Call Me Sophia

"Picture it, Random Island, 1985...

A group of school age children are playing outside - hopscotch, tag, jump rope, war, riding bikes. Suddenly, the street light comes on and everyone groans because they all know it's time to go back inside. Nobody wants to go home because being outside is way more fun."

My kids are staring at me like I'm on a day pass from the Loony Bin.

In actuality, I'm trying to convince them of the merits of coming with me for a run.

The weather was crap last night so I skipped the group run. Since I hate the treadmill, I also skipped running at home with a promise that I would run in the morning. As I laced up my sneakers this morning, a conversation I had with my eldest came to mind. I had suggested to him a week or so ago that he should join our LTR program the next time it was offered. To my surprise, he seemed to consider it. I thought I would float the idea again this morning, see if he wanted to try some intervals.

"No."

The beauty of being a parent is you can counter the "no" with "yes" and win automatically. In the end, we reached a compromise. The kids would come with me, but they would bike while I ran.

After a lengthy struggle with the bike rack we made our way to Neil's Pond. My two Ronnie's took off down the trail, laughing all the way because I was so far behind. They'd stop and wait for me every once in a while with a look of "poor, slow mom" on their faces.

But by the time we made it around the pond the first time, I could tell they were starting to wane. They turned towards our vehicle, but I was having none of that. My "One more lap!" was met with looks of misery, but they pushed on. Sort of.

One stopped near the gazebo and started walking, pushing his bike next to him. The other kept pedaling, but it wasn't long before I was passing him. Seriously?? I'm 40 years old and I can outrun an 11 year old on a pedal bike. Those kids need to get out more. Looks like I have a new motivation to keep me running.

After lap two they sat on a rock on the side of the trail, looking like they had just finished a marathon, while I ran on a little further to get my 5k. I have to say, I really enjoyed this run. Maybe it's because the temperatures were ideal for a run. Maybe it's because it was only 5k. Or maybe it's because I was able to spend some time with my kids without iPads stuck to their faces.

Despite being disproportionately tired, Thing One and Thing Two seemed pleased that they managed 4k on their bikes/feet and even hinted that they might do this with me again.

I'm going to hold them to that.