So, my regular followers will know that I have an occasional running partner in my middle daughter. For the last few days my youngest daughter has been showing a definite interest as well. Problem being that her sister and myself are quite far in and it would be difficult to accommodate her our runs. Being the doting father I try to think of ways to include her. Unlike her older sister, sport is not her forte so I want to avoid stifling her enthusiasm.
Thus, I agreed to run with her last evening to get a gauge on her pace and stamina. Nothing strenuous, just around the block. Much to my surprise she managed two 4 minute runs, at my pace, with 3 minute walk in between. I hadn’t expected to put that much work in and, in the back of mind, I had today’s run in my mind. Upside was that I was tired and knew I’d sleep well before the early morning amble.
At 3:30 this morning this assumption was shattered when one of my daughters knocks loudly at our bedroom door. She is in a panic, another of my daughters is pacing in the hallway. They’d heard tapping at the down stairs window, then a loud bump. Not long ago we’d had an amateur attempt at a break in. Nothing too serious. Just an opportunist trying the windows during the hot weather. Despite putting up further deterrents the kids where still a little nervous. So, on go the shorts, put aside earlier for today’s run, and I stomp down the stairs to investigate.
Now, I’m a big lad, ex-prop, previous cooler at night clubs, and bare chested. If someone is trying to get in the window, I figure that the light suddenly coming on and the sight of my neanderthal figure would likely scare them off. Light goes on; I see a shadow move; eyes adjust; nothing directly out the window. Inevitably I’m going to have to open the door and peer outside. Again, nothing. Resigned that it was the kids being spooked by something else, I start climbing back up the stairs and back to bed for another couple of hours.
Then I hear the inescapable sound of someone tapping at the window. Sh!t. Suddenly my little outside excursion did not seem so sensible. I ran back down the stairs, threw the light switch, and there it was. The NHS bunting, put up some time ago, flapping and knocking in to the window pane. A shed load of adrenaline wasted; the kids still disbelieving the explanation; bed eventually returned to at 5:15.
I rose an hour later not exactly confident that I was going to pull off this 25 minute run. Especially after my near disaster last time out. 50 minutes later I was back home having had one of the most enjoyable runs on this program. It wasn’t quick, but definitely not slow, and I sped up 2-3 minutes from the end.
What a turnaround from Wednesday! And, boy, did I surprise myself. 7 weeks ago I would have used all the above as an excuse not to have run. It was exactly what I need to get through today after a little bit of bunting and bravery.
W7 R2 yaaay :-)
Wk3 R2 
W7 R2
W7 R2 - hard work
W7/R2 Done.
