Disappointment. That's exactly what I could see in Cassie's eyes. Now I'm not going to say, "you don't understanding disappointment until you see it on your child's face," but man, it stings a whole lot to see your kids let down. This is especially true when they are excited for something that you really hope they will grow to love - like running. And while our fall Sunday morning started out this way, we really made the best of it, and I'm so proud of my big little girl for persevering through and enjoying a great run with her Dad on a great day.

My two oldest kids up bright and early to head down to their first/second 5K race.

Let's start at the beginning. I'm a big fan of No-Shave November, and I fully embrace any support for awareness of men's (and any) cancers. A few weeks ago I came across an e-mail with a planned race with a "Movember" theme, and even better, it was going to be run over one of the bridges that crosses the Connecticut river - from one town to the next. This race was so cool that I thought that instead of going all out by myself, I would see if my kids wanted to run with me. Cassie (now 9) had already run a 5K in the Spring, and Kyle (now 7) was starting to finish our 1 mile runs around the block with ease.

Once the kids heard the details, they were in. On the top of their list was winning a mustache-shaped medial for finishing the race, and getting to sport their very own stick-on mustache for the race. I was more excited for running over the bridge than they were at first, but I knew that this would change once we got up there.

The kids in front of the Arrigoni Bridge in Middletown, CT.

Now, all this being said, it is fall in New England, and I wasn't really sure about the weather for the day. It has been getting cooler in the morning, and certainly if we were going to have snow, I don't think that the kids would have done well in poor conditions. So instead of signing up before the race, I figured we would just play it by ear, and sign up at the event.

The kids were super excited for the race all week, especially Cassie. Now I am not going to push my kids into any sport that they don't want to do, but if any of them gets into running, I would love that. They made no fuss about getting up early in the morning, and after getting all bundled up, we headed out to grab some donuts (kids) and coffee (me) before making our way down to the race start.

It was a beautiful, crisp, and chilly New England morning, but we had on our gear, and I knew that once we got running, we would be all set. As we approached the registration tent, we could hear the music and see that there was going to be a fun after-party once all the racers got back to the finish line. We cued up in the line, waiting our turn to register for the race.

Now, I'm a fan of the Hartford Marathon Foundation, and they put on a lot of great races around CT and New England, but this day was not one of their best moments for our little running clan. As I got to the front of the line I was told that registration was closed, and there would be no race-day registration. Even with my two excited young kids, there was just no way to let us into the 5K race.

The whole thing seemed pretty un-American, and it was handled in a pretty snotty way, but so much worse was the look on Cassie's face. She was heartbroken. I was proud of her for holding back her tears, but man was she disappointed. We made the long walk back to the car, passing lots of kids and adults with stick-on mustaches. I even ran into a medical school buddy of mine who was running the race with his three boys. The whole things was just so sad.

The car ride home was silence. I was super upset with myself for not registering the week before. To put the whole thing in perspective, a lot of terribleness had just happened in Paris, and this was nothing like that, but in the moment it was pretty sad. And then it hit me, we were all dressed up for running. It was still a beautiful day. And the one thing that Cassie had never done was come on a 3.1 mile training run with me. See, the kids normally run a 0.5 mile loop around our neighborhood, but my training runs go out and back for 3.1 miles. While we might not be able to run this cool race together, it didn't have to mean that we couldn't spend some time running together.

Cassie not so sure if this training run was going to be as good as our planned race together

It took a little convincing, but by the time that we got home she was in. We grabbed our water bottles, and made our way out to the fire hydrant across the street to get started. Of course the run was great. The day was beautiful and after about 0.5 miles in, the fiasco of the race registration was literally behind us.

I again learned some important things when attempting adult performance from children in sports. Cassie got a pretty good cramp in her left shoulder, and then in her stomach on the run. Instead of pushing through, we took some time to run and walk. There was so much wonderful fall still around us, that they walking was great. We also played a little game of picking out how far we would run to, and how far we would walk. And of course, we made a pit stop at the playground in the park which marks the halfway point of the run.

Every good training run with a 9 year old needs a little pit stop at the playground!

After lots of good joking about "poop factories" (they actually made one of these in our town!) and answering questions about what I do when I'm out on this run, we made it back in record time 43:08 (not including the playground time). It would have made a great 5K race time, and my guess is that Kyle would have kept up. And the fact is, it made a great 5K training time, and by the time that we got back, we both realized that we got to spend a great morning running together, and the run was very good.

When I got back from heading back out and running my race pace 5K (24:50 - not too shabby), we talked in the kitchen about resilience. I told Cassie that in running you have your good days and your bad days, but if you just keep on running, you will always find that you feel better when you get back from the run. She agreed, and we decided to commemorate the day by making our own medal. I found a military ID tag site, and we printed up the following dog tag:

11/15/15

3.1 MILES

WITH MY DADDY

MY VERY FIRST

TRAINING RUN

I'll post the picture her of Cassie with her medal when it comes in. I'm so proud of you little girl, and it was a pleasure to get to run with you this morning!

Race: Bill Landers Building Bridges Memorial 5K

Date: May 9, 2015

Location: Glastonbury, CT

Official Time: 34:31

Official Lap: 11:07

Place: 301 / 463

Race Stats

Speed: ★ ★ ★ ★ (nice and open)

Hills: ★ ★ (small hills here and there)

Crowd: ★ ★ ★ ★ (great turnout)

Party: ★ ★ ★ .5 (a nice time with the folks from town)

T-Shirt: ★ ★ ★ (Bill Landers and I have a similar look!)

Perhaps the best race that I have ever run in. Not because of my time, but rather because it was my oldest daughter's first 5K race ever, and I had a blast running it with her and her friend from school. If you want to see all the details of the race, and some great photos in the photo album, check out the web page dedicated to this year's Bill Landers 5K race.

Sure parents talk about how cool it is to get to do things with their kids, and how special all this stuff is, but FOR REAL this was awesome! It all actually started when I was away in San Francisco last week for a conference. When I was coming out of one of our last sessions, my cell phone rang, and it appeared to be my wife. When I picked up, I quickly found out that it was my 8-year old calling me.

She had something exciting that she wanted to tell me. See, you may remember this, but they still have elementary school kids run a timed mile as part of P.E. Cassie had run her mile in about 11:30 back in the fall. Of late, I've been trying to get the kids more active outside, and I have had her running our 0.5 mile loop around our neighborhood a few nights a week. She's actually taken to it nicely, and I even time her now to give her a little personal motivation. It's been fun, and she enjoys the running.

Well, she was super excited to tell me that with her practice mile at school (they run the official one next week), she ran a 9:00 minute mile! Not only that, she also knew that I had the upcoming Bill Landers 5K race (there is a part of the race registration where the elementary schools compete to see who can register the most runners), and she wanted to run the 5K race with me!

I was so excited. Seriously! I told everyone at the conference that night the story. She had never run three miles before, so I wasn't sure how she would do, but I told her we would just take it as it comes, have a good time, set a good chilled pace and walk when we needed to. She was game, and I was elated. How cool that my kids were actually going to start getting into something that I really love too!

We did some math on her 9:00 minute mile, and gave ourselves some time to walk if needed, and set a goal of 40:00 for the race. Now here is the point where you know that this is a seriously cool thing. Most of the time I would be trying to figure out where I was going to come in with my own personal time - I would have probably shot for 25:00 to 25:30 for this race, but I was even more excited to see if we could: 1) finish the race and 2) get it all in under a good goal for her. When you make that switch from, "man, I'm not going to be able to run this race at a personal best for me," to "I'm so psyched to see how my little one can do in this thing," that's when this gets cool as a parent.

So the day of the race gets here and it's as awesome as I had thought. My little guy, Kyle, did a great job in the kids fun run. He's a little shy, but did a great job. He is quite the little T ball player, and I think will have a love of sports and athletics. I see him running this 5K and some more when he gets a little older too.

After his race, I was getting so excited to start the race with Cassie. We shot some great photos and were talking about how fun the run was going to be, and how we would take it easy if we needed to. Just then we ran into one of her best friends from school, and we decide to run all together.

For just a moment there was that feeling a parent gets when he realizes that your kids' friends are as important, and sometime more important, than their parents. For a second I had a twinge of, "maybe this won't be as special" if we don't run this together, just the two of us. And then I remembered this great book that I am reading right now about youth sports (Just Let the Kids Play, Bob Bigelow, 2001), and some of my leadership behaviors skills from my training at work last year. In a flash I thought, "no, this is going to be so much more fun for Cassie and me if we all run this together."

And I was so correct. These two had such a good time running together, and I had such a blast running with them. In fact, they were so much fun that I couldn't help but get shots of them running along the way, and Tweeting them as we went. All the chitter-chatter about elementary school was hilarious. They loved the paper cups of water, and that you can just throw them on the ground. The whole thing was just so much fun - something that us adults sometimes lose when we are trying to push ourselves for personal bests and the such with these races.

I did get a glimpse of my daughters competitive edge though. At the end she asked if we could sprint it on in. She still had plenty to go, and we were able to pass a few runners on the way into the finish line. I just love this picture that my wife got of us finishing together. It was really a special moment, and I will cherish this one for a long time.

So I will be looking forward to our next 5K together, and I can't wait to see if the other kids will find a love for running too. I'll have to sneak in some races to keep me on my clock for the race season this year, but I don't think I'll ever be able to turn down running these races with the kids. It's just too much fun, and too special. If you haven't done this ever or in a while, I recommend registering with an 8- or 9-year old for a 5K one of these weekends, and run it at their pace and see the race through their world. It's just too cool!