We will GO FAR!

If you ever get the opportunity to run with a GO FAR team, do it. If you ever get the chance to coach a GO FAR team, more blessings to you.

I ran another 5K with my daughter...and what was different this time? I ran it with both of my daughters! This was my 10-year-old's second GO FAR race and my 6-year-old's first! For ten weeks, we trained at Big Sister's school two days per week. I picked up Baby Girl after school and we drove to her sister's school, where we changed into running clothes in the back of the van and met the team at the track, ready for action.

With her iPod plugged in her ears, our baby sprinted when she wanted to (she has no patience for the steady long distance jog) and walked when she got tired. There were no rules for her, and although this particular GO FAR team was comprised of only 4th and 5th graders (she is in kindergarten), special allowances were made to permit her participation. She quickly became everyone's pet.

Meanwhile, I trained with my older daughter. I became "assistant coach" by virtue of being there all the time...and because I always had a little posse running with me. My daughter chatted with her friends. I listened...and encouraged them to run until the coach blew the whistle...and to walk briskly when it was time to walk...and to breathe...and drink water...and never say "I can't". It takes your breath away, and you need all that breath to run.

For race day, I asked a teenager from our church to walk/run with my youngest so that I could run with her sister.

...and we did it! Through hills and cramps, these children persevered. "I can'ts" were quickly silenced, and I may have even pulled someone by the hand up a hill. We stopped to stretch out cramps and massage tight muscles.

...more encouragement...more encouragement...and we were almost at the finish line! As we say in running, it was time for our strong finish...that means gun it! sprint to the finish line! I cannot explain the pride and the emotions that go through me as I am crossing a finish line with my daughter. The exhilaration of the accomplishment is overwhelming, but the joy of having done it alongside my daughter is beyond words. She is strong and she is beautiful, and to see her summon the energy to finish with everything she has is...well...breathtaking.

We hugged and we high-fived, then we waited for her sister and our teenage friend to come through. And she came through with the same look of determination that her sister wears. She ran beautifully and swiftly across the finish line, showing us all that age and size do not matter in a race like this. The ability to finish comes from a strong will, determination, and an inability to say "I can't".

I am immensely proud of all the children who ran in this race, and I am still basking in the sunshine of having done this with both of my girls.