First Race of 2011

The Tumbleweed kicked off the 2011 race season this week, participating in a 1 mine fun run at her school. The race was a fundraiser for a group running in the Boston Marathon in a couple weeks and it was the perfect way to start the year, except for the fact that it was at the same time as the Tumbleweed's gymnastics practice.

Initially, I said no. She already had a commitment and there would be other races to run. Which was the truth. Having already read the notice that came home from school about the race, she was really upset and asked why we couldn't skip gymnastics just this once. Parenting dilemma - is this the time to discuss "commitment" or is this a time to say "okay, if it means that much to you we'll change our plan"?

Since she has been at every gymnastics practice all year except one (strep throat in October), I decided to compromise. She could run the race, but we couldn't stay for the whole event, we would leave when she finished and head straight to gymnastics for the second half of practice. A stressful plan for me, but she was thrilled.


She was even more thrilled with how she finished the race. She won 3rd place in the 6-7 age group! Having just celebrated her birthday, she was probably one of the youngest in that group too. She got a 3rd place award sticker, which she refused to stick to her shirt so she could save it "forever".

We made to gymnastics a little later than I would have liked, but better late than never.