When Girls on the Run (GOTR) first came to town, we were new homeschoolers, and Yanni was either right at the age to do it, or a little too old. We saw a family from church at the playground, and they told us about it. I filed that away for the future.

Last year at homeschool track and field day, Kristine Durian, the homeschool GOTR coach was there recruiting new families. That’s all I needed to know–there was a team! We would be on that team. And this year Imani was old enough to participate, and we signed her up. I also asked my play group buddies to sign their third graders up so Imani wouldn’t be in it alone.

What I didn’t expect was how everyone in the group would bond. How Imani, who is usually too shy to engage with a group of new kids learned everyone’s name right away, and started seeking them out in public. Like how Lillie Ann and Richelle, the coach’s daughters were on crew for High School Musical 2, and they all made it a point to chat during intermission.

There is something about working out with someone that brings you closer. I got to know my friends better walking around the track, and even met some other mothers.

Yesterday was the 5K we’d been training for for 10 weeks. I was scared to death. Even though we’d done it in practice, even though Imani and I had done it in the neighborhood, this was official.

So without camera, and on the first hot day of the year, we joined 2,000 3rd-5th grade girls and several adults in running/walking through downtown. There were people cheering all along the way. That was amazing. Imani and I kept up with each other, even as we lost track of our friends.

Her feet hurt. My toes started rubbing against the bottom of my shoes. We kept going. We walked a lot. And then Imani would start running fast, and I’d have to keep up with her, a water bottle in each hand. She’d found one of her teammates, and had run to catch up with them. We saw a lot of Kristine and Richelle. Then we ran into Amethyst, the big sister of Imani’s friend Lavender. On the last mile, we found Hope, also from the team, with her mother, Christie.

We were walking when we turned the corner towards the stadium. I made a deal with Imani to run from the outside corner of the stadium until we were done. It seemed to go on forever, as we entered the stadium and ran around the field to get to the finish line. Imani got a medal. She was so thrilled. We did it!