The Nickajack Dash

Sophie and I teamed up as she ran her first official race, Saturday - a 1 mile "fun" run to help raise money for her school's PE program.

While we've both been looking forward to this for quite some time (and even practiced a trial run per Sophie's request), it was unseasonably cold with temps in the mid-30s that morning. Sophie was not nearly as eager as she had been in the days leading up to the race.

One mile doesn't seem like that big of a deal at first, especially in the eyes of someone like me, who's trained for full marathons. But between the chilly temperatures and the task of keeping up with Sophie, who's strategy was to take little walk breaks every so often and then suddenly lurch ahead like a bat out of hell, it was one long and exciting mile. There were points where I thought she might toss her breakfast after running so fast and hard, and times when I nearly lost her as she wove her way through clusters of other runners. At other points, I thought I might have to piggy back her across the finish line. All of this in the course of 15 minutes! But alas, we finished together and we finished strong.

As you've probably already quessed, the post-race recovery breakfast in the warmth of the cafeteria and playing in the jumpy houses was undoubtedly the best part of the morning for Sophie and Jack, who was a trouper hanging out in the cold with Eric.

The highlight for me of course, was running my first mother-daughter race, and the hope of doing it again and again in years to come!