here's the thing about running.

i'm not a runner. i'm really slow. it's really hard. but there is this huge sense of being able to accomplish something tough when you run through those mental walls. and the feeling you get when you are done. and the way your brain just lets go of everything and concentrates on breathing and the music and the sunshine (or rain).

i am not a runner, but i believe in the power of running. i have seen 8-year-old girls light up the world with smiles at the end of a 5K they didn't think they could finish. i have seen my own niece, who is 9-years-old, fly through a 5K in 24 minutes. she wants to run a 10K in 2 weeks with me, and i have no doubt she'll be waiting for me at the finish line.

yesterday, after Easter dinner, all the kids in the extended family decided to run a 5K to train for the cancer run we're all signing up for in a couple of weeks. we are running on behalf of my husband's sister, who was diagnosed with breast cancer last november. i think about 20 family members are going to participate. anyway, the kids wanted to practice, since most of them don't run. we had our doubts about some of them, so my sister-in-law and i drove the sag wagon and a few other people hopped on four-wheelers. my brother-in-law led 12 kids down the streets of our town. all of them made it. every single one of them. and not one of them complained about it--in fact, the determination they had to finish was motivating. NOW they are all talking about practicing for the next few weeks so they do even better.

who knew 7-year-old kids could run like that?