Kaitlyn the runner (and Tyler, too)

I have to say, this was something I didn't see coming.  If you asked me a few months ago, I would have told you that Tyler has a lot more endurance than Kaitlyn.  Whenever we went on bike rides or hikes, Tyler would just keep going and going and going, and Kaitlyn would eventually start sobbing that she was just so tired.

I didn't count on her having the most awesome First Grade teacher I have ever imagined.

I'll need to make another post about the rest of the year Kaitlyn had.  The relevant part for now is that her teacher started running every single day during recess with her students in February.  I would have thought she would need that time to prep or, I don't know, breathe.  Be away from the tiny people who talk A LOT for five minutes.  But no, she taught the kids to run with her every single day at recess.

I remember on the first parent intro day, I sat next to a mom that was excited that her fifth child had managed to get Miss Hull just like all of his big siblings had.  She told me that if she had the money in a perfect world, she would steal Miss Hull and hire her to teach her kids at home every day.  I now know exactly what she means.

Anyway, Kaitlyn told me that she was getting better and better at running.  I wasn't sure exactly how much I believed her until we got to the 5K school fundraiser at the end of the year.  We all signed up (Kaitlyn made sure we did), and I was a bit nervous about how I was going to run with Tyler and Kaitlyn while Daddy watched Jasmine.  Thankfully, Miss Hull was there and offered to run with all the students from her class that came.  I was nervous that Kaitlyn wouldn't be able to run the whole way, since she hadn't before, but Miss Hull reassured me.  "I've never seen Kaitlyn give up at anything!  I'm sure she'll do amazing!"

Way to know my child better than me.

Miss Hull emailed me the next week that  "she surprised me on the 5K.  During a lot of the race she was even in the lead of all of the girls and I.  Her encouragement and excitement helped us all.  It was fun!"

 The part that really amazed me is that, her first time out as a 7 year old, she beat my personal best time on a 5K.  I worked my tail off to get a 30 minute race, and she snuck in just under me.

It wasn't enough though.  Kaitlyn wanted to run another one!

The school district had an end of the year race, and she was excited to run that one, too.  She ran with her teacher again, and made it two minutes faster at 28 minutes.

Tyler, by the way, also ran every day at recess, though not nearly as many months as Kaitlyn did.  I was amazed that all of the teachers were thinking alike.  He got a shoe print on his chart for every mile he ran, which was 5 laps around their yard.  By the end of the year he had 20 miles marked down!  And he was a trooper on the races.  When I ran with him, he would tell me that he was really tired, but kept coming with me anyway.  We had to walk a little, but he made it in 40 minutes.  And when he ran the next race with Daddy, Daddy refused to let him walk at all.  38 minutes!

I guess running is in the genes in our family.

Since they both loved it so much, I signed them up for a track club in our city that started the next week.  Tyler only lasted five minutes, because the size of the crowd and the number of instructions they were telling him was too much for him.  But Kaitlyn loved it!

I have to admit that we all decided we didn't love the track meets.  I didn't realize how much sitting there is in relation to how little racing she got to do.  In fact, when the meets weren't convenient for us, we just skipped them.  She wanted to be in track for the practices, but she wasn't really into the competitive element enough to make the races worth it. I would have taken her if she wanted to go, but I wasn't enjoying them enough to push her into it.

It was sure cute to see her run, though!

She has told me that now she wants to try a 10K.  Crazy girl!