All week Emma has been excitedly telling me how we are going to run up airport hill on Saturday. I am so glad that she had fun running with me last week. I am ecstatic about having a partner to run with. So, I've been excited for this Saturday's run too.
But then, all week I've slacked off on my running. I've been in a bit of a funk, I think. And today was pretty full. I kept telling her that I didn't think I could run six miles. Maybe three. But not six. Luckily she was persistent.
I drove to Cedar City today for Julia's basketball game. She plays against boys, which is a little crazy. Anyway, today she played a really good team from Parowan. Julia's team lost, but I was bursting with pride because Julia almost played the whole game. She played her little heart out. She was amazing! I love seeing that kind of effort and aggressiveness. Julia is getting so good and I love it! But as Emma and I sat there on the bench, I was kind of wishing I could be out there running with Julia for an hour. I miss sports so much sometimes.
Greg stayed back to coach Austin and to take Miles to his game. Everyone did well and we met back at home for lunch. Then while Greg took Emma out to practice some driving, I had a total freak out moment with the other kids. All it takes is an overwhelmed mom and a fight about the Xbox and I go full throttle phsyco lady. I could hear myself screaming for people to practice the piano and to get off their butts and start cleaning. I didn't exactly sound like the me I want to be. I eventually calmed myself down and we made it through piano practicing for three of the kids. Then I forced everyone outside and I started cleaning with a vengeance the back patio by the basketball court.
When Greg and Emma got home, they found me throwing away a lot of junk. They didn't know about the freak-out moment. But they joined in and Greg completely cleaned up the garage. I told Emma that if she'd clean the kitchen while I finished up outside, we could still go running. By now, Austin had friends out there shooting hoops and Miles had his friend, Stu, over to play, and everyone was keeping very entertained. And no fighting.
Pretty soon, I found myself jogging alongside Emma. My music was playing in my ears and the sun was shining so brightly that the air didn't even feel cold. I had decided that if I got too tired I would call Greg to come get me, but I would try to make it to airport hill. But I had little hopes of running up to the top.
Emma really runs fast and I have to pick it up a lot to keep up with her. And then she just tries to run faster. But we had fun making it to the hill. And boy, is it a hill! We walked and ran to the top--almost a mile up. The view was amazing. And rewarding. We snapped a few pictures and then pretty much floated down, because when I looked at my watch to check on our speed, it was faster that I ever run! And when we got to the bottom, we just kept running. It was glorious.
By the time we made it home, 5.5 miles later, we were tired but thrilled. Running is my happy place. It is still so hard, especially trying to keep up with Emma the whole way. And I had so many moments when I was tired and I wanted to quit, but I've learned, and I'm still learning, how to push through physical difficulties to enjoy to feeling of accomplishment and pride that comes from doing something hard. I can do hard things! And the runner's high feels great too.
Way to go, Emma. Thanks for pushing me up that hill. Thanks for running with your old mom. :)
 |
| My cute Emma--this is too easy! |
 |
| I feel good! |
 |
| We ran up here! And we live down there! |
 |
| 5.5 miles! We did it! |
No comments:
Post a Comment