Running partners

I usually run alone. I've run with groups and friends in the past, but I don't live in a central location so it doesn't happen often. Yesterday I had two very special running partners to begin my 3rd week of my back to running plan.

Ignore my post-pregnant fat butt.
Focus on the cuteness of the running kids.
The Princess is wearing a wicking tee from Target.
We are both wearing matching Wonder Woman bondi bands. We were adorable.

SkyWalker and the Princess finally got a chance to run with me. They have asked for a long time to run  on the road. I've run with them in the driveway and the yard and have taken them to a local track where they did a little play-running. But they always want to go on the road. My road is not child-friendly and there's no way I was going to do that. So we all drove to the local state park, Vader put Lightrunner in the stroller and hoped he stayed asleep and walked with an upset Chewie who really wanted to run with the big kids. And probably would have lasted longer. I took SkyWalker and the Princess with me. We ran from the playground on the long road that enters the park. It's nice and flat and straight. Easy to see, not very busy, and very wide. People often bike and run and there isn't a lot of traffic.

The plan was to do 90 seconds of running followed by 30 seconds walking and repeat that 15 times. SkyWalker started out complaining that we were going too slow and I explained that we weren't going for speed, but to build up endurance and if he went too fast he'd burn out too quickly. 3 minutes later he was starting to lag behind. They made it half way without too many problems, although SkyWalker took more and more walk breaks, but once we turned around even the Princess couldn't do it. They are full of such bravado but they couldn't keep up. And I was running SLOW. The Princess did her best, she really gave it her all, and then said that it was too much for her and she needed to walk more. I stopped the timer and we all walked. I told them it was okay to walk in the middle but when we saw the playground we had to finish strong. SkyWalker didn't even want to walk. He wanted to lay down in the road and wait for someone to pick him up. But the Princess kept going. We started running again when we saw the playground, SkyWalker started when he saw his Daddy, and the Princess & I held our hands high like we were finishing a big race. Chewie came running towards us and ran us in the last 30 seconds or so. And then I had to run some more to finish out my plan.

It was definitely a lesson. I thought their youth and energy would make it through, especially with the walking breaks, but it was too much too soon. We'll go out again and I'll make sure I do my run on my own first and just run slower and less with them. The Princess definitely wants to do it again... SkyWalker is not so sure. I had really wanted to go with the Princess to show her that girls can be athletic and do things too. And to keep her from getting her period when she turns 6. But I think SkyWalker really needs to do it too... he needs to learn discipline (as in keeping going when you don't want to) and build up his endurance. I don't care if he plays sports in school, but I want him to be physically fit. I don't want him to wait until he's in his 30s for one of his friends to start a running group before he takes it seriously.