Running Talk with a 9yo!

Yesterday, I decided my test run should be done outside.  I wanted to see if the uphills and downhills made the leg any more or less uncomfortable.  I knew I might try for 2-3 miles if things felt better, so I didn't think Lily could make it that far (she was begging to come).  Patrick, however, didn't want to come.  But I wanted the company to help keep my pace down.  So, poor kid was forced to run with mom.  Oh, the tragedy.  Despite living in the flatlands here, my neighborhood actually has a couple of quite steep hills.  I don't run the neighborhood often just because it's not very big, and I can't get much mileage out of a loop.

It was quite warm outside (80s) and sunny... and the leg, well, the pain was only slightly noticeable.  It *was* there.  Maybe I'm hyper-aware of it, but it wasn't really bothering me.  So we kept trucking along.  During our run, Patrick had a few gems of wisdom:

Gem #1:

Patrick:  I just keep saying to myself “jog without ceasing.”

Gem #2:

Patrick: I’m doing worse on this run than when I did that 5k.

Lesley: A lot of adults can’t even go this far.  (At mile 1.5)

Patrick:  Probably because they haven’t tried.

Lesley:  Probably so.

Patrick:  Without training, confidence, and faith, you can’t do much of anything!

Gem #3:

Patrick:  Everything is fine except my legs.

Lesley:  Well those are kind of important.

Patrick:  They feel really heavy.

Lesley:  Yeah, that happens.

Patrick:  It’s ok, though, it’s just a feeling.  It’ll pass.

Ah... moments of brilliance!  I got back to the house at around 2 miles and Patrick was ready to stop, so he headed in, but I decided to go for 1 more mile because things were feeling fine.  As I hit about 2.3, I felt my upper hamstring yelling at me (probably compensating for the other issue), and decided it wasn't worth it to push further, so headed back cutting through yards and ended at 2.5 miles for the day.  The good news:  It's been a week since I've run 2.5 miles.  Yeah!  The bad news:  The leg was achy during the evening.  The good news:  I iced and don't really have any residual achiness this morning.  I am cautiously optimistic.