Exciting day! Perfect spring weather rolled in just in time for 8 year old Kenzie to run in her very 1st official track meet. No wind and beautiful weather of 60 degrees made it an ideal day for runners and us spectators. Kenzie ran the 1500 and did amazing. It was neat to see her competitive spirit come alive on the track – and not just in the pool.
Kenzie ROCKED in her 1500 meter race. I worried this would be too long for her, but all the kids in her club were doing this race so we figured she’d give it a go. She ran 6:24 which is basically a 6:50 mile – I’m not sure how she knew how to pace herself …. but somehow it all comes naturally to her. And she managed to grab 1st place with an super kick on her last lap as she had it in her to finish strong. Here’s a video of her finishing lap.
Kenzie was so excited about her race but it’s all so new to her. Her comments at the end were that she couldn’t believe how out of breath she felt. No kidding – running is exhausting! We told her she’d feel better in about 5 or 10 minutes !
Like Kenzie, I was a swimmer growing up, but my parents encouraged me to also play LOTS of other sports and not just SWIM. I feel so fortunate that my Mom and Dad gave me the freedom to try everything and not put pressure on me to swim – ultimately it let me learn to play so many sports – from golf to tennis to softball and field hockey. And ultimately enabled me to find my love of running which I then pursued in college over swimming.
I saw so many other kids miss opportunities to excel in other sports or really find their passion when all they did was swim. So, despite Kenzie’s love for the water, I’ve been determined to only let her swim 2-3x per week and to always encourage her to try out all kinds of other activities – field hockey, tennis, and running which she seems to be a real natural……. Thus our foray this spring into a local track club for youth distance runners and Kenzie’s 1st meet.
So maybe we’ll be having more running adventures along with the swim meets.
Wow! Kenzie killed it! She looks great. My favorite part is Kyle cheering her on and running along the fence to watch her. Such pure love <3