I have run cross country, track... have sprinted, run long-distance, done hurdles, relays, the works... and tonight I saw my little 6 yo out-run me.
To top it off, it's the first time little Jee has run with us. I was reading bedtime stories to him and his sister and he overheard me say to the Big Vee, "Hey, let's go out on a run after this."
Jee piped up with, "I want to go! I do. I do!"
"But we run really fast. You won't be able to keep up."
"Wha...? I can run faster than you can!"
"But we run a really long ways, several miles. You won't be able to make it back home."
"Wha...? Did you SEE me last night? I did like 600 jumping jacks. I have endurenss." (He did do 600+. It takes quite a while to do that many reps.)
"But it's your bedtime."
"And I'm not tired! See!" (he spreads his eyes wide open with his fingers)
"But it's raining."
"I love rain!"
"But you're not dressed properly."
And off he runs to dress himself exactly like how we are dressed so that there are no more excuses for why he can't go.
"Fine, you can come... But you have to keep up!"
For nearly the entire run, he was *ahead* of both Vee and Me.
It was so awesome. The rain was coming down slow & gentle, just enough to tell the body that Mother Nature is taking care of hydration issues. But the best part was seeing sparky little Jee running full speed ahead of me.
Even though I warned him to pace himself, he took off like a bullet. Vee had to sprint to get him at the intersections. It was after dark and street lighting is bad. We protected him at intersections.
Jee's little body is pure lean muscle, runner's muscle, thin and swift. He eats mostly fruits, more than 5 a day. He was telling me the other day when I tried to feed him a meat & potatoes meal, "Mom, I'm not a carnivore. I'm a vegetarian or a vegan. I don't know (pause for thought) I'm a health-avore. That's not a word is it... I guess I'm a fruitavore." He's 6 yo and still at around the 50 lb mark. Our cat weighs nearly 20. So, he's 2 1/2 cats worth. I digress.
The sweet spot of this run was the block before the sprint. (The last block is the sprint.) Jee finally was slowing down and asked to be carried. Vee hoisted him up on his shoulders and kept running. I looked over as we ran and saw Jee and Vee backlit by the occasional porch light, Jee's face upturned in the rain, laughing into the night. Vee's shoulders spread wide and strong to carry him easily. I cried. I knew I would never be able to capture that moment fully enough.
The second sweet spot was hearing Vee tell Jee, "Ok, now I've got to put you down. I need to run fast." The second Jee's feet touched the ground, Vee swivelled and sprinted off so fast it was actually a bit scary. Seeing someone disappear into the night like that is a bit disconcerting. Jee followed in his wake and I got to see my children, 1st gen and 2nd gen taking off into the distance. Again, pure beauty.
I'm so lucky.
