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7:10 – Wednesday Night – I am sitting in the basement watching my 9-year old run.
She is running on the treadmill for the second time in 3 nights. On Monday she ran 1.33 miles in 20 minutes. Tonight, her legs a little sore from Monday, she has set a goal of 1 mile. I couldn’t be prouder. After I spent much of the summer and fall trying in vain to entice her to run, Katie finally decided she wanted to run…on her own.
I don’t know what motivated her, and honestly I don’t care. The bottom line is that something clicked and she found the inner motivation. It didn’t matter how much I encouraged her before – until she decided it was truly something she wanted to do, she just wasn’t going to do it.
In these two runs, she has found a sense of pride in completing the runs and has said that she physically felt great afterward (though her legs are a little sore). I think it’s cute that she wants me down there with her while she runs. She keeps an eye on her distance, ticking away the minutes, alternately chatty and silent.
As her run comes to an end (1 mile, 15:00!) she say ,”I’m tired but that was fun.”
Isn’t that what it’s all about?
“I’m proud of myself,” she says as she walks the cool down.
I’m proud of you too baby, I’m proud of you too.
Run Luau Run 
how fantastic! you should be proud, and it sounds like she is a chip off the old block! WTG Katie!
Isn’t this always the way? They seem to find out they want to do something on their own. But if Katie likes running on the treadmill, imagine what she’ll say when she discovers the “great outdoors!!!!”
Great job Katie, and Dad too!
It’s too bad that this motivation hit during the winter…though I think that there is a certain amount of security for her on the treadmill…she’s able to see how far she has gone and how far she has to go…I think it’s a good thing for someone just starting.
Love it! Chloe is itching to do some of the fun-runs with me this year. Can’t wait!
Tim and Deborah Doiron’s son Alex who is 8 is now planning runs with his dad and doing the treadmill. Our daughter ran Boston with us and went from couch potato to 26.2 miles. She is now on Daily Mile and running on her own (she’s 23). It is so wonderful how we are role models for our kids and sometimes actions speak louder than words. Thanks for sharing and we’ll see all these kids at Lexs Run next year if not sooner.
Isn’t that AWESOME!?!?! Isabelle decided she wanted to run with Mommy while she was pregnant (until 24 weeks), then she wanted to run with me. She ran her first mile+ at the Y early this past Summer (20 laps) all by herself and had me counting her laps for her. Then, in September, I was running the Littleton 5k and they had a 1 mile race too. When I was registering Isabelle said “I wanna run the Marathon too Daddy!” So we registered her. She ran her first 1 mile race (with me by her side, but not pushing her) in 12:34. I was so proud. I was in tears when she crossed the finish line all by herself and came back with her ribbon and asked “did I win my marathon?” I said “Yes little one! You won because you ran!” It was all I could do to gather myself and get to the start for the 5k… I think our kids will always do that to us old saps!
ok, now we’re even. you just made me cry.
That’s so great! I can’t wait ’til Cole and Annie catch the bug 🙂 until then I’ll settle for pushing Annie (2 yrs).
I have tons of pictures of my parents, brother and me running local races – it was how we spent lots of my childhood. My bro went on to be an All-State runner in Massachusetts, and heavily recruited for distance, but chose to run for Dartmouth (’95) 🙂
I’m so proud of Katie, too!
Signed a very proud grammy!