Here's the skinny: I've been near 300 lbs. for years and need to lose weight. I'm married to a wonderful lady, and we have a family. One of our boys often asks if I'll run with him. I've always had to tell him, "No." In August of '09, my wife learned about a couch-to-5k running program, and I agreed to try it with her. This blog chronicles our progress on that training program. I hope I'll soon be able to surprise my son by telling him, "Yes, I'll go running with you!"

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

I missed my run, but that's okay...

I must admit that I was feeling a bit lazy when I got up yesterday.  I should have gotten out for a short run, but didn't.  Last year, I woke up early in the morning as the sun came up, whether I wanted to or not.  It's been that way for me for much of my life.  This year, however, I just can't seem to get out of bed in the mornings.

Now that I think of it, we did get our first new mattress set in 10 years recently.  I wonder if having a nice, comfortable bed has something to do with it...

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I've typically been a morning person and an early riser.  Lately, though, I find myself wanting to be a night owl again.  I really think I messed up my internal clock during my last two terms of studying (being up until one or two o'clock in the morning while working on assignments).

Anyway, I decided I would run in the afternoon, which is what I've been doing lately.  When I got home from work, however, I learned that three of my boys, who biked to the next town to hunt for a hidden festival medallion, were not yet home.  I had biked that route before and knew it would take them some time, but it was not like them to miss dinner.  After grabbing a bite myself, I decided to bike out to where they should be--I hoped to find them on the trail, already on the way home.

I was about five miles out of town when the boys called me.  One of the bikes broke down and they were still in the next town.  Someone had let them use a cell phone, so they were hoping for a ride.  I told them I was on my bike, but that I would be there soon, and that I'd call home to have Mrs. F get the van ready.  Well, I did call home, but the call broke up.  When I tried to call again, I realized my phone was dead.

What an evening it was! Mrs. F, not able to reach me via phone, drove the van to the next town, parked near the trail, and waited.  The boys, meanwhile, got some help from a local man who patched up the bike and got them back on the trail.  I came across them ten miles from home.  We turned around and started back.  The youngest of the three was on a smaller bike with only three gears, so he could not keep up very well.  Since all the bikes were working and they were together, I opted to bike ahead, because I feared that my lack of contact might have put Mrs. F in a panic. 

When I got home, Mrs. F was not there.  I called her, and let her know that the boys were on the way home.  She had been sitting in the van, and driving around town, for over an hour.  Needless to say, she wasn't very pleased.

When she got home, she readied for her ride, but before she got out of the door, we were in for more family drama when a police car pulled up with another one of the boys inside.  I won't go into details here, but let's just say that being taken home in a police car is never viewed kindly by parents, and it hopefully scared some sense into one of our boys.

As we were wrapping up with our police drama, two of the boys, including the slowest one, pulled into the driveway.  The eldest? His bike broke down again.  Guess what I'm going to suggest he do with his recent birthday monies? How far back did he break down? More than five miles from town.

Well, being our runner, we knew he had two good, strong legs, and we also knew that we had no way of telling when he'd be near one of the cross-streets along the trail, so we let him walk.  He came in a little over an hour later, complaining of hunger, sore feet, and two-hundred mosquito bites.

Mrs. F came home feeling better after her ride.

So, I didn't get my run in for the day, but I did get in a 20 mile bike ride, half of it uphill, at just under an 11 mph pace (fat mountain bike tires on a trail are such a pain--I miss my old Trek 720 with its narrow hybrid tires!).  I'll just chalk up Tuesday as a cross-training day.

2 comments:

  1. Oh my word!! You guys should write a book! Glad everybody made it home and in one piece. I'd say you got more than your share of activity in for the day.

    ReplyDelete

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