My Little Runner
“So does his older brother run too?”
I hemmed and I hawed, and well, yeah, uh, yeah….then I internally punched myself in the face and said, “Yes, yes he also runs. He does Healthy Kids Running Series and Special Olympics.”
This was a conversation I had last night at Track Camp. Brian, my youngest, has proclaimed to us that he wants to be an athlete. And for now, his sports are basketball, soccer, and running.
So I signed him up for track camp which runs 12 sessions throughout the month of June. I used to enjoy running many moons ago and am excited that Brian is giving it a chance.
While watching the camp last night, I got into a conversation with another mom. In talking about our kids, when she asked me that question, I was caught off-guard. I don’t know why I stumbled upon an answer.
The Truth About My Son
Kevin is a runner.
He has run more races (Healthy Kids) than many of his age peers and he does the Special Olympics track meet every spring. If that doesn’t qualify him as a runner, I don’t know what does.
So why didn’t I think of Kevin in doing when preparing for this post? Why did I specifically wait for the track camp to start? I already have tons of pictures of Kevin running.
So why did I stumble? Because of his disabilities?
Why is it, when asked to do the post for and talk about my little athlete at home, I only thought of including Brian in the post, and not Kevin?
Overcoming Internal Bias
Sometimes our own internal biases are shown to us in unexpected ways, and I am now so very grateful that I did take on this BODYARMOR assignment because it has turned out to be more than an ordinary sponsored post.
Both my kids run. Both my kids are little athletes, just in their own ways.
There are so many opportunities for sports programs for disabled kids. Kevin participates in some of those. And other programs, like HKRS, have been very accommodating and inclusive toward us. I detailed another great story about Kevin coming in last place in another article.
And, both have unique nutritional needs.
Mom confession–my kids don’t drink water. They don’t like it and I never really forced the issue and encouraged it. I am constantly pushing extra calories into Kevin, so juice calories never bothered me.
But we never really liked sports drinks, that is, the older generation of sports drinks. I never liked the taste, think they are too salty but I often wondered if juice and milk were enough.
And the few times I did let Brian purchase one of the other drinks, he chooses electric blue or fluorescent green which look so incredibly fake to me. Like drinking paint or antifreeze. Drinks don’t come in those colors!
But I still worry about them being hydrated. With 90 minutes of track camp on a warm summer evening, I worry.
And with Kevin being non-speaking, I worry. A few hours down by the creek fishing on a hot summer afternoon, I worry.
Thankfully, finally, someone has updated sports drinks! It’s about time!
As a mom, here is why I like Body Armor, just in addition to liking the taste of these drinks and we do not like the other brands.
- Premium sports drink with no artificial flavors or sweeteners
- A healthier alternative to traditional sports drinks
- BODYARMOR provides your body with Superior Hydration
- Potassium-packed electrolytes
- Coconut water
- Vitamins
- High in potassium, low in sodium
We tried all the flavors shown above, as they were sent to me from BODYARMOR. Brian says that strawberry banana and lemonade are his favorite. I like the berry. I forget which one my brother said he likes, but we all have since purchased more of them.
These are definitely going to be our go-to drinks this summer. We are a family of outdoors people and in addition to basketball and track camps, we will be fishing often.
Finally, there is a sports drink I feel ok about giving my kids. BODYARMOR is a better alternative to traditional sports drinks because it contains no artificial flavors or sweeteners and has potassium-packed electrolytes, vitamins, and coconut water.
This article was originally published in June of 2017.
