Summer will soon come to an end and soon the leaves will start changing colors. Along with the vibrant fall color comes great running weather (usually). This past summer flew by faster than any in recent memory for me. They say time flies when you’re having fun. This summer has been very busy, but has also been very fun.
I just turned 33 on Sunday, so to celebrate we headed over to Silver Springs State Park in Plano, IL, which is about 2 miles from our house. As we drove over to the park I told Anna, our 7 year old middle daughter who has down syndrome, that we were going to go where I run. She said in her delayed speech “100 miles? Daddy? Run? Anna too!? Yea!!!!” I thought that was great!
I led the girls along the path. It’s a three-mile loop of mainly single track with lots of fun twists and turns, and hills. We all had a great time. It was fun to be able to just let them go and not be restrained by having something scheduled to go to, which is usually the case for us. Ella, our youngest who is 9 mos, giggled as we walked along the trail. I had her in the Baby Bjorn baby carrier thing so she was basically strapped to my chest seeing everything we saw as we walked. She kept peeking back at me, presumably to make sure things were ok.
Towards the end, the girls started to get hot and itchy from the weeds, and the skeeters had started to come out. Liv, Ella (Strapped to me) and I walked ahead to the opening from the woods to the trailhead where we had started. We made a finish line with our arms and cheered Anna on to make it to the finish. As soon as she saw us she sprinted through our arms finishing her first “100 miler”. It may sound goofy, but we were all VERY proud of her. She had never done so well on such a long walk. But most importantly, she was proud of herself too. If you know Anna, that was a BIG accomplishment. It was a great day.
It made me think – Everything I do, from what I drink, to what I eat, to what I read, to how I speak to others, to my religious beliefs, to my training habits --- EVERYTHING has so much influence on our kids. Weather it’s good or bad, they catch on and it affects them. To all of the fellow parents out there - I speak from experience when I say - Be the best role model that you can for your children. They learn from everything you do, weather you think they are listening or watching or not. My experience consists of both good and bad things that I have done in the past that I have seen reflected in my kids. The hike on my birthday just kind of reminded me of the importance of providing positive leadership for your family and kids.
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