Summer is here, y’all!! I most definitely said that with a hick southern accent. As some of you know, or probably guess, this is definitely my favorite time of year! It’s hot outside and I really enjoy the feel of the sun on my skin. And since it takes less time for me to start getting my sweat on during the summer I end up feeling like I’m just kicking that much more ass on the pavement. Hey, whatever gets me motivated right? This summer is going to be a little different though. A good different. See, this year my daughter will be joining me out on the roads!
Last year, I was a big ball of nerves because this happened. I know that these women did it on purpose, which is sick, but it also got me thinking about how easily it could happen on accident. I have suffered from heat exhaustion myself, and one time I blacked out while running. Yup, mid run I almost face planted. At the time I wasn't too aware of the signs so I had just kept pushing through them when it was about 100 degrees out. Stupid, I know, but it happened so fast! I didn't want something like this to happen with my daughter and since summers here are really hot I wasn't sure if allowing her to join me was such a good idea. I felt like I needed to get some answers before we even tackled any form of long distance running. Especially since Emery was just two years old.
So off I went in search of someone's professional opinion telling me that what I was allowing was okay. After having a talk with her pediatrician, and asking as many valid/silly questions as I could think of, I finally got answers. We had a seal of approval, and I became confident in my decision to allow Emery to tag along. Still, that summer we took it pretty easy. We’d do half mile runs once a week, and then we’d walk whatever distance was left to make it home. Since she’s constantly on the go we only went when she showed interest in going. I never suggested it because I wanted to make sure she wanted to do it and that I wasn't exhausting her. This year, Emery has been “chomping at the bit” to go out with me. She's even decided she wants to go farther than before!
And so we have! We started out by going out for walks first before moving onto running. She likes to stop here and there to pick up rocks or grab a handful of sand too so she takes breaks. Our first time out I told her to let me know if she was tired, thirsty, or wanted to go home. After I asked her a few times she finally got the gist and I haven’t had to ask her anymore. She’s very vocal about what she needs, and the routes we take. So far, she’s been enjoying it. The only thing I’m doing different this year is that I’m asking her if she wants to go and I’m not limiting her runs to once a week anymore.
It's been great so far! We've only gone a few times because some things have gotten in the way, but she seems to be enjoying it. As soon as she sees me getting ready to go for a run she's in search of her running shoes. Sometimes she wants to go fast and other times she wants to take things slow. Whether she'll keep this up or not I have no idea, but so far she seems to really like it. If she keeps up this enthusiasm I've decided I'll enter us into the Dr. Pepper Kids Fun Run next month. If she starts to "fizzle" then I'll just switch over to the 5k run. Either way, it should be fun! So, do any of you run with your kids? Or do you do something else altogether?
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