Yesterday was The 20 Minute Challenge event hosted by The Running Room. Originally I signed up to do it by myself. Then I thought I should bring DD8 along with me, since she likes to run with me out on the trails once in awhile. Th-e-e-e-n I thought I should bring the whole family along with me, since I think this is a great way to encourage everyone to be active. It took a little bit of persuading on my part, but then I got the go-ahead from the hubs to sign everyone up. He threw the "jogging stroller" into the back of the truck, everyone got on some running gear, we packed some juice and water, and we were off. On the way down the girls asked how many people would be there. Hubs commented he'd be surprised if there were more than 30. Well...there was way more than 30! I'd guess there had to be a least 100 people, and the best part was there were lots of families and lots of kids! It was great!
We managed to find a parking spot around the block without too much trouble, and made our way through the crowd into the store where we each picked up our complimentary Running Room hats. Each hat came with a 15% discount on store purchases as well. We waited for just a little bit before we were off. Most of us headed in one direction, but I noticed a few going in the exact opposite direction. Those folks looked like the "real runners'. The ones with lots of great gear, very little clothes, and nothing but muscle on their bodies. We all just walked down the block and across the street and I was beginning to wonder if anyone was going to run at all. Then one of the staffers said, "Ok...if you are running you can go ahead and start now". I worked furiously to get my Nike+ system going on my iPhone (which is dying and really, really, needs to be replaced) and then DD8 and I started off. Hubs had the other two kiddos in the stroller.
It was really, really, hot. I think it was about 37 degrees out. So, DD8 got pretty tired, pretty fast (so did I!). She was complaining about a stitch in her side just a couple minutes in, but the staffers were so great -- cheering her on and telling her what a great job she was doing. It was so sweet. She continued on as long as she could, and then we decided she should just make it to the next stop sign and then take a break. Once we reached the sign, she fell back and jumped into the stroller -- booting DD6 out and onto her feet!
I continued on without any trouble at all because now I was booting it down-hill. La-la-la! Off I went...until I noticed not too many people were around anymore. Then one of the staffers came up behind and yelled, "You can turn around now! Your husband has already gone back! You're gonna' have to boot it up that hill to catch up!"
Oh, my gawsh. Up hill? Really?
That was hard. I did my best but had to stop and start a couple of times on my way back up. I finally caught up and grabbed a quick drink of water. DD8 started to run with me again at that point, but then hubby took off running. I felt defeated. No way I could catch him, even though he was the one with the stroller and two kids! DD8 and I just decided to do our own thing. We walked when we needed to, but vowed to run out the end and booted it back up the street to the store/finish.
Once we got back to the store the staff told us to come on in...there was juice and snacks inside. That juice was fantastic. ;-)
It was really a lot of fun and I learned a few very important lessons on this my first ever public, outside, with other people, run:
1) I really need to get my own pace and stick to it come race day. I find starting and stopping much more difficult than to "Just keep running....Just keep runnning..." (you have to say that in the voice of Dori from "Finding Nemo".
2) I cannot let myself worry about what other people are doing. Most of them will be way better runners than me, so I can't get caught up in that or it's really going to make me want to quit.
3) I need better earphones (I couldn't hear my music or prompts, at all)
4) I love my new shoes (and got comments on them at the challenge!)
5) I need to practice running outside, in real conditions, a LOT more in the next four weeks.
But, the most important thing I learned was that it was a lot of fun.
;)
I'm so glad we all went together and I felt incredibly proud of my very cute, active, little family.
:)
Thanks to the Hamilton Running Room for a great event!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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