Got up with the kids to do the Freedom Festival 5k. I was so excited we were "running as a family!" Until my daughter said "um, you don't expect me to run with you, right?" Then she finished in 21 minutes . Brat, but good for her. She runs so hard in soccer, she probably does a 5 por 10 k every game and she is FAST on the field. She said the 5k was only a moderate effort and felt easy compared to soccer. So that,axe me proud. My son on the other hand who comes home from XC to report his mileage like he's all that, ran the first mile with his sis and lost steam/confidence completely and finished 4 minutes after me. He started in on all the reasons he held back, lost steam, had a bad race. And hoping to teach him something about reality I said "son, there is ALWAYS a million reasons why we don't do our best and they don't even deserve mentioning them if you think they are excuses. In running, you either do or you do not finish with a respectable time. If you didn't try your hardest, no one's interested in why not. We want to hear what went right". He was quiet but I'm not sure if he was taking in a dose of running math reality, or if he was mad. In all fairness, this was his first attempt at 'racing' so I pointed out that starting out too fast before you can find a suitable sustainable pace is just as bad as just taking it easy and running slowly (time wise). I don't know what he'll take a way fom that. Fourteen year old boys, at least mine, seem delusional about their abilities. It's a cross between helping the, see reality so they can improve their performance, and allowing them to build a little confidence without self deceit. Not sure I'm the one to teach him those lessons though. Mom's "don't understand" . | 