And she takes the gold!!

Ellie was selected by her PE Coach to participate in a mile long race amongst 19 other top runners in her school ranging from 2nd to 5th grade. Todd and I just happened to stumble upon the invitation as we were rummaging through her book bag one morning. When we asked her about it, she was being a tad hard-hearted and wasn’t very interested in participating. We knew she would likely do well because one of the teachers told her that she had the 2nd highest race time out of all the girls who were participating in the race. It took a little convincing and a little persuading to finally hear those words, “okay, I’ll do it.” Her class has already run the mile twice this year, so we just asked her to go out, do her best and just try to beat her own previous times. We told her not to worry so much about winning the race because she was already a winner for simply being selected.

So, she finally agree to run, but now our next obstacle was that she didn’t want anyone showing up at the race to cheer her on. Although I know she doesn’t like to be the center of attention, and although I kept telling her “we’ll talk about it later”, deep down I think she knew that her Mommy and Daddy wasn’t going to miss it. I just promised her that I would watch quiety from the side, but as you’ll learn later, that wasn't quite the way it worked out. Needless to say, obstacle #2 was finally accomplished.

It was finally Thursday, 1/19/12...race day! Although Ellie seemed excited, she was also pretty nervous, “Mommy, I’m so nervous I think I’m going to throw up.” She later told me that she was so nervous when she got to school that her legs were shaking.

As I was driving by the school to park, I noticed the runners were warming up and by the time I walked up, they were taking their places on the start line.  The countdown started...get ready...get set...go.... and the race was off.  Some of the girls came out of the shotgun like bullets at full speed, but Ellie started off in the middle of the pack with a good, solid, steady pace.  She kept that pace throughout much of the race until the last lap where she put on that determined face (wish I had gotten a picture of said determined face) and kicked it into full gear. Half way through the race you could see the other girls losing steam as Ellie started to creep up on them and pass each of them one by one. She finally ran her way up to 2nd place, but at that point, I wasn’t quite sure if she had enough to pass the little gal who was currently in 1st as she seemed to have a pretty steady rhythm going, too.  On the last lap, I noticed that the little girl kept looking back to see where Ellie was, but then she slowly, with each little step, started to lose her ground. Ellie finally passed her about half way through the last lap and I knew at that point there was no turning back and my little girl was going to pull it off. She pushed through the finish line, legs feeling a little wobbling, and was announced as the school’s first place girls winner with a time of 7.14 minutes.

The fence and track were lined with students who used their “Crane Bucks” to come out and cheer on their fellow students. As Ellie requested, I was quiet through the first half of the race, but between all of the other kids hootin and hollerin, I couldn’t contain my excitement any longer. By the 3rd lap, I was yelling “keep on your pace” and cheering Ellie on every time she would lap around our corner (we were only a few feet away). I guess she couldn't be too upset with me though because, amongst all the other hootin and hollerin, she didn’t hear me anyways.

I don’t know that I can truly express how I was feeling yesterday. I had a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye through much of the race as I watched Ellie overcome her fear and push with such drive and determination as she raced through the finish line. She has faced so many obstacles and hurdles these past 3 years that coming out the top winner just made my heart sing!

As she walked over to where we were standing, we were throwing her high fives and many words of congratulations! I stood there with great pride while other parents, teachers and students looked on and congratulated our gold-winning track-star.  I also remember looking on with a big smile and thinking to myself, “that’s right...that’s MY daughter!”

I couldn’t be more proud of you, Ellie!!! Determination is the ability to keep pushing no matter what obstacles are put in your path! Your determination yesterday was unbreakable, so never doubt yourself and never give up....keep pushing and keep reaching for the stars!

xoxo,


Mommy