Our First Run After The Jayhawks Became National Champions

We finally remembered to take Jonathan's Razr phone out with us so we could post a photo this time! It was a beautiful, sunny Spring day in Tribune, if a little cold, and we began Week 7 of our Couch to 5K program. We finished Week 6 on Sunday with a 25-minute run, and then this week we'll do that 3 more times before once again increasing the duration for week 8. This program assumes you're not running very fast, expecting about a 10-minute mile (or 6 mph), so 25 minutes comes to just about 2.5 miles. A 5K in miles is about 3.1, so we're very close! It's hard to track exactly how far we're running when we do this out on the streets instead of on the track, but it's just more fun and challenging to encounter a slope every so often and get to pick your scenery rather than going around in circles. Plus, we never have to see a feedlot if we don't want to!

I'm definitely getting tired in doing these runs. Jonathan still has me beat in the natural skill department, and is a great motivating partner for me. One thing that worries me is that even though we've done a great job of keeping up with the program when we're both home, it's not habitual yet. We don't have a really set routine of how it's supposed to go every time. Like, we always sort of have to figure out whether the girls will eat dinner before or after we run (answer, for Hania anyway: before AND after!). We discuss almost every time whether or not we'll call one of the high-school girls over to come watch them, or take them with us in the stroller (Babysitting pro: No whining! Con: We're out $5-6 per run). Ridley in particular seems to really prefer playing at home with an energetic, pretty girl like Madison or Haylie or Monica to sitting in the ladybug while Mom and Dad jog around for half an hour. I want to include them in this endeavor because I want them to grow up thinking exercise is a normal part of family life. But at the same time, I don't want to force Ridley into it so much against her will that it backfires and she declares she'll never run. We need to figure out some way that we can run and enjoy it, and she can actually have fun with it, too. Either that, or we get her into some other exercise routine that's fun (Jonathan has tried, unsuccessfully so far, to teach her to jump rope) and hope for the best while we make her put up with ours.