I went a bit rogue/off C25K schedule for New Years Day. My son is 13 years old, and it can be really hard work levering him away from the screens. He has chosen running as his DofE physical activity, which is great. Less great is the amount of chivvying required to get him out the door. While I am on week 6, he is just finishing week 2. I might not run like a gazelle, but he is tortoise-slow in motivation. After some efforts to get him going this morning I put down tools and said if he didn’t want to do the DofE, fine - I quit. 20 minutes later, after quietly charging his (my old) Garmin and reinstalling the App, he suggested we go for a run. So… even though it was a rest day, in the name of parental love I found myself lacing up the shoes (after my son gave them back to me - we are the same size for, I sincerely hope, a very short time), and heading out the door for a ‘freestyle’ run on a route of his choice.
He said he’d go at my pace, and thought he could do 20 minutes. We agreed no headphones, we’d chat instead. My son suggesting we leave the tech behind! and talk! We did our 5 minute walk, and then broke into a very slow jog. We managed to make conversation until we hit a hill, then it was head down for a bit. At the 5 minute mark he decided he would switch to walking again… I kept jogging in little loops… and so it continued, him jogging/walking in 5 minute intervals, and me… keeping going… for 26 minutes, when he asked me to stop.
Walking back, we reflected on our progress. In 6 weeks, there was a real contrast in our ability to keep going. He said he thought he’d stick to the C25K plan going forward, rather than make up his own routines. I dampened down my inward cheer and said that seemed a sensible plan.
We will see… happy new year peeps 🙂
Written by
ktsok
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love this! Welcome back. I’ve been unable to run much due to injury so I’ve been going to the gym with my boy instead. Today we did a little run together on the treadmills and on the way home he said he’d like to try running outside next time I go….. I am not sure how it is going to work as I am little and old and VERY slow but I can keep going for a fair old while if I need to, he is just over 6ft tall now so can probably walk faster than I run!!
Em! You are here! Ah, so good to see you. I’m sorry to hear you have been injured… sounds like you are on the treadmill to recovery? And not so much of the little and old please! You are an inspirational woman and mother.
Bravo! I have two offspring who would benefit greatly for very different reasons. One won't start (although TBF when at home his daily walk is religious), the other is very haphazard.
Late reply, that's sounds like a lovely run, and I doubt he'll be a tortoise for long so make the most of it! Side note, why do I not get notifications 🤷🏻♀️
Which notifications are you missing? They’re often a bit hit and miss. You could try updating your account settings. I’m on my mobile and didn’t find them at all easy to find. The way I did it was to open up my profile, click “edit” next to user info, then scroll to the bottom to find a message saying the account settings have moved with a link. Follow the link, then see a message that the email notifications section has also moved with a link to the new section. Follow that link and you can select what you’d like to receive email notifications about. Then congratulate yourself for all that effort!
I’ll investigate to try and find if there’s a direct link!
I have just given as a Xmas present the second Virtual Lord of The Ring Conqueror challenge to my son, who started running during my 3rd year of running. Not as regularly as I do, but he does get a run in per week or two or so. Just simply having someone else regularly getting out there for a run motivated him to do the same.
So he finished his first virtual running challenge of 145 miles last year and is up for the next stage!
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Tricked myself into week5 run3!
