Mothers' Day

Will and Ruth in the Turkey Trot last November (numbers 2000 and 1999). But today was the first time they ran with me!

My kids have been asking to run with me for a while. Running has long been on their radar screens, starting at age two or so when they wanted to wear my running clothes and cried whenever I left to run, and gradually morphing into no crying and asking me how my run was and how far did I go and finally into running the 100-meter Turkey Trot and giving me fantastical comments such as: "Mommy, did you know? I ran forty miles today!" They actually once got into an ice bath with me! Didn't bug them a whit (maybe because I'd already warmed that water up nicely for them).

So today I thought, to celebrate Mothers' Day, I should take them "running" before church. They came into our room, which was already blazing with light, at 6:45 a.m. (summer's coming!), and soon after we all got up, ate a banana each and put on our "running clothes." I wore actual running clothes. My daughter, Ruth, wanted to mimic what I was wearing as closely as possible. My son, Will, ever his own guy, chose to wear rubber rain boots instead of his sneakers. I figure, whatever floats his boat--as long as he's out there. And Dan, my husband, who had already packed his running shoes because he's still injured and we're moving next week (!), put on his Birkenstocks.

We were quite a motley crew heading down the bike path. Ruth and Will did that kid thing, where when you say "OK, let's run" they start sprinting, only to slow to a walk after 50 meters or so. This was repeated several times...sprint, walk, sprint, walk...down the bike path and around our condo complex. We also had to stop at one point so as not to scare a group of robins pulling worms out of a field. When we came to a crossroads, Will wanted to go one way and Ruth another, so Dan and Will took the high road and Ruth and I the low.

Our two groups ended up meeting again, at which point Ruth decided she didn't want the boys to beat us and took off. I took off after her, both of us laughing. I don't think the boys, in their peculiar footwear, were going to beat us anyway, but it was funny to me that she cared. When we got home, I stopped the Garmin (oh yeah, I had to take all the equipment--Garmin, water bottles, everything but the iPod).

We had gone 1/2 mile--not bad for two four-year-olds on their first shot at it. Happy Mothers' Day!