Family Running

It was a busy running week in our family (not to mention busy in other ways!).  I’ve mentioned that my oldest son (aged 10), has said he wants to run a 5k with me this fall.  I have been amazed and inspired by his dedication to training.

Both boys were in a hockey clinic all last week, where they had an hour of skating every evening after I got off work.  On Wednesday, I told DS#1 that I was going to go running so that I wouldn’t have to get up early on Thursday (my normal short-run day), and he said, “Can I come, too?”  It took some finagling, since my husband wasn’t home Wednesday night, and therefore DS#2 had to come with us, but we figured out a way for DS#1 to run part of the way, up to 1.25 miles, which would take us back to our house, and then I’d run on a short way and come back to get to 2 miles.  Meanwhile, DS#2 would bike alongside us the whole time.

The first out and back with DS#1 was good.  I wore the Garmin this time, since I was going farther than him, but he loves the stats and kept asking me about our progress.  He’s good with numbers, too–I miscalculated the distance we had to go to make a 1.25 mile out and back, and he kept arguing with me as we neared the turn-around point.  It wasn’t until after we were on our way back that I realized he was right and I was wrong! Ha! 😉

Once we got back home, DS#1 grabbed his waiting water while I finished my run in a very quick 3/4 mile out and back (with DS#2 on his bike).  It turned out to be a pretty good run for both of us!

 

DS#2 was tired, but he was very proud of his run.  Here are the two of us doing, tired but happy, doing our best to take a self-portrait. 😉

I had some issues with DS#2 during the whole run, because he kept weaving back and forth across the road, paying no attention to any oncoming cars, and that meant that *I* had to be the one to continually turn back to look for cars.  Grrr.  I woke up the next morning with a very sore back, but I just took it easy and then let my husband crack it later that night, and I felt much better.

On Saturday, I would like to say I got up early and did my long run, but…well, some of the moms from school invited me to join a “moms night out,” and who am I to pass it up a night of good food, comedy, and dancing? 😉 I did not have a single drink all night (wow, did I save some money!!), but I did eat a delicious salmon dinner and have a bite of the birthday girl’s dessert (it was huge, so I felt it was my duty to help her finish it off).

The night was fun, but I didn’t get home until after midnight, so an early-morning run was out of the question.  I did finally get up and get out about 9:30am, but by that time, the sun was pretty high.  Thankfully, it has been much cooler this month than last month, so that was in my favor.

I ran five miles, and all in all, it was a good run.  I took a new route from my house today, which meant going about a mile and a half on a very busy main road.  I spent a lot of time weaving back and forth from the road to the shoulder because of all the cars.  I used to get mad at runners when I I would see them on our main road, and grumble, “Why can’t you run on the shoulder?”  Now I understand, and I will be much more understanding the next time I pass one! It’s hard to run on gravel.

My timing was still sub-11, so I was happy with that.

Later in the afternoon, I told DS#2 he should run again, since it had been a week since his last run.  He was less than enthusiastic, but agreed.  Meanwhile, DS#1 asked me if he could run again, too. Wow! Talk about dedication.  🙂  So, I first ran a half mile with DS#2, then I biked while DS#1 ran.

The run with DS#2 was funny.  He is such an energetic kid, but he is very whiny when it comes to the running.  At one point he asked me if he could stop and walk, but we had just started, so I said no.

“Please, Mom? I’ll give you a dollar!”

“No!”

“I’ll give you three dollars!!”

Considering he loves his money, and three dollars is all he has in the world right now, that says a lot. 😉  He had a good run, though, despite the whining.

DS#1 was next, and he originally said he wanted to run 1.5 miles, to bump up his last run by a 1/4 mile.  But then, as we were running, he suddenly decided he wanted to run 1.55 miles, because then he would be halfway to his goal of a 5k! (I love not only his determination, but his mad math skillz. 😉 )  He strapped on the Garmin (he loves that), and  I rode my bike next to him with a bottle of water the entire way.

We actually had a nice conversation about the upcoming school year (his teacher is new this year), and plenty of other stuff.  He continually checked his pace, and I offered whater when he needed it.  At the end, he really busted out to improve his pace. When it was over, he had had a great run!

More importantly, he was immensely proud of himself.

I’m not sure if anyone could have been more proud of him than his mom, though. 😀  He did such a great job, and his determination is extremely motivating for me, too.  Afterwards, he asked me if he could jump in the pool with his clothes on.  I said no, of course. 😉  So instead he dunked his head in the pool.  Here’s a picture I took of him when he came up.

Tonight, after I do tomatoes, we are going to sit down and figure out which 5k we’re going to do.  I daresay we might need to find one in early September, because he is very quickly becoming quite the runner!

Thanks so much for reading!!