The elementary school has a wonderful program called Family Walking Night. Once a month, the PE teacher and her helpers open the track to the kids and their families after the school day. For one hour, students, teachers and families do laps, counted with a magic marker dot on the hand. At the end of the night, the laps are logged under the student's teacher. The class with the most miles at the end of the year wins a special prize.
I love the concept of encouraging life long fitness goals and wholeheartedly support Family Walking Night. I applaud the teachers for encouraging a program to get families off the couch and spend quality time together.
My run for the day called for an easy 55 minutes. I tried to arrive early to have time to do at least some of the run before the other students arrived and the track got crowded. But due to demands at work, I only had 20 minutes to run before the masses arrived.
It would have been easy to continue the run and reach my 55 minutes. But I've always felt, believed and tried to live like I am a Husband and Father first, and a runner second. My son has tried very hard recently to be consistent in his running. He is only 8, and not really athletic, but he has a goal to run at least 50 miles during the school year (another really great program sponsored and tracked by the PE Teacher). He wanted someone to run with him and I felt like it was the best use of my time, despite the training plan's requirements.
So I ran with my son. We ran one mile then walked one lap (1/4 mile), and repeated the process. By the end of the night, we had run 4 miles...which I might add, for an eight year old is pretty darn good. I finished just over six miles (including my 20 minutes before Family Walking Night) and an average pace of about 14 minutes per mile but I enjoyed every minute of it and wouldn't change a thing.
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