My next race will be a Family Affair!

Last night I took my son Ryan to dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants -- Pablo's. As we sat in a booth, trying to decide what to order, we started talking about running. Ryan started talking about his Disney 5K experience where he ran with Mike, my cousin Doug and his daughter, and me. We had a great time, and he earned his first Disney medallion.

But he surprised me by saying he wanted a 'real' medal... a metal one from a 5K race. I told him that most 5K races did not give medals but tech shirts or ribbons. He was disappointed. But then I remembered the 5K I am running on March 24th -- the Penguin in the Park 5K in Decatur, IL -- organized by John Bingham. That race does have Finisher Medals.

So I asked him if he would be interested in running with me in that race. But I asked him to think about it before answering because if he said "Yes", I was going to expect him to start training for it. I told him I wanted him to take the race seriously. I had planned on running for a PR in that race, but if Ryan is running with me, I will give up that goal so I can share in his first timed race. So I want the race to have meaning for him as well.

At dinner tonight, I got my answer. He said "I am serious about running the 5K race. And I will train." So I am really excited! I am going to get him to start using the Treadmill and doing some core exercises. I do not expect him to run the entire race; I think we will do the Run/Walk method at 3/1 intervals. It will give him a good introduction to running, and not leave him too exhausted to have a fun time.

I am looking forward to sharing this with him. He will be starting high school this fall, and he has already told me he is going to join the Cross Country/Track Team. I hope that he and I will start training together this year, particularly once it warms up and we can run outdoors. I hope this will be something that we can share as Father and Son.

And who knows? Perhaps there won't be too many kids in the 12-14 age group, and he can win an age group award! Either way, when we cross that finish line, I will be one proud Dad!

Some days just feel good!

This morning started out on a bad note.  My son had his alarm clock set to 6AM with his door open.  So when it went off, it woke me and Christi up from our sound sleep.  That would not have been so bad except that he was actually sleeping in the Family Room so the thing just kept ringing and ringing!  I finally got up, saw his empty room, then found him downstairs sleeping.  So of course, I did him the same favor and woke 'him' up, and made him go turn off the alarm. LOL

Well, now that I was awake, I might as well get cleaned up and dressed and make breakfast.  I was planning on a Long Run at 8AM at the gym with Mike so at least getting up early on a Saturday wasn't a total loss.  I had some greek yogurt and oatmeal for breakfast, figuring it was going to be 1.5 hours before the run.

Got to the gym at 7:45am, changed into my running gear, and was so focused, I walked right passed Mike!  :)

We started out at an easy 11:30/mm pace.  He was tapering for his next Marathon (in Little Rock, with the world's largest finishers medal) so he was only going for a 10K run.  I was shooting for an 8-miler.  I was a little worried about a pulled muscle in my mid-back area (I guess from sleeping in a weird position?) and how that would affect the run.

We chatted for the first half of the run and then just focused on the run.  The back was bothersome for the first 1/2 mile but after that, I didn't even notice it.  What I did notice was the feeling of being 'full' from breakfast (NOTE to Self: no oatmeal before a run).  But other than that, I felt very fluid in my motion, and my form was looking pretty good (I was right next to a mirrored wall).  My breathing was in step with my cadence, and I wasn't feeling at all stressed.  Everything was 'working' for me!  I was straddling between Zones 2 & 3 so my heart was happy too!

I had a Peppermint GU after 45 minutes, which tasted really good by the way, and kept on going.  When Mike reached his 10K, he said his goodbyes.  I still had 2 more miles to go.  So I bumped up the pace to 10:45/mm for the last few miles and I still felt good.  In fact, my heart rate didn't even change!  That surprised me.

The next thing I knew, I was at 8.5 miles! So I hit the "cool down" button and let the Treadmill bring me down slowly.  When the run was all over, I had traveled 8.81 miles and burned 1300 calories.  And I totally could have run for more, probably even finished 13.1.  But the training plan didn't call for that.  So I showered, got a protein shake on the way out, and headed back home.

Total miles for the week came to 24.5!  Pretty pleased with that!

Some days just feel good!  Why today?  I am not sure yet.  I don't think it was the oatmeal! LOL