When 2.5 Miles is Awesome

Okay, my goal here is to finish this post in 15 minutes.  We’ll see how well I do! 😉

The reason I need to be brief is because I have a long day of canning ahead of me tomorrow, after an equally-long day of canning today. Here’s what most of my day looked like.

That’s me with DS#2, chopping tomatoes while he hands them to me.  He’s quite a helper when he wants to be!

The reason I even took the time to post tonight is because I wanted to share my very “proud mama” moment from last night.  We’ve chosen DS#1’s first official 5k, and it will be on September 16th.  He’s very excited, but I don’t think he’s nearly as excited as I am. 😉

Last night, I asked him if he wanted to go for a run, and he readily agreed.  When I asked him how far he wanted to go, he told me he wanted to go 2.5 miles.  I was a bit skeptical.  His last long run was 2 miles, and I was shooting for him to do 2.25, but he was insistent that he could do it.  One thing I will say about that kid is that he is determined! I love that about him. 😀

Because this was a big deal to him, I decided to take him to a local Metropark to run, so he could feel like a “real” runner, running along an actual running path instead of just our road.  We did a simple out-and-back route of 1.25 miles each way.  I let him wear the Garmin and the music (my phone), and overall, it was a very good run.  He got really tired at about mile 2, and for a few moments he even had some breathing problems that scared me, but he wouldn’t stop.  He just slowed down a lot and we worked on keeping his breathing even, and then he was fine again.  I think he might have just let his nerves get to him, and once I helped him calm down and focus, he was fine.

He sprinted at the end, like he usually does, and nearly left me in the dust. 😉 When it was over, he was exhausted but so happy.

He did an amazing job, never wavering from his goal.  I still remember my first time running two miles and what a big deal that was for me, and last night when I saw my son run two and a half miles, my heart was just about to burst, I was so overwhelmed with pride in him.  His determination inspires me.

I can’t wait to run the 5k with him next month!!

One last thing before I head to bed (since I plan to run in the morning after I get some raspberries at the farmer’s market).  I want to thank everyone who commented on my last post to help me decide which pictures to use.  Truly, I am eternally grateful to everyone who offered their input.

As it turns out, I’m glad I asked advice of outsiders, because the final two choices were pretty overwhelming–and neither were ones I would have picked!  However, after reading through everyone’s reasoning, and then talking it over with both my sister and my two best friends (who also made the same choices as nearly everyone who commented), I decided that there had to be a reason why so many different people would have made the same choices.

So, the final choices are number 2 (before) and 8 (after).  Here’s my mockup of them together:

I won’t send them into the contest this way (since they require separate before and after pictures), but I like the way they look together, because I think the story told in that simple composite is pretty clear.  In fact, I’m thinking I may make this shot my “official” blog photo.  You know, after I finish with the tomatoes. 😉

Again, thanks so much to everyone who took the time to comment.  Your willingness to help really means a lot to me!

I’ll see you all next week, with an “after” picture of all my spaghetti sauce and salsa! 🙂

PS:  I did manage to type the post in 15 minutes, but it took me another 12 to get the pictures done and uploaded. Figures!! 😉