Whew! I'm Old!

"Mom, Mom, can we do this please!!! ??" Alex begs as he comes home from school one day.

"Do what?" I ask.

"A 1/2 mile run for Audubon Days?"

"Sure, I wouldn't see why not."

"Will you walk with us?"

"What? I thought you said it's a half mile run?" I ask with a tone of confusion.

"It is, but you can walk too. Won't that be fun, Mom?"

Fun? Fun? Does this child realize how out of shape I am? I do realize that it ISN'T running for me - but I can hardly walk a half mile up the road to my neighbors, let alone 2 MILES! Ugh!

"Sure honey" I agree, "I'll walk."

What? What did I just agree to? I am crazy!


This was a week ago.

Today, is day two after this walk and I am still sore! I have managed to learn one extremely valuable lesson from this whole mess - no matter how cute your children are when they beg - THINK before you agree!

This started on Saturday morning. I wake Jacob and Kyle up early to take them with me. Oh, did I forget to mention that I would also be PUSHING a double stroller while I struggle to make it 2 miles? Yes, I am crazy.

We get up, dressed, fed and out the door by 8:15 a.m. This in itself is quite the record at my house. We get in the van and Jacob wants to say one last good-bye to Daddy, so I need to roll down my window.

"Good Bye Daddy!" he yells and is quite happy now.

The problem? My window won't go back up. The second problem? It's 34 degrees out!!

The 7 mile drive into town that morning was enough to make me want to crawl back in bed under a blanket! But, we arrived to pick up Travis and Alex and head to the park.

We get to the park, register and away we go. (Alex stayed behind as the half mile run was an hour later).

The first part of the walk didn't seem too bad. We walked down Main Street - pretty simple. Travis kept me company and we talked. I thought, "this is nice - a nice walk with my children on a beautiful Saturday morning". Then we turned the corner, and we turned the corner again...

a hill

a steep hill

with a stroller

a double stroller

UGH!!!

Now I needed help. I was dying. I never thought I would make it up that hill. Travis even had to help me push a little so I could catch my breath! Wow! I am old and out of shape but this will be over soon, right?

WRONG!

We venture around a corner, down a steep hill, around another corner and then...

in front of me....

a sign...

"1 MILE MARK"

"What the hell is that?" I ask my 11 year old.

"MoM!" he says.

I can't possibly make it another mile!

Meanwhile he is skipping around!!!

So I put on a smile and push and push that stupid heavy stroller and finally 22 minutes later (a total of like 45 minutes since the start of the race) I cross that finish line...

Travis?

Yep, he ran across that finish line and was still ready for his 1/2 mile run in only 15 minutes!

Old?

Yes... that's me!