It's a Snowy, no Sunshiny Run!

With the crazy North Carolina weather, one never knows when it will be good to exercise outside but me and Evan took advantage of the sunshine on Monday evening, March 28 to hit the neighborhood.

And yes, we did have wet, wet snow that morning with temperatures in the mid-30s. When I checked before our run at 5:30, it was mid-40s.

Since this run was unplanned, as in "I thought of it on the way home from work," (very last minute for me), Evan was not happy: "Nooo, tomorrow, Wednesday, not today."

Here we are, long after the run, since we were greeted by Eric and Daddy (hadn't seen them all day) and we were hungry:

Thanks to a small Nestle Crunch bar and a ball, we made it outside and he immediately started talking my ears off!

"Mommy, I can't until Friday {no school} because I can trade {fill in the blank} Pokemon with Ms. Amanda {counselor at his after school program}."

He thoroughly explained the "trade," which is the trading of characters within the Pokemon video game, i.e. not the actual trading of a game cartridge.  Surprisingly of what little I have read about Pokemon it is described as a very social game so this trading stuff is pretty normal. The only part I really did understand was that he was not going to trade his best/strongest Pokemon character for logical reasons.

Conversation quickly changed to the March of Dimes update (see earlier post) and then we saw a dog being walked by its owner, keeping in mind that Evan is still bouncing his soccer ball:

"Oh, that looks like a police dog, mommy. We read about police dogs today as a class. Well really we read to ourselves at the same time."

"Well police dogs are trained to work for the police and often times, they are German Shepherds. But what did you learn today?"

"I know, that dog was a German Shepherd and so was the one in the book. We also read why we have saliva."

"So why do we have saliva?"

LONG PAUSE

"Oh, I don't remember but it is like lots of water in your mouth all the time."

"Well I think it has something do with protecting your teeth but I don't remember why we have it either."

Tangent: Being the librarian, I cannot leave it open, so here it is: why we have saliva.

"Evan, do you want to know what my nickname was when I had braces?"

"What was it?"

"It was 'saliva queen,' because I produced the most saliva the dentist had ever seen!"

Evan didn't seem to understand that completely, perhaps when he remembers why we have saliva, he will get it!

At this point, we had caught up to the dog who was anxious to play with us and the ball but we were seriously conversing and running.

While a brief run, we actually ran for the longest stretch of time and came home with:

Time: 18:20
Distance: 0.930 miles
Calories: 56.7
Steps: 2280
Pace: 3.0


Happy Running!

Always the Grandmothers

So Evan is ecstatic about the money he has raised for the March of Dimes walk on Saturday, April 16. He continues to say he is not sure he is walking it but as I explained again, he has to since he is registered and people are giving him money!!

"It's all about commitment, like signing up for soccer and showing up for practice!"

"Oh, is Spencer {his friend} going to walk it?"

"No, Evan, but you have made the commitment now and it will be fun. Besides you have enough money for a t-shirt with the new logo from my work on it. And remember all the money is given to the March of Dimes for them to give to people who do research to help very sick babies."

"Yeah, I remember. Will I get to wear our team t-shirt at the walk?"

"Probably if we get it when we register."

These conversations are always interesting with children because of their questions but he is starting to understand it. With all that, Evan still has raised more money than me, thanks to grandmothers!

Evan: $30.00
Mommy: $15.00

And, as Evan informed me, that makes $45.00!

Thank you Helen, Laura and Gmommy - all very special grandmothers. Evan remembers the coworkers and he knew Gmommy would give him money!

Happy March of Dimes walking!

Maps

Even after a busy Sunday, Evan and I managed to squeeze in a brief run on March 20 - the first day of Spring!

Since North Carolina weather is weird, I thought Evan could handle shorts and short sleeves (it was probably upper 60s) even though I wore pants. He is always the "cold" one but he warmed up quickly, as I explained that he would, after we started running. Here he is "freezing," pre-run:

We didn't need a map since we ran the neighborhood but we did discuss what maps show us. He is learning about them in school this week so we talked about maps of different states; an amusement park map; a road map; and why we might use them. He was fully prepped and I scrounged up maps of Tennessee, Louisiana and Texas as well as the Blue Ridge Parkway for him to share at school.

Since Evan is a bit of planner (wonder where he gets that :)), we talked about our schedule this week including Sunday evening which consisted of pizza for dinner and Praise Night at our church. Evan likes the desserts and Eric likes the music so it all works out in the end. And then we have three nights of soccer and hopefully two nights at home to eat dinner together!

I also quizzed him on a few of his new spelling words which he already knew so that didn't last long. We were both tired, I think, so our conversation wasn't as engaged as some other conversations.

And like maps show us where to go, the trusty All-in-one Pedometer for the iPhone, once again came through with:
Time: 18:50
Distance: 0.855 miles
Calories: 50.4
Steps: 2090
Pace: 1.2


Happy Running!

It's official ... we are marching

As promised, Evan and I are official members of Coy C. Carpenter Library's March for Babies team. Walk is in Winston-Salem on Saturday, April 16.


Here is Evan and Dianne!

Thank you for your support.

Happy Running!

A Candy Run

The gorgeous weather on Saturday, March 12 made for a nice "candy run" for me and Evan.

We had to pick up Eric's cake so we made the best of it and went for a short run down Candy Lane and through a new neighborhood called Glenhaven, both off Union Grove Church Road. Evan counted the number of people who live in Glenhaven, only eight right now with more town homes coming. He liked Candy Lane but couldn't figure out why it is called "Candy" Lane after running to the end of the cul-de-sac. There wasn't any candy either, just a short basketball goal.

During Glenhaven, our conversation turned to what will be our first 5K together. I explained that my library has a team for the March of Dimes walk in April (details coming soon). Once he understood the purpose of March of Dimes and wondered if the route has hills, his only question was: oh, what color shirts will our team have?

I didn't know the answer to the route OR the shirt color. With that, his plan for the walk/run is: I know, I will run fast and then walk up the hills. Do you think we will be able to finish the race, mom?

Now I am the wise one :) with: yes, Evan, we will definitely finish the race. And we will have to set a pace that will help us run and walk, hills or no hills. It is about finishing the race, not necessarily winning it.

On our second "lap" through Glenhaven, Evan started explaining the status of the town homes being built: that one, mom, is done. And right here is the brick, with rocks; THAT is sand, not concrete, mom ... do you know how long it takes to build the brick?

A morning, such as it was for us, was my answer. I thought it was a realistic answer. I learned on this run, besides the difference between sand and concrete, that Evan is much more talkative on a morning run than an afternoon one. Like mother, like son, I guess!

And he even saved enough energy to score a goal for his soccer team during their first game that afternoon! Here he is replenishing some energy post-run:

After all that conversing, finally here are our stats:
Time: 24:50
Distance: 1.12 miles
Calories: 66.5
Steps: 2427
Pace: 2.7


Happy ... sweet running!

It's a Birthday Run

As I said in a previous post, mine and Evan's running together wouldn't be as frequent since soccer has started but we were able to sneak in some outdoor exercise time together on Saturday, March 5.

March 5 is a special day because it is Eric's birthday so we invited him along. Since Eric enjoys commenting on the scenery, the boys rode their bikes while I walked/jogged.

Here we are filling up on carbs pre-run:

Eric continues to learn to brake while Evan goes full speed which meant I stayed in the middle, often backtracking to keep Eric on task (he loves to talk). Evan was  good at watching for cars and warning us when he saw one.

I only sprinted (and I mean fast) when I heard screaming from Evan after falling off his bike. From his crying, I thought his elbow was broken but it was only scraped. I walked his bike home with some backtracking to encourage Eric to keep pedaling.

I did keep track of my movement, although it is probably not that accurate:


Time: 20:45
Distance: 0.645 miles
Calories: 50.5
Steps: 1893
Pace: 1.0


Happy .... "birthday" Running!