Only 2 miles, but a LOT of lessons

Today LC, my nieces, and I participated in a 2-mile “fun run” in Lafayette.  LC found out about the walk, and since I’d never done one with my nieces (7 and 2), I thought it would be fun.  The thing is, my older niece is really active, so I knew keeping an eye on her in the midst of 1000s of runners would be a challenge.

One drawback to this event was that I had to leave my house at 7:15AM to get to my sister’s house in time for us to head up over to Lafayette and be ready for the 9AM start time.  We had a great time on the drive up, and the kids were thrilled every time we saw cows, horses, or goats along the way.  (LC took the scenic route).  We arrived in plenty of time to make a quick pit stop at Starbucks to make sure we had a bit of a caffeine boost before the walk.

Lesson #1 -  I usually only wear my Skechers when I’m on a leisurely walk, or on casual Fridays at school, or when I’m just running around doing errands on the weekend.  Never to do an endurance walk.  Why oh why did I think it would be a good idea?  “It’s only two miles,” I told myself as I got dressed this morning.  Ya, right.  We started off fine, although we had to rush a bit to catch up to the beginning of the race because we got a bit sidetracked with the kids.  As we were walking, my calves started cramping up almost immediately.  We slowed down a bit, but we were quickly at the back of the pack, which as you know, makes me nervous.  I was really thankful when LC offered to switch shoes with me.  She’s used to wearing her MBMTs, so wearing my Skechers was nothing for her.

Lesson #2 – I panic at the beginning of any walk like this.  I worry that we’re at the back of the pack, I worry that we’re not keeping pace, or I worry that I look too slow out there.  LC said it’s my competitive spirit.  I’m not sure what it is, but I do seem to get really anxious and “type-A” whenever we begin a walk.  I get overly concerned about minor cramps and pains and sometimes feel like I can’t complete it.  I am so glad that LC has been there with me, because she reminds me that I CAN do it, and every single time, she’s right, I can. I really want to work on being less stressed at the start of each walk, because I’m sure I stress my sister out, and I’m also not helping my own self-confidence.  As Jimmy pointed out before, I really need to start believing in myself more when it comes to being active and physical.

After I got over myself, I really started to enjoy the walk.  I’d never been to Lafayette before, but it has an adorable little downtown area.  Plus, some of the trees are finally changing colors, and it was a perfect, beautiful autumn morning.  LC and I spent most of our time keeping track of my oldest niece, who we allowed to “run up to that next sign post, and then run right back to us,” so she could get some of her energy out.  LC and I both said that if either of us were in better shape, we’d love to actually run this race with T (my oldest niece) because she could definitely finish it.

Lesson #3 - No matter how busy I think my life is, being single is SO much easier than having two little kids.  I don’t know how my sister does it.  Both of my nieces are so active, and don’t listen to everything we ask of them the first time, so it did make a walk like this a bit challenging.  I think they had fun, but I also think that we’d all have enjoyed this a bit more if both of them were a bit older.

All in all, I definitely felt like I had walked 10 miles rather than 2, and I think that was partly due to the kids, but also due to the mongo hill we had to climb on the way back to the car.  It was a fun way to spend the morning, and I am glad for the time we got to spend together, as well as the lessons I learned.

Stats: 2 miles in 1 hour (not bad with the two kiddies).  Over 450 calories burned (from Starbucks stop (when I put on the BB) ’till we got back to the car).  Not bad at all.

I hope you enjoy the photos.  There is an absolutely adorable one of the four of us towards the end of the album.

From Lafayette Fun Run