For the past couple of days, I've been consumed with reading a book that I impulsively downloaded from the library to my Kindle. It's called Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn. I read her book Gone Girl a while ago, and I really liked it, so I wanted to try another of her books. I love the way she writes from different characters points of view. Each chapter gets really interesting, and then suddenly it switches to a different person's point of view, and I get hooked on their storyline. It makes me not want to put the book down!
I was reading Wild by Cheryl Strayed, but after reading a page or two at a time for a couple of months, I finally gave up on it. I wanted to like it, especially because it was recently turned into a movie, but I just couldn't get into it. I like books that are suspenseful, because then I want to keep reading, and they're hard to put down.
Anyway, Jerry was off work yesterday, and we decided to go for a run together. We got the kids off to school in the morning, and then got ready to run. We planned to go to the State Park to run four miles, but halfway there, Jerry suggested going to the Metropark instead. It's a little farther away, but I liked the idea, so we went there to do an out-and-back four-miler.
Usually when I run with Jerry, we end up going pretty slowly, because we talk a lot. We hit the first mile in 10:07, so I suggested we try to get negative splits (faster each mile). The second mile felt really hard to me for some reason (a lot of it was in the sun), and the third wasn't much better. But I felt really good during the last mile. When I looked at our splits, I saw that our second mile was just 1/10th of a SECOND faster than the first... but we'd managed negative splits!
Yes, that's right--46 degrees! I actually wore a long-sleeved shirt to run in. With the full sun, though, it wasn't as cold as I'd expected, and I wished I'd worn short sleeves by mile two. It was nice to run with Jerry, though. It's been a while since we were able to.
For those that comment on Jerry's smile (the "Jerry face") that he usually has, he deliberately tried to smile "normally" for this photo. He said this picture just proves why he doesn't smile normally, because when he does, it makes him look like a creeper ;)
Noah had cross country practice in the afternoon, so we went to watch. (I'm the only parent that actually goes and watches practice--so it may be weird, but I like to see how Noah's doing!) As soon as we got there, we saw Noah was running with the coach, and he looked really upset. He came over to the fence to get the Gatorade we brought him, and he was crying.
I asked him what was wrong, and he said that a group of girls were making fun of him because he's a slow runner. I stayed calm, but inside, I was pissed--I wanted to find out who they were and get all "bitchy mom" on them. Noah is a slow runner, usually last in the group, but he never felt ashamed of that until yesterday when the girls teased him for it. I had told him when he joined the team that it doesn't matter how fast or slow he goes, that he should just do his best and try to improve HIMSELF, and not worry about what anyone else does.
He didn't try to quit or anything when we got there, thankfully. I didn't want him to cry, because that would certainly make the teasing worse, so I just gave him a quick pep talk and he kept going. There was a boy that stuck with him the whole time, which made me glad that Noah had someone to run with (the reason he joined was to make some friends and become a better runner).
They had to do a 1.2 mile run, and the two of them finished last, but they ran the entire distance (a lot of the kids would sprint, then walk, then sprint... because they didn't know how to pace themselves). I was SO proud of Noah for running the entire way, because when we did the 5K, he was only running one minute at a time (run one, walk one, over and and over).
He didn't have practice today, so I decided to pick him up from school and take him to the State Park to go for a short run. There's a small loop there that I guessed to be about a mile around, so I figured we could do that once. I told him that he could run at whatever pace he wanted, and I would just go along for the company.
I was so impressed that he didn't end up taking any walk breaks! He's improved so much since the 5K's we did over the summer. During his first 5K, his mile time was about 13:45-14:00 on average. Today, his first mile was 13:07. The loop ended up being longer than I thought--1.56 miles--and the 0.56 part of the run was a pace of 11:57. So he overall average pace for 1.56 miles was 12:42. A big improvement!
He was very proud of himself for being able to run the entire way without stopping. On the way home, we stopped for an ice cream (probably our last of the season at the local ice cream shop). It's so strange--since I started intuitive eating, I can count on one hand the number of times I've eaten ice cream! Ice cream is my very favorite food, but I just haven't craved it much when I've really been listening to my body. Today, though, it sounded really good after our run. I got a small flurry, and I only ate half of it before I was satisfied. What the--?! I can assure you, I've NEVER eaten just half of a flurry. I threw the rest out, and it wasn't even hard to do. That was a big moment for me ;)
I was reading Wild by Cheryl Strayed, but after reading a page or two at a time for a couple of months, I finally gave up on it. I wanted to like it, especially because it was recently turned into a movie, but I just couldn't get into it. I like books that are suspenseful, because then I want to keep reading, and they're hard to put down.
Anyway, Jerry was off work yesterday, and we decided to go for a run together. We got the kids off to school in the morning, and then got ready to run. We planned to go to the State Park to run four miles, but halfway there, Jerry suggested going to the Metropark instead. It's a little farther away, but I liked the idea, so we went there to do an out-and-back four-miler.
Usually when I run with Jerry, we end up going pretty slowly, because we talk a lot. We hit the first mile in 10:07, so I suggested we try to get negative splits (faster each mile). The second mile felt really hard to me for some reason (a lot of it was in the sun), and the third wasn't much better. But I felt really good during the last mile. When I looked at our splits, I saw that our second mile was just 1/10th of a SECOND faster than the first... but we'd managed negative splits!
Yes, that's right--46 degrees! I actually wore a long-sleeved shirt to run in. With the full sun, though, it wasn't as cold as I'd expected, and I wished I'd worn short sleeves by mile two. It was nice to run with Jerry, though. It's been a while since we were able to.
For those that comment on Jerry's smile (the "Jerry face") that he usually has, he deliberately tried to smile "normally" for this photo. He said this picture just proves why he doesn't smile normally, because when he does, it makes him look like a creeper ;)
Noah had cross country practice in the afternoon, so we went to watch. (I'm the only parent that actually goes and watches practice--so it may be weird, but I like to see how Noah's doing!) As soon as we got there, we saw Noah was running with the coach, and he looked really upset. He came over to the fence to get the Gatorade we brought him, and he was crying.
I asked him what was wrong, and he said that a group of girls were making fun of him because he's a slow runner. I stayed calm, but inside, I was pissed--I wanted to find out who they were and get all "bitchy mom" on them. Noah is a slow runner, usually last in the group, but he never felt ashamed of that until yesterday when the girls teased him for it. I had told him when he joined the team that it doesn't matter how fast or slow he goes, that he should just do his best and try to improve HIMSELF, and not worry about what anyone else does.
He didn't try to quit or anything when we got there, thankfully. I didn't want him to cry, because that would certainly make the teasing worse, so I just gave him a quick pep talk and he kept going. There was a boy that stuck with him the whole time, which made me glad that Noah had someone to run with (the reason he joined was to make some friends and become a better runner).
They had to do a 1.2 mile run, and the two of them finished last, but they ran the entire distance (a lot of the kids would sprint, then walk, then sprint... because they didn't know how to pace themselves). I was SO proud of Noah for running the entire way, because when we did the 5K, he was only running one minute at a time (run one, walk one, over and and over).
He didn't have practice today, so I decided to pick him up from school and take him to the State Park to go for a short run. There's a small loop there that I guessed to be about a mile around, so I figured we could do that once. I told him that he could run at whatever pace he wanted, and I would just go along for the company.
I was so impressed that he didn't end up taking any walk breaks! He's improved so much since the 5K's we did over the summer. During his first 5K, his mile time was about 13:45-14:00 on average. Today, his first mile was 13:07. The loop ended up being longer than I thought--1.56 miles--and the 0.56 part of the run was a pace of 11:57. So he overall average pace for 1.56 miles was 12:42. A big improvement!
He was very proud of himself for being able to run the entire way without stopping. On the way home, we stopped for an ice cream (probably our last of the season at the local ice cream shop). It's so strange--since I started intuitive eating, I can count on one hand the number of times I've eaten ice cream! Ice cream is my very favorite food, but I just haven't craved it much when I've really been listening to my body. Today, though, it sounded really good after our run. I got a small flurry, and I only ate half of it before I was satisfied. What the--?! I can assure you, I've NEVER eaten just half of a flurry. I threw the rest out, and it wasn't even hard to do. That was a big moment for me ;)
