Letting go of limits

April ran her first marathon in January 2006. Around May she decided she wanted two things for her August birthday. She wanted her father to parachute with her and her mother to run a ½ marathon with her. I have often wondered if April stays up at night thinking of ways to challenge me. I never ran track or distance as a youth. As an adult most of my running has been on a treadmill so I was not very crazy about fulfilling my daughter’s request. Not wanting to disappoint her I committed to running some road race’s (the mid-west is huge on road races) over the summer and if (and I did mean if) I did not kill myself I would then commit to the 1/2 marathon. By August it was obvious there was no getting around it and I registered to run the P.F. Chang’s ½ marathon with her. Every week April and I would talk about my training; where I should be and what I should be doing. Once a month she would send me a calendar of what each week's workout should contain. If traveling got in my way April would figure out how to work around the schedule and keep me on track. In the meantime, April ran two ½ marathons and two full marathons. On January 14, 2007, in 28 degrees, in downtown Phoenix, April, Heather, (April’s running partner) and I, started our 13.1 trek to the finish line in Tempe at Sun Devil stadium. With one of them on each side of me I was hovered over like I was Lance Armstrong. They kept me on a steady pace (they slowed me down) not wanting me to burn out. They had me stop and stretch and reminded me about water. We finished in good time, beating April’s other friends.

When I first had children I thought about all the things I would teach them. Little did I know about all the things they would teach me. Both my children coach me and challenge me to be better then I am. Both of them encourage me to step beyond the limits I create. What a gift. What a life. What a blessing.