The Princess Run

OK,  normally I'm not a fan of all things princess-y, but I made an exception: the Princess Run. It's a 2K jaunt along the Oklahoma River that's for girls only. Adorable right? This is how excited Mia was.

 

Long story short, it turned into the Princess Carried By Daddy 2K.

Here's the column I wrote about the experience:

I should have known things would go wrong as soon as we got out of the car.
  Her adorable face twisted into a look of suspicion and contempt. My sparkling 2 1/2 -year-old morphed into a cranky mute in a matter of moments. Lesson learned: This is what happens when you disrupt nap time.   Maybe taking Mia to her first race was better in theory than in practice.   Sunday was the third annual Princess Run, a 2 kilometer jaunt along the Oklahoma River south of downtown. There is an ancillary race — the Little Dude Dash — that's a 1k for boys.   About 1,000 children participated, said a spokesman for Runhers, an Oklahoma City-based women's health organization that puts on the Princess Run.   Obviously, the race was ridiculously adorable. It was the most tutus I've ever seen.   We put Mia in a frilly pink tutu and her Kevin Durant jersey. She was, in my opinion, the epitome of cute. Except for the scowl of disdain on her face.   She was overwhelmed by the exciting, noisy event, which stole a bit of her nap time.   So my husband carried her the entire 1.2 miles except for a few steps along the way and a 20-yard meander across the finish. It became the Princess Carried By Daddy instead of the Princess Run.   We finished near the back of the pack feeling hot and sweaty.   Welcome to the family, kid. This is how your mom finishes races, too.   But winning isn't the point of running. Clearly it's not for me at least. The point is to take care of yourself. And to cross the finish line without a major medical event that results in a huge emergency room co-pay.   In Oklahoma, 30.4 percent of adults are obese, ranking us No. 11 nationally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 1 in 6 children is obese. We're getting fatter, and we're taking our kids with us.   As someone who struggles with her weight, I don't want my daughter to fight the same fights I do.   So we'll be back for the Princess Run again next year.
Even though she would have preferred napping this Sunday, I want her to grow up knowing that exercise is a part of normal life. It's just what we do. And sometimes we even do it in tutus.