Run, Baby, Run….and bring your friends and family

My friend Mario’s been trying to convince me to go for a run with him for weeks, maybe months. I’ve been resistant because, as I’ve noted before, he runs like a graceful gazelle at a speed I can only dream of. But, he has a hard time either getting himself motivated to go or finding the time, can’t say that I really know which one. So yesterday, when he asked me to run early, I said, “what the heck” and said yes. It was dark. It was raining. As far as I know, Mario doesn’t like running in the dark or the rain. So I had my phone by my bed, waiting for the “ah, no, not today phone call” that never came. Sure enough, he was outside my house at 6am, ready to run (in shorts!).

There are a couple of great things about running with him. First, he’s quick, so I had to at least try and keep going at an ok pace. Second, he doesn’t make me feel bad about being slower. He seemed genuinally happy to just be running. Third, he likes long runs. Like, “hey, I had some time, so I just ran 10 miles.” We had an hour this morning, so we ran for an hour. From my door, all around town, back to my door. It felt good! Nothing like a little 6 mile jaunt to start your day.

Kim (aka, poor sicko) should be back at it on Sunday, so we’ll try for all of us to run together. Fair warning, I already got an email about the “good run this morning. Even better if we just add another mile at the same pace.” Hmmm….does this sound like I’m heading for another 1/2 marathon whether I know it or not?

Logbook Activity

• Type: Run
• Date: 02/28/2008
• Time: 06:00:00
• Total Time: 00:57:00.00
• Distance: 5.82 miles
• Average Pace: 9:47.28/mile

That’s the order of my run. Mile 1: Ellie pulled and pulled. Backwards. Apparently not in the mood for a run today. Mile 2; She sniffed. Everything. Everything. Most annoying mile ever. Mile 3: Dropped off the dogs first. Started raining on me, making me realize that I haven’t run in the rain in ages. It’s been so nice here. It was fine, not even a hard rain, but I did get wet. Not the puppies though, they were already snoozing inside…

Logbook Activity

• Type: Run
• Date: 02/27/2008
• Time: 07:30:00
• Total Time: 00:30:00.00
• Distance: 3 miles
• Average Pace: 10:00/mile

Logbook Activity

• Type: Run
• Date: 02/24/2008
• Time: 07:30:00
• Total Time: 00:30:00.00
• Distance: 3 miles
• Average Pace: 10:00/mile

Logbook Activity

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 02/23/2008
• Time: 10:30:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00

Logbook Activity

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 02/23/2008
• Time: 09:30:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00

I’m shocked and amazed! Loki is a good little runner pup, but Ellie…well she struggles through the 2 miles we force on her every day or so. This morning, when I got up to run with Kim (yeah! did I need the run!) the puppies were already scratching around in their crates. I thought if I took them along, maybe, just maybe, they wouldn’t wake the whole house up with barking and general mayhem. Lucky for me, Kim has dogs too, so she’s always up for holding a leash while we run. They were pretty entertaining, mostly because we had to pay attention to foot placement so we didn’t trip over the occasionally criss-crossing leashes.

Anyway, the run, though slow with pups, certainly set a great tone for the day. I dropped my daughter off at preschool and headed to the gym for 45 minutes of a cycle/bosu class, which I love and need for the balance, proprioception and quick muscle recruitment challenge. I had planned to take my son to story hour, but realized just in time that it’s mid-winter break and the library has no story time. We went to the park instead and climbed and ran and played pretend baseball. (He’s really good, as only a 3 year old can be.) We were having so much fun that after we picked up my daughter we went back to the park for another hour and swung and climbed and played on the “pirate ship” (read: big, climbing toy that looks nothing like a ship. Most inanimate objects end up as pirate ships in our life. Couch. Box. Bag. Car. Chair. All pirate ships.). We spent the afternoon with some friends, again playing outside. (More swings. Forts. Pirate ships.) I feel great, although I ate dinner for about four people tonight! Guess that’s what happens when you spend 90 minutes exercising and another 3 hours running around outside.

I already can’t wait for summer! Oh, and while taking the puppies was a nice thought and I’ll do it again, my son still woke up “two minutes after you walked out the door”, according to my husband. At least I tried, right?

Logbook Activity

• Type: Run
• Date: 02/21/2008
• Time: 06:00:00
• Total Time: 00:40:00.00
• Distance: 3.5 miles
• Average Pace: 11:25.71/mile

Logbook Activity

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 02/21/2008
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 00:20:00.00

Logbook Activity

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 02/21/2008
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 00:25:00.00

Ok, so I admit that kids in general can be occasionally challenging. Frustrating. Then something happens that makes me realize again, that I have great, and pretty “easy” kids. Today, it was a trip to the bounce place.

We went over after preschool, Kirk, myself and the kids. It’s a holiday and that place was packed. We usually go during the little kids times, so the barely controlled chaos of pre-teens was my first shock. But no worries. The kids were great and everybody watched out for the little ones. After about 15 minutes, Natalie wanted to go up the giant slide and asked me to go to. “You come too, Mommy!” As Tanner and Kirk were hopping around on some inflatable, gladiator-looking toy, Natalie and I waited in line for the slide. As we waited, a kid maybe 4 or 5, turned around, looked at me, laughed and hit me. Hard. “Excuse me!” popped out of my mouth as my jaw dropped to the floor. The kid laughed and hit me again. Harder. I’ve never seen this kid before in my life, have never said a word to him, and some maniacal preschooler is clocking me? I have a pretty high tolerance to kids falling over, getting dirty, squabbling, just doing kid stuff. What I don’t have a hight tolerance to is being hit by some kid I’ve never seen before. Right or wrong, I told the kid that I “didn’t know who he was, but you don’t hit adults. So get off the slide. Now.” Which he did. Now, here’s my question. At the time, I had no idea who this kid was with. I saw him with his mom a couple times later during the hour or so we were there. I didn’t say anything to her, well, no real reason, I guess. I just didn’t. Should I have?

Interestingly, my husband said no. My friend, also a mom, said, “oh, hell yes.” What do you think?

Logbook Activity

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 02/18/2008
• Time: 10:00:00
• Total Time: 00:30:00.00

Logbook Activity

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 02/18/2008
• Time: 09:30:00
• Total Time: 00:30:00.00