A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more.
-Steve Prefontaine

Coop and his classmates had a big race on Friday and all of the parents were invited to make the trip to watch the big race.  Coop had been talking about it since Wednesday and his teachers had really hyped it up.  This was going to be their chance to shine in the spotlight and Mr. Coop-A-Doop couldn’t wait.

The years haven’t treated me well as of late but there was a time, back in my prime, where I could see the faster side of 4:30 in a mile on a very consistent basis.  Running is somewhere in his blood and I have high hopes for my left-handed little athlete!  I was excited to see this race! In the morning I packed my laptop with the GoPro so I could record a 1st person shot of the race with the CoopCam.  I spent the morning with my little man laughing about the race but I had, in the back of my mind, something nagging at me.

Thursday night I had been invited to a kick-off meeting of sorts at work.  There’s a new project that was beginning and I had the opportunity to play a key role.  The kick-off meeting was scheduled for the same time as the big race!  After struggling with the decision, I decided to skip the race and do the meeting.  Coop’s teachers were kind enough to share these pictures with me and afterward, Mr. Coop couldn’t stop talking about his big race.  I asked him who won and he said, “Ben and Claire and Jaden and Landon and Nathan and…”  he continued to name all of the kids in his class until he said…, “Oh and Cooper!”  Then he said something that just broke my heart.  With the biggest smile he said, “And Daddy couldn’t go” and then went right on talking about his big victory.

There will be other such disappointments I’m sure and someday I hope Mr. Man will understand that life is filled with difficult choices but it hit home that kids definitely know what’s going on around them and they’re impacted by the choices we make.

I can’t promise I’ll make the next race but I’ll be sure to work hard to keep the life’s balance in tact.