Pint-sized training partner
My youngest has been really into riding his bike lately.
While this level of protection is no longer necessary, he's still not so good with the mount/dismount or watching for cars elements, so I run alongside him as he rides.
As he has gotten to be a better rider, this has gotten progressively more difficult. The kid is killing me! Tuesday, we ran/rode 1.5 miles in the neighborhood. We ran into (not literally) a boy in the neighborhood we'd met previously, and J. was very into following him. So we did, and while we were chatting with John I put in a plug for wearing a bike helmet (which he wasn't).
Wednesday morning I ran 6 miles. Wednesday after dinner J wanted to ride again, so we went out and rode .85 miles. And I was really beat and exceedingly thankful he had somewhere he needed to be and we could go back home!
Today I was scheduled for 2 easy miles--this week begins my 4 days a week running schedule rather than just 3...now I'm on for Monday (short, easy run), Wednesday (longer speedwork or tempo), Thursday (short, easy run), and Saturday (long, easy run)--and said something at dinner about needing to run. J right away piped up and suggested that we could go together. So off we went.
My junior Lance Armstrong was wearing me down, all the while spouting such motivational gems as "I can't pedal any SLOWer" and "Can't you run any faster?"...though he did redeem himself with "Good job, you caught up with me!" (this, after he took a long loop around a turnaround and I did a straight line shortcut).
After all his smack talk, then he went and fell over, totally screwing my pace for the run. Granted, he probably fell over because he was pedalling so slowly, but we are not pinning this on me, do you hear me?? He just had a very superficial scrape on one knee and was quite the trooper about it as I hustled him back onto his bike..."OK, let's finish our two miles!"
Would the mother of the year shove her child back onto his bike and make him start riding right after falling just so she could salvage her overall pace? Maybe not, but I was likely DQ'd from the running back around January 2 or so. I can live with that.
Distance: 2.22 miles
Avg. pace: 9:59
Getting to share running and cycling with my baby: priceless.
While this level of protection is no longer necessary, he's still not so good with the mount/dismount or watching for cars elements, so I run alongside him as he rides.
As he has gotten to be a better rider, this has gotten progressively more difficult. The kid is killing me! Tuesday, we ran/rode 1.5 miles in the neighborhood. We ran into (not literally) a boy in the neighborhood we'd met previously, and J. was very into following him. So we did, and while we were chatting with John I put in a plug for wearing a bike helmet (which he wasn't).
Wednesday morning I ran 6 miles. Wednesday after dinner J wanted to ride again, so we went out and rode .85 miles. And I was really beat and exceedingly thankful he had somewhere he needed to be and we could go back home!
Today I was scheduled for 2 easy miles--this week begins my 4 days a week running schedule rather than just 3...now I'm on for Monday (short, easy run), Wednesday (longer speedwork or tempo), Thursday (short, easy run), and Saturday (long, easy run)--and said something at dinner about needing to run. J right away piped up and suggested that we could go together. So off we went.
My junior Lance Armstrong was wearing me down, all the while spouting such motivational gems as "I can't pedal any SLOWer" and "Can't you run any faster?"...though he did redeem himself with "Good job, you caught up with me!" (this, after he took a long loop around a turnaround and I did a straight line shortcut).
After all his smack talk, then he went and fell over, totally screwing my pace for the run. Granted, he probably fell over because he was pedalling so slowly, but we are not pinning this on me, do you hear me?? He just had a very superficial scrape on one knee and was quite the trooper about it as I hustled him back onto his bike..."OK, let's finish our two miles!"
Would the mother of the year shove her child back onto his bike and make him start riding right after falling just so she could salvage her overall pace? Maybe not, but I was likely DQ'd from the running back around January 2 or so. I can live with that.
Distance: 2.22 miles
Avg. pace: 9:59
Getting to share running and cycling with my baby: priceless.
It won't be long before running along side won't be an option.
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