Jogging Girl

I love to jog. I don't get to do it as often as I'd like but I usually make sure to squeeze in 2 or 3 runs a week. I'm pretty slow but I don't run competitively - just to stay in shape and get some fresh air. Plus, it's a great way to exercise our two Australian Shepherds. I love jogging with a buddy but haven't had a jogging buddy (other than the dogs) in years! Dave doesn't jog and my only jogging friends (our neighbors) jog way too fast for me to keep up.

I ran a 10K a few years ago when we lived in Colorado. Two kids ran the race that day with their parents - a boy and a girl. I believe they were 8 and 10 years old. They.kicked.my.butt. Ever since then I've had it in the back of my mind that I would introduce Solana to jogging one day. I've been toying with the idea of doing it this year but don't want to turn her off from the idea so I haven't brought it up. Today SHE brought it up! She really wanted to go jogging with me after dinner. I figured we'd run 100 yards to the stop sign and turn back. So we put on our black stretch pants, laced up (or velcro'd up in her case) our sneakers, leashed up Monty (our 7 month-old Aussie), and headed out the door.

I obviously let her determine the pace and we set off on our first mother-daughter jog. She looked really good. I tried to talk the whole time because I knew she would talk over any silence and I didn't want her talking when she should be breathing. "If you feel too tired just tell me and we'll walk. Do you want to turn back? Wow! I can't believe how far we've gone! You know, you've already gone way father than I could possibly have expected. We can stop any time. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth - all the way to your belly. This downhill part is fun. I like going downhill because it's easy on my muscles. We're coming to the uphill part. If you get too out of breath or your legs feel tired just tell me and we can walk. Do you feel ok? We're almost home. I like to run really fast at the end of my run. Do you want to do that with me?" I was a barrage of checking in and reassurance. She seemed to love it. I think she jogged for about 15 minutes straight. Unbelievable.

We got home and Dave brought out Bluebell. I took off again with both dogs. When I got home I told him how far we went and he said she kept jogging around the house after she came inside! When I tucked her in she asked if we could go again tomorrow. Chloe gets her Synagis shot tomorrow. I'll check with the pediatrician to make sure it's ok for Solana to jog. She seems kind of young but I hope she says it's ok. After the soccer debacle in the fall it would be so awesome to learn that this is Solana's sport!