Twisted Turkey Trail Tussle

"Stop running," is a phrase that frequently comes off my lips.

Olivia runs in the library. She runs in the mall. She runs in the house. She runs in the grocery store. She runs in our neighbor's house. She runs at the park. She loves to run.

The only time she doesn't want to run is (apparently) during a sanctioned run in which her parents had high hopes and were excited to write about her first race. I was ready to write about how well she did and what a big moment this race would be in her 2-year-old life.

The race was the Twisted Turkey Trail Tussle at a nature preserve near Gettysburg. Benny signed up for the 10-mile race. Olivia and I signed up for the 1-mile family fun run.

I was confident that she would be able to complete the race without any problems. I was wrong.

As soon as Benny left us to run his race, Olivia started crying about how she wanted to run with Dadda. I bought a hot chocolate to coax her into running happiness. She drank the warm drink with a smile and then returned to whining.

When our race started, Olivia walked, holding my hand, at a snail's pace. It was the slowest Olivia has moved since the day she learned to walk. She cried for me to carry her despite my pleas of "just keep moving," sounding like Dory from Finding Nemo.

After one hour with an unhappy toddler and worried that Benny would finish running 10 miles in the same time it took Olivia and I to walk 1 mile, I spotted a shortcut. We walked down that hill and finished without an official time.

Olivia smiled when we saw Benny cross the finish line. I forgot to snap a family photo of us at our first turkey trot.

We'll try again next November. Maybe by then, Olivia will be ready to run.