So over the past few weeks, I’ve been searching for super hero t-shirts.

I wanted to get ones for Jodie and I to wear during her first 10k race. A Wonder Woman shirt just felt appropriate because Jodie IS a wonder woman!

But honestly, it was near impossible to find super hero t-shirts for women, let alone t-shirts with female super heroes on them!

The only few I could really find that weren’t impossible to get were just a tad bit too ridiculous for me.

So in the end I settled on a couple of men’s t-shirts with The Flash logo on them (which I did feel was appropriate for our race!).

But I was still surprised and disappointed that there wasn’t more female super hero apparel easily available for women (let alone more female super heroes show by mainstream media!). There were Barbie t-shirts and “Girl Power” t-shirts…but no SUPER HEROES.

I know this is a random thing to complain about, but it really bothered me.

Why aren’t our girls encouraged to be super strong. Super Fast. Super POWERFUL!?!

And then I realized WHY I had become obsessed with finding a super hero shirt for Jodie…

Because I wanted to express to her that I thought that all of her hard work, strength and determination made her a “SUPER HERO!”

Super Hero Mom Jodie!

For the last month, if even that long, we’d been training for a 10k race.

Before this past month, we hadn’t really done any running. Lots of weight training…a few sprints, but no real running of any length.

She was nervous to commit to a 10k knowing that we had only a few weeks to train. The last time she’d run that far, she’d spent months working up to it and training hard. And here I was telling her that she was going to go from never really running to running 6.2 miles straight.

I told her that she would be fine, but, while she trusted me, there was definitely doubt in her eyes.

But despite her doubt, she threw herself whole-heartedly into the training.

She focused on eating clean and sticking to her eating program even during stressful days. She stepped up her weekly workouts and pushed herself harder and further than she had before.

She made time for a healthy lifestyle even when there wasn’t time to spare between work and taking care of her beautiful two-year-old daughter.

Jodie committed to the 10k and didn’t let anything deter her from success.

And today all of her hard work paid off.

While there were no big awards…No huge paychecks….No huge public praise…Jodie did run her first official 10k race with a personal best average mile time.

But what is more important than the fact that she ran a fast mile time is what she proved to herself.

I think that during all of the training, Jodie began to believe more and more in herself. Her confidence climbed.

And today…she just gained concrete proof of how incredibly strong she truly is.

Today Jodie proved something to herself. Today Jodie became her daughter’s personal super hero (whether or not Jodie or her daughter know it).

While Jodie’s daughter won’t remember this race, she will witness other of her mother’s super hero feats. She will witness her mother’s strength, determination and perseverance throughout her life as she grows up.

And these feats of strength that she’ll witness, will lead her to become a super hero herself.

There may not be many female super heroes out there in the mainstream media or on girls’ and women’s t-shirts, but there are plenty of female super heroes that live among us every day…

They are fighting every day to become stronger, healthier, and more confident individuals. They are pushing themselves to accomplish things that they didn’t previous believe possible.

They face fears and risk disappointment and failure…

These everyday super heroes don’t have any super powers and most don’t even have a super hero suit (unless their friend does happen to buy them a The Flash t-shirt….)

And, unfortunately, everyday super heroes don’t always get “the bad guy.”

But the crazy part is…despite all the risks, fears and failures…despite all the setbacks and disappointments, these everyday super heroes never give up!

And honestly, the fact that these female super heroes accomplish such great feats without any super powers makes them even more awesome!

Jodie…You are an amazing and strong woman! You are an inspiration to all of us and more importantly, you are an inspiration to a future generation of women!