Thursday Night Long Run

Everyone who has kids understands that there is a real art to balancing all the activities the family is involved in.  And when your kids are the age that my 3 are, it makes it a little harder.  My oldest daughter can stay home alone for a couple hours at a time.  We have done this a few times and she has responded well.  But she is still a little young to watch her 2 younger sisters with all 3 home alone.  This means that the kids get shuffled around the others activities when the other is getting picked up or dropped off.  Also, when one parent is gone, the other needs to be there to watch all 3 of them to make sure they don't burn down the house.  Yes, we could get a babysitter, and we have done this on occasion, but that gets a little expensive so we don't do it all the time.

We also have a lot of fun activities we like to do over the weekends that can make the long run a problem.  Being that it is winter here in Wisconsin with new snowfall on the ground and that I am admittedly opposed to running on a treadmill, that makes some of the runs hard to fit in.  A few are skipped while others are extended when I have the time.  What to do?

Last weekend, the family decided to go up to Door County, Wisconsin (The Thumb of Wisconsin)  for the weekend.  We rented a condo that had an indoor pool and a great sledding hill close by.  But I did not want to run while up there.  So I decided to go on my long run on Thursday night at the Pettit Center since it was already dark outside and I wanted to go 13 miles.  So I took Melissa, the oldest daughter, with me and she ran the first 5 miles with me then bummed around Pettit as I finished my 13+ miles.  It went well.  Actually, I was really proud of Melissa because this was the first time she ran 5 miles nonstop and did not complain 1 time.  She wanted to slow down 1 time but I said no since we were going pretty slow at about 9:30 pace.  The coach in me kept her going.  She was happy when she was done.

Now come this weekend.  This time, Melissa and I are going to Madison to meet up with a friend of mine to go watch the High School Boys State Basketball Championship games.  And a short drive south of Madison is a 5K that my friend Jamie told me about.  So we are planning on going there in the morning for a quick 5K then to Madison for some basketball.  How about do my long run on Sunday morning?  No can do, the girls sing in church and I am not missing that.  So once again off to Pettit.  This time I got in a little over 18 miles.

Next weekend might be the same story as I am helping out at a race on Saturday morning.

So the balance game continues but at least it has its rewards.

Keep on Running!!!