When Amara ran her last 5K she didn't time quite well and it really bothered her perfectionist self. Amara had opted to run with her friend, who it turned out, preferred to walk most of the race. Amara didn't want to leave her friend behind so she stuck it out but was very disappointed that she didn't come anywhere near her time in her first two 5K races (she had done her first two races with times of 11 minute miles and that third was 56 minutes.).
That race however, ended up being a great learning experience for Amara. In the days following, I shared with Amara how her experience gave her the gift of understanding about friendship. We talked multiple times how when you have a friend you can either do two things. You can chose option 1, which is what she did. She gave up her goals (of beating her previous time) in order to support her friend who didn't run so fast. Amara didn't want to leave her friend behind. I explained to her that if she were to choose this option in future times in her life, than she would have to just accept the outcome without resentments or regrets. With this option, she would be supporting a friend unconditionally. Or there was option #2, which was that a friend would support her and say, don't worry about me; go do your thing. How would she know which way to go? Each situation would be different and she would have to learn to listen to her heart.
Amara is a bright little girl who thinks deeply about things. She thought about our conversations for days and finally (after repeatedly, almost obsessively, telling the story of how she didn't run well and how unfair it was) let it go. But she was adamant that the next time she ran she would go without her friend. She had her mind set on trying to attain her goal of doing better timing than her previous races. Just last weekend, Amara had that opportunity. Along with several classmates from her school's running club, Amara and her dad got up before the crack of dawn so she could head out for her second year at the Oakland Running Festival.
Don and I were very proud of Amara's determination. She had prepared in the weeks prior and when the race began she was pumped. She did have a running partner (an adult and another kid who was a great runner himself) and when Amara crossed that finish line her time was an astonishing 9 minutes and 18 seconds. She had made her goal and man, was she thrilled. She wore her medal proudly for the entire day. But Amara walked away a winner in a far more important way; she had learned a valuable life lesson about friendship and that was better than any medal or great timing.
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| Amara had gone to the Girl Scout Princes Ball the night before the race and she wanted to run the race with her fake nails on. I loved that! |
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| Nearing the finish line. |
Olympic friend
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