Isla's First Attempt at Running a 5k!

There's a girl in our Run Club who is a rock star athlete.  At just 15, she's one of the top ranked cross country runners in our state and on the verge of being an elite triathlete.  This girl is amazing.  She also happens to be Isla's hero.

While some little girls want to be Princess Belle or Cinderella, Isla wants to be EK.

 "Mommy, please do my hair just like EK's." 

"Mommy, I want the same color shoes that EK wears."

"Mommy, if EK is running then I want ta too!"

I'm not gonna lie, I love that my daughter idolizes a girl who is so motivated to be an awesome runner. 

A few months ago, Isla started talking about when she could do her first "own race."  While she's done plenty of 5Ks and 10Ks with me in the stroller, I knew that she wanted to run one.  She may only be 3, but she's mentally 15 and the girl knows what she wants. 

The opportunity came when it was time to graduate my 2nd 5K class.  Their race was a small, local race that was very close to our home.  Because I had to be there to coach my clients, I decided this would be the race that Isla tries first.

Isla's first 5K bib and Tiny Tech-T (okay it's HUGE on her but....whatevs)

When the morning came, the weather couldn't have been more perfect for a 3 year old to run in.  Just kidding.  The weather was horrible.  It was freezing and kept misting rain...or something.  It was greatness. 

Isla didn't love waiting in this awful weather, but, we found a hotel where they were serving hot cocoa, so all was right with the world.

 

Nobody takes Baby's hot chocolate.  Nobody.

After giving high fives to the Turkey and McGruff the Crime Dog, it was finally time to line up and get the show on the road.  We got our clients settled, prepped, and they were ready to run.  I gave Isla one last chance:  "Do you want to ride in Bob or run?"  She said "Run" and I brought Bob just in case (listen, I know what 3 year olds are like....). 

Bless her little heart.  I carried her across the start pads, while pushing Bob, and then put her down so she could run.  It was not an easy day to run, the misting cold raining stuff made her lungs "frozen!" but she tried and tried.  I looked over and her little cheeks were as red as apples!  But she kept trying.  Finally by mile 1ish she was done.  "Mama, I toooo cold!  I go in Bob now."

So I put her in her stroller and we hustled on.  She was so helpful in getting me to run fast.  "Mom, you're not fast enough, the Turkey is beating you."  I had no idea what my pace was, I just knew...it wasn't Conversation Pace and my heart rate was pretty freakin' high.  "Mommy, you need to run faster."  She's such a good cheerleader.

We hit the homestretch and I was simply glad to be done.  My hip was screaming at me louder than Isla's cheers, and I was spent.  When I saw the stop clock, it was no wonder.  34 minutes.  And isla had run the first mile.  That mean I hauled the second and third miles. 

We were then able to stand at the finish and watch our 5k class come across the finish line!  It was so exciting to watch my babies, who couldn't run more than 60 seconds in October, finish 3.1 miles straight!  I just can't get ENOUGH of that!

Even though she didn't run the whole thing on her own, I'm still excited that Isla tried to run under the worst of circumstances.  When we finished, she asked me why EK wasn't at this race.  I told her that EK had a swim meet...that it was time for EK to start doing her swim races.

"Mommy, I wanna do swim races too..."

And so it continues!