I was so proud of Eve and her confidence yesterday! So happy that I was there to witness it. Yesterday was our final Girls on the Run practice before the big 5K race on Saturday. We were running laps around the field and the goal was to get 12 laps, which equals three miles. We joke a bit that our team should be called Girls on the Walk, because they aren’t real motivated to run this year, but yesterday Eve decided she was going to run the whole time and get those 12 laps! That alone was awesome. She was running with her best friend for a bit, then her friend started walking and Eve kept running. She caught up with me (and by caught up I mean I was a full lap behind her!) and, quite upset, told me that her friend was crying and mad at her because she wanted to keep running but her friend wanted them to walk together. She had told her friend that she was trying to do her personal best (something we talk A LOT about) and that she had set a goal for herself and wanted to achieve it. I totally encouraged that!! She kept running when I had to stop and walk too. I caught up with her friend soon after and we had a nice long chat. It’s hard to tell girls to just do their personal best and not try to compare, because they do compare and her friend was really upset that Eve’s “best” was better than her “best.” She was also upset because she wants to run the whole 5K with Eve and cross the finish line together, but since Eve can run it and she can’t, she thinks it won’t be fun. I felt bad for both of them. Eve wanted to run, but didn’t want to make her friend sad, and her friend just wanted to hang out with Eve and be together. I chatted with both of them and Eve made a plan to do her best, then jump back on the track when she saw her friend finishing so they could cross the finish line together (Eve for the second time).

I was so proud of Eve for standing her ground and working hard though. She ran 13 laps and was so proud of herself! She is now confident that she can run that 5K and excited for Saturday. Growing up is hard to do, but I’m so happy to see her growing confident and strong and still being a good friend. She often finds herself in tricky friend situations because she wants to be friends with everyone, but she’s hit the age where the drama begins. We talk a lot about how to navigate that scene while still remaining true to yourself. I’m so proud of her!