Yesterday my daughter did her first bike race. She's 8, riding her sister's mountain bike, and has been part of Endorphin Fitness, a youth tri-training group, for about four weeks. It was a stretch, but we figured it would be worth a shot...why not? Sounded like fun.
We showed up, got her signed in...strange, in bike races you wear your numbers sideways on your flank. I think I like tri-numbering better. Just write it on me so I don't have to worry about it, until the run at least.
It was a two-lap course, about 0.8 miles per lap. There were only 3 girls in her age division (7-10), but a fair number of boys. Here's a picture from the starting line.
Poor thing - the start line was the last time she was ever that close to the leaders...or even most of the riders. In fact, she came in last. Dead last. Of all the kids in her group, even the younger ones. By a not-insignificant margin. Bless her little heart.
But that's not the real point of this story. The point is how inspired I feel by her. She gutted it out. She knew how far behind she was and she kept at it. The sag riders worked with her to help her figure out better ways to gear the rolling course - she learned something from them and she learned something from herself. She can do this. And I learned something - if she can gut it out, SO CAN I. I can't be discouraged or feel sorry for myself if I fall to the back of the pack. It will happen. But I just need to keep moving and finish. I can feel a little crappy for myself after the race -- she did. But then she said, "that was fun. Next time I'm going to try to beat someone." She didn't let it ruin her evening. In fact, by the end of the night, she was trying to figure out when she'd be old enough to get a kid's pass to train at the YMCA in the off-season.
I love this kid. She is part of my family that I draw great inspiration from. And with that, I shall not falter. (But even if I do, they'll be there to give me a hug.)
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