ST. GEORGE — This past weekend my family and I made the great escape to a land where skies are blue and you don’t have to squint through dirt and muck to see 3 feet in front of you. A land where ice skating is a leisurely pastime, not a vehicular contact sport.

Yes, we hightailed it to St. George to run the St. George Half Marathon.

This has become a yearly tradition for our family, but in all honesty, it’s an excuse to remember a life sans six layers of clothing.

What makes this a truly family affair is the Tuff Kids run offered in conjunction with the half marathon. The days when my oldest daughter allowed me to run with her are long gone, but my youngest still thinks I’m cool — and I still let her believe that. Since I was still deemed acceptable in her eyes, I took advantage and joined her in the half-mile run.

What I learned in those few short minutes was a good reminder of what I really want running to be for me.

Kids run without expectation.

I asked Ali how she wanted to run her race. Her answer was simple. “I don’t know. I’ll just run.” Well, OK! Sounds easy enough. There were no pre-race jitters. No nervousness. No anxious waiting. No pressure. Contrasted with my mentally frantic state before many races, her approach is much more enjoyable.

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Kids don’t take themselves too seriously. You know the people. Maybe you are one of these people. I’m guilty of being one of these people: No smiling and completely focused with the latest and greatest gear strapped, tied, charged and ready to go to hurl us through space as quickly as possible. No, kids have a totally different approach. Ali was all smiles as people cheered her through her course. She pointed out the mountains on our left. She noticed the bridge we ran over and how it sounded like we were running on tin cans. She waved to the kids ahead of us as they came back on the out-and-back course. She was in the moment and the moment was pure joy.

Kids are their own biggest cheerleaders.

At one point during our run, Ali reached over to hold my hand. Not five seconds later a little girl named Gracie came up and asked if she, too, could hold our hands. She promptly grabbed Ali’s hand and there we were. Three girls holding hands running down the trail. Gracie mentioned that this was harder than she thought. Ali said that Gracie was doing great and said she liked her name and her shoes. On our way back we came up on an older girl in tears. She said her throat hurt and she couldn’t run. Ali was feeling strong, but without a second thought she stopped to walk with this girl. Then came Gracie who also stopped to walk with the crying girl. Other kids passed by and shouted their own encouraging words. No one cared about times. They only cared about each other.

Kids get excited over everything.

I’ve yet to see a kid take for granted all the free swag that comes with races that so many adults toss aside. Kids love the shirts. My kids have been known to keep flyers received in race bags. And, of course, nothing makes my kids happier than the post-race treats. As one of my daughters said, “These are the best granola bars in the world because I earned it!” I’m pretty sure I bought a box of the same granola bars at Smith’s last week, but I get her point. Those granola bars were hard won.

Kids are proud of their accomplishments no matter what the outcome.

Neither of my kids are known for their outrageous speed, but you’d never know that judging from our post-race pictures. From the looks of it, you’d think they’d won the entire race. They did something hard and they are proud. Ask most kids what their finish time was and most likely you’ll be answered with a blank stare. That’s because it really doesn’t matter to them. The goal was to finish and do their best and they did just that.

As a kid I dreamt of growing older. The idea of being in charge of every decision in my life was fantastically appealing. But with independence, I lost a little of the carefree girl who found the fun in everything. Thankfully I have two other carefree girls who are a constant reminder of the joys of being a kid. All I need now are some pigtails.

Kim Cowart is a wife, mother, 24-Hour Fitness instructor and marathoner who find more joy playing with the Easy Bake Oven than her own oven.

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