My Best Birthday Gift Ever: The Toronto Zoo Oasis

After training all spring for my first 10 km races, I shifted my focus to training with my not quite 10-year old to get her ready for the 5 km Zoo Oasis run late September 2012.  The running began back in March and was very sporadic throughout the spring and summer, and picked up more late August and September as race day was approaching!  We started slow and work our way up, adding distance each step of the way, taking it back a notch from time to time.  We worked to help her to develop a more positive internal talk so that she could motivate herself to keep going when she would get discouraged and want to quit during a run.

I had to learn how to encourage her rather then frustrate her... know how much to push when she felt that going a little bit further was unattainable, and recognizing when to call it a day... a fine line with my sensitive girl.  I learned about myself in the process and we learned to better communicate.  I got to learn how my girl ticks a little better and saw her confidence soar as she began to see herself improve -- we kept a running log with distances and times.  It was a gradual process, but worth all the joys and frustrations along the way to see my baby girl be more confident and so proud of her accomplishments at the end of the day!

She wasn't so sure she'd ever be able to do a full 5 km.  Though we did a number of trail runs, come the fall, she began to get motivated by running the 0.8 km loop around the block.  She could track her distance and knew how many loops she had to do to reach the goal she had set for that day.  It seemed to help her to keep going mentally, and one day, she surprised the both of us when she set a goal she hadn't told me about and was determined to go from 3km to 5km.  She did it!  And before race day so that her confidence grew rather then fear with the upcoming race.

On the whole, it was a fantastic experience that led to my best birthday gift ever: a day where I got to share something I love to do with my entire family.

Julia and I ran the 5 km race together in 32 minutes!!!  AMAZING!  My younger two ran the 1 km Cub Run with my husband.  Every one of us got to participate in this race day.

I am so excited that we are able to begin instilling confidence and self esteem in our girls through sport (soccer too), while adopting a healthy active lifestyle as the norm for them.

I look forward to my younger two being old enough to join Julia and I for the longer distances!  Who knows, maybe we'll even get my husband to join in on the longer distances in the near future!

Thanks to my family and the Toronto Zoo Oasis Run for making this my best birthday ever!