Rest day vs capitalising on child’s enthusiasm...

[ktsok]

Urgh. Fantasy running is very different from the reality jog.

Part of the reason I began C25k was that my 8 year old son, out of the blue, signed up for a cross country run with his school. He did so well, bless him. 1km up and down hills, on grass, no training, in a time of about 5 1/2 minutes. He nearly threw up and cried a little at the end, but within a couple of minutes was running around cheering on the next group. He has done another two races since and signed up for junior athletics.

So I thought... blimey, I’d better try and run a bit, see if I can encourage this.

This morning in a fit of optimism I signed us both up with Park Run. Son was leaping about at the prospect of running 2km (he has NO idea!) and asked if we could go for a run. It’s a rest day but... what is a mother to do?!

So off we go. I thought week 2 would be good (challenging enough for son but not self-sabotaging my own progress) with Michael Johnson on speaker telling us when to run and walk.

It was soooo hard! Whether it was the fact I hadn’t rested, didn’t have music, had to run on the spot/in circles, encourage/chat to child the entire time, try to stop child sprinting/try to get child to run, have to stop to climb a tree, I don’t know. But I was pretty boggled by the time it was over and a little less confident about starting week 5 tomorrow.

In the grand scheme of things it is great that my child is enthused and up for doing a Park Run, but boy, was it hard work!!!

[ButtercupKid Graduate]

You’ll be fine tomorrow. When you run you run. When your child runs you support, you care, you guide, protect, encourage. You may be moving quickly at the same time but it’s the child’s run, not yours ! Relax, rest, rehydrate, and enjoy your own turn tomorrow x

[E27M14 Graduate]

Part of my reason for doing this, not just to lose some weight and get myself fitter, but also my son(age 13) is a bit on the chunky side and I’m trying to set a good example, and get him enthused about exercise of some sort. Since then he has started playing basketball on the school team and joined a TaeKwondo club twice a week. Still can’t get him to run with me though 😂

[ktsok Graduate in reply to E27M14]

But that’s brilliant! He will get fit, learn discipline and make friends with those sports. And although the vision of running together with your child is really nice, I found it very challenging! He wanted to sprint, then climb trees, stop to examine slugs/snails/moss/cow poo - and talk constantly. All lovely stuff, but not very running compatible!