Watching Monet over the years has taught us a lot about perseverance and tenacity. One time she decided to start doing pull-ups. So she would do one each day. Then increase it and pretty soon she could do 17 pull ups at a time. What impressed me was the way she stuck with her goal.
She has patience in goal setting. That to me is such a golden trait. She put a quote on her wall that says: "Hard work beats talent, when talent isn't working hard." Monet is petite and in sports her size has been a bit of a challenge. She has to have better ball skills, dribbling and shooting than the other girls. In lacrosse she has perfected some neat little spin moves and ground ball techniques to outplay her bigger, stronger opponents.
So early in the track season she ran a mile in about 6:30. That is so great! Better than I ever did. But we knew that she was faster than that. She would finish her first races and didn't even look winded at all.
So every meet she would shave some time off that mile. She was also running the 400 and 800 and doing really well. She would always take first place out of the girls in her grade. But we wanted her to run to her potential, and she never really did look very tired.
She really wanted to go to the district meet and was planning to qualify. So we looked up online what the best times were from the previous year at district. The first place seventh grader came in at 6:04. But the best in 7th, 8th, and 9th was an 8th grader whose time was 5:56. Monet looked at that and set her goal as 5:55.
She practiced by running on the treadmill mostly. She'd set the treadmill fast enough to run a mile at her race pace and she would do her best. One time she finished 3/4 of a mile at race pace. Other times it was more, sometimes less. We had to buy a new treadmill because ours was too slow.
One morning she came up and said she was super out of shape from Spring Break. She said a 6 minute mile wasn't happening. I went downstairs to find the incline set super high! I had been walking earlier and she didn't realize she was running uphill at an 8% grade. Hahaha.
Anyway, race day came. Monet ran her guts out. She did everything right. She ran the first two laps somewhat slowly. She was quite a bit behind a couple girls but I could tell she was just biding her time and not wanting to start out too fast and burn out. Then that third lap she kicked it into gear and passed several girls, including the one in the front. I think she was surprised! She ran in so hard and the other girl just barely edged her out in the end.
Monet looked bummed that she didn't get first.
I was so excited because I saw how fast she had just run those last two laps. I was calling to her from across the track. "Monet!" Just trying to get her attention. "Monet! Five Fifty Five!!!!" She did it! She got her goal. I was so happy for her.
She immediately broke into this huge smile and was excited to have just shaved 15 seconds off her next best time. It was awesome. I was so proud of my girl! It is hard to get beat by a sliver of a second. But what I love about track is how individual it is. Where I finish my marathons never matters to me. I want to beat MY best time and know that I gave it everything I had. That is what feels good!
Monet and Simone joined a track club in our area that spring and she eventually got her time to the point where she was averaging a 5:40 mile pace. They run a slightly shorter race in that USATF age group, it is a 1500 instead of a 1600. But when you figure out the pace, it was the equivalent of a 5:40 mile. I am sooooooo proud of her!
Simone loved her races too. But times weren't important to her. She just wanted to come in first place. :) We have their elementary school race this Friday and her goal is to win the whole thing. I hope she does! Her first track practice little 8 year old Simone ran a mile in 6:30. She was crying, but she did it! Kinda funny. When the coaches told her not to stop, she didn't understand that she could still slow down. She soon learned that she didn't have to run the whole thing super, super fast and she could still win.
