MILES!), he only walked for the 10-20 seconds we'd discussed before we started. I was oh-so OH-SO proud. I could feel that our pace was pretty slow, but he kept running, even up the brutal hills. So impressive. I'm online, as I type this, looking for a 5K in the next month or so. If two miles was that easy for him, three will be nothing.