Perspective

I fixed my kid's bikes for them over the weekend.  (I must insert here that was a PAIN IN THE ARSE!) My daughter is the one that has shown an interest in exercise and sports, and wanting to do things "just like Mommy".  As soon as her bike was fixed, she started begging me to go "train" with her.  The rest of the weekend I didn't have any work outs but I told her that we would get around to it.  On the way home from school today I mentioned to the kids that I was going to go running as soon as we got home.  Janae immediately piped up, "I wanna go with you!  I'll ride my bike while  you run!".  I thought this could actually work as she is now 7, and it was a gorgeous day out.  Plus, I have so many memories of doing this with my own father when I was young and he would go for runs.

I told her to find her helmet while I changed my clothes, then we were off. The first 3/4 of a mile went great! She stayed close behind me and I was keeping my usual pace or close to it.  Then we rounded a corner onto a street and Janae went into her own little world, where quite frankly, she usually is. (Pause for a moment here.  Keep in mind that I love this girl more than anything.  I am just trying to say that her personality is such that she is always in her own little world, not in any hurry, not concerned with schedules, or time frames, what have you.  Today's run was simply no different) .  She started to look at things around her, the kids on the distant play ground, the birds in the air and their colors, the cows in the field, she wasn't missing ANYTHING!  This of course slowed her down.  I kept having to stop and wait for her catch up to me.  Then she would stay with me for a bit, and ask TONS of questions.  "Mom, are your sweaty yet?"  "What song is on your ipod?"  "What kind of bird is that?"  "Did you know that SpongeBob doesn't have a belly button?"  And it goes on...and on....and on....

I started to get annoyed with her.  I NEEDED to get this run in.  I NEEDED to keep a good pace.  Then I stopped for a second.  She wasn't doing anything wrong.  She wasn't grumpy, quite the opposite.  She was loving this!  I started to keep a snail's pace to stay close to her, and I turned off the Ipod to listen to her.  I really started to think about how there are plenty of runs where I can hit the distance that I need, at the pace I want.  There are not going to be many days where she still thinks that I am cool to hang out with, much less "train" with.  She was doing this for pure fun, and noticing all of the things along our little journey I should pay more attention to.  Now don't get me wrong, I love to be in nature, and do many runs and training sessions without music or watches, what have you, but this was seeing it all through they eyes of my sweet Janae.

I already have 9 year old that is hitting that "too cool for Mom" stage, where everything that I say is stupid, or suggest is "lame".  I need to enjoy her before she hits that stage!

When we finally got home after cutting it short after just two miles, I told her we should put her bike up and try running together, as I have signed up both kids for the city's track and field team.  She was stoked about this!  She quickly put away her bike and we ran around the block, practicing sprinting from one mail box to the next, then doing a nice and easy jog to the next one before doing it again.   She giggled as I told her to pretend that a big dog was chasing her and that she wasn't safe until she got to the next mailbox.  She loved it and did great!

When it was all said and done, I didn't even get half my mileage in for this run.  I wasn't anywhere close to the pace I would have wanted to keep.  But, it was the best training session I have had in a VERY long time.

Happy training all!