Camping, the beach, and family running

It has been a busy week this past week. I have been running a lot, but also been keeping busy with life in general.

This past week I missed my run on Friday morning and didn't get a long run in on Saturday. The reason being that we decided at the last minute to go camping at the beach for the weekend. I ran Thursday morning and then again Thursday night (which has been common now that my daughter is training for Cross Country and needs someone to run with on the days she is not running with the team)

Since I had run Thursday night and Friday morning I needed to pack the van for the camping trip I decided I would forgo my Friday morning run. As the morning progressed I was happy I had chosen to do so since I barely had enough time the way it was (and I didn't want to get up at 4:30 on my day off)

We headed to Jekyll Island, on the coast of GA for the weekend camping trip. We are (new) tent campers.... and yes.... it was HOT! It got up near 100 degrees each day we were there, and was probably still in the upper 80's and humid when we crawled into the tent each night.

My daughter Payton and I got up on Saturday morning and planned on running 5 miles. I wanted to do those 5 and then head back out for more after dropping her off.... but..... well..... We drove down near the beach and got ready to go about 8:00 am. I thought we would be able to miss the heat of the day that way, but I didn't think about how hot the sun could be that early in the morning along the beach. We ran the bike trail along the beach for the view, but of course since we were running that close to the beach there was no shade anywhere - mistake! We didn't get far before we were both feeling the wrath of the sun. My daughter just couldn't go any further following 3 miles so we called it quits. It is hard for me to give in to a run, but it was the right thing to do.

We spent the day at the beach, and even though it was hot, we really had a great weekend camping/beach trip.

Last night was also a new and exciting time for me as a dad. If you have been reading long you are aware that my second daughter (Payton) is training for Cross Country so we run together a lot. My 7 year old son, Brady also runs with me occasionally, but my oldest daughter Ashlee, and my wife have yet to lace up the running shoes.

Yesterday I got one step closer to true family running. Ashlee is in Color Guard and has been practicing lately. She realized that she needs to get in better shape so she decided she needed to run. I won't let her run alone so she had to wait till last night. Last night we went out for just a mile. Both her and Payton went out with me. This was the first time Ashlee has run with me, and I don't know that she has truly ever run a mile before.

The run started off good and Ashlee was running with a smile on her face just in front of Payton and I. She said she was feeling pretty good..... but we had only gone about 2 tenths of a mile. She quieted down shortly after that, and when we got close to the 3/4 mile mark she started saying it was really hard and started to slow down. I looked at her and she was not happy, the smile was gone. I wouldn't let her stop before the mile, and to her credit she finished it strong and didn't complain anymore..... until after we were done. She said it was too hard and she was never going to run again. :) I talked her off the ledge and I think she will run with me again, but not as fast as we did this time. I let her pace this run and we ran it too fast for her ability. She ran the mile in 8:54 - excellent for the first mile I know her to have ever run.

This week is going good so far, trying to put some miles in and hope to get a good long run in this Saturday. This past Monday Payton ran on the Cross Country trails for the first time. She said it was fun and she did great running just behind the varsity. This Friday is her time trials for Cross Country. They have to run a 2 mile race to see where they all are on the team and to see who gets to go on the summer training trip. She is one of the top Freshmen on the team, and is running with last years JV most of the time. I think she will do great this Friday if she can mentally keep going when it gets hard. (I think she can do 15 min if she really wants to but am not going to say anything to her)

Till next time.....

Tim Wilson - blog.262quest.com - subscribe - follow

6 comments:

  1. Sounds like you had a great time. It's cool that you are getting to run with your kids. How fun!

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  2. Sounds like a great weekend. I'm sure you are looking forward to maybe running with the whole family one day. Running with family and loved ones is a lot of fun.

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  3. Glad to hear you & your family had a good time at the beach! Congrats to your daughter for making the Cross Country team; I see that she & her brother clearly take after her dad. Your love of running is obviously infectious! What a great way to bond as a family, & of course, stay in shape! :)

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  4. love hearing about the 'family affair'! sounds like a good weekend, although a little hot :)

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  5. love hearing about the 'family affair'! sounds like a good weekend, although a little hot :)

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  6. Glad to hear you & your family had a good time at the beach! Congrats to your daughter for making the Cross Country team; I see that she & her brother clearly take after her dad. Your love of running is obviously infectious! What a great way to bond as a family, & of course, stay in shape! :)

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