See Finley Run

One thing we noticed early on as Finley got up on two feet

was how fast she was. I don’t know if it’s because she’s so low to the ground or if there’s some instinctive ability that switches on when we need her to do something, but that kid can run.

I think it’s more of the latter because whenever it’s time to wipe her nose she sprints for the couch. Or anytime her naked butt is showing, she has to do a lap around the house. It must have to do with escape and freedom, because it seems like we’re always chasing her. In fact, much like my parents did with me, we’ve purchased a little harness to keep her from running away or into the street. It’s a little monkey backpack but the tail of the monkey happens to be just long enough for mom and dad to hold onto.

For the longest time, I was convinced that our little FloJo was going to challenge peers for the short distance sprints. I was sure she was destined for flat track glory. That was until this past weekend.

This was our second year as a family to do the family walk version of the Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis. It’s a 5k (just over 3 miles) walk around downtown Seattle. It’s a big fundraiser that features holiday costumes from pretty much all of the entrants.

So we loaded up the stroller, complete with bows and Christmas lights. I donned my Winnie-the-Pooh costume and Heather had her Santa hat and Christmas sunglasses.

As much fun as it was seeing the other folks with elf, snowflake, and candy cane costumes, it’s still a bit of a hike and for a toddler like Finley, the first mile or so of people watching starts to get old and she wants out. We decided we’d wait until the last mile or so to let her get out – that way the crowd would have thinned out and we could always throw her back in the stroller and not have far to go to the finish, if she got tired or cranky.

And sure enough as we made the turn for the last mile we pulled her out and set her on the ground, complete with her backpack/harness. I was expecting her to shoot off right away, but she was still checking out the scene and wasn’t ready to go anywhere fast.

Finally, we had to encourage her to get moving, since we were beginning to get passed by the rest of the field. So she started to walk. Of course, her steps aren’t the biggest so her walk was not much faster than when we were standing still.

We kept encouraging her to pick up the pace, but she didn’t want to have anything to do with it. Then, out of nowhere she started to jog. It definitely wasn’t a sprint, but it was enough to get me into a quick walk behind her, as I held on to the leash. And she kept going and kept going. Suddenly, my mini Usain Bolt was turning into more of a pre-Prefontaine. She was turning into a distance runner. The best part was that as she jogged, she kept her hands in her coat pocket, so she had this little upper body twisting thing going on. But she kept on going.

I guess-timated that she easily went a half mile without stopping, which for her first go-round at 2-years old is pretty darned good. Of course, when we got to a steeper hill, things began to slow down and I eventually carried her across the finish line on my shoulders. But she did a good section of the last mile on her own.

Obviously, she saw it as a whole lot of fun in a wide open world, not a race or exercise. But, that’s probably the best way to approach running. It’s probably the best way to approach anything, come to think of it. It will be interesting to see what she’s like in a year, and see how much farther she can go. Maybe each year she goes a little bit more, until she runs the whole thing on her own. And maybe, just maybe, Momma and Poppa can run right along side. It would be fun to go from the stroller to running. Who knows, maybe in a few more years, she can push me!