My dear friend Claire asked me to be with her during her labor. What a privilege! So Friday afternoon at 1:00 we headed over to the hospital and Matt and Claire's sweet little baby was born at around 5AM. It was really special to be on the other side of a birth and to offer some support to Claire. She did amazingly well with a long labor. I will now add "doula" to my list of things I might like to do in the future. Birth is so amazing.
After a couple hours of sleep, our family quickly rallied (does anyone else with kids feel like you are often rushing out the door for things) to head over to our 5 km race.
Riley on the way over said, "I'm not sure if I feel hungry or sick." We explained that those were nervous butterflies and they were a good thing because they meant he was doing something exciting and that his body was getting ready for it.
We decided to run the first couple kms as a family and then divide up, me with Riley and Adam running with Kyla and pushing Ivy in her stroller. The kids set a 6 min/km pace from the beginning and kept asking if they could go faster. We encouraged them not to but coached them through pacing themselves. I had a bag of M&M's in my pocket to hand out for extra energy to the kids. Really they were as much for a mental boost as they were for a physical boost.
Riley spotted an older kid further up on the course and wanted to try to catch him. So we slowly gained on him and the last 500 m Riley sprinted and had this epic and very cute sprint finish. The older kid beat him but Riley handled it well and said, "now that gives me something to try for next year." They gave each other high fives after and congratulated each other for the good effort, like old seasoned athletes would. Very cute. A few minutes later Kyla came sprinting in giving it everything she had with this huge smile on her face. Such a proud mommy moment to see my kids enjoy racing and do so well at it.
Finish times:
Riley (9 years old): 28.5 min
Kyla (7 years old): 31 min
Riley explained to me after the race, "I have two super powers mom. First, I can choose my emotions, so if I feel tired or something then I can just choose not to feel it. Second, if my body starts getting tired, my legs don't even listen, they just keep on going."
I love having experiences with my kids that help them develop their confidence to do hard things... and come to know their superpowers. Participating in sport have helped me understand how much inner strength and discipline I have. This character development and awareness have helped me in every aspect of my life. That is why for me, sport is a powerful tool in my hopes of raising my kids to be resilient, confident and disciplined individuals.
