For as long as I have been running, I have seen moms or dads running with their kids. I run by them pushing my massive double jogging stroller while they are strolling along with their single, or even better..their kids on bikes behind them. The first time I saw that, I wanted to do that. How awesome would that be. Me, just running, hands free, with my kids getting their exercise in behind me. Sounds like a dream....until I tried it.
Olivia just learned how to ride her bike with no training wheels. So she has been super excited to ride these days. Yesterday I wanted to go to the gym, but Toby suggested that I go on a run and they could ride their bikes behind me. Sounded like a great idea, the days of big kids with bikes instead of a stroller was here and I was very excited.
So we take off, they did great down our street, but as soon as we turned the corner all hell broke loose. I was leading the pack, (because I know if I let them go in front of me I would never catch up and they would probably just roll right into the intersection) then Toby, then Olivia. Well Olivia got in front of Toby, and Toby flipped his lid. He did NOT want to be the caboose. (thats what we always call the person who is in the back) He starts screaming and crying and trying to pass her and knock her over at the same time. So I stop us all, 2 minutes in, take a deep breath, and realize this is not going to be a dream, but a very bad nightmare. I tell him if he keeps acting like this we are going to go home. Olivia, the peace maker, decides that Toby can be in the middle. Thanks Liv, so we go on. We are doing fine again until we turn to go down hill. Toby is running over my heels, Olivia is screaming because she is picking up too much speed, we go onto a very narrow sidewalk with ivy next to it and Olivia gets caught up and falls right over. Fake crying from frustration (she had had a hard time going slow and tipped over a couple times before this.) She screams at the top of her lungs that she hates skinny sidewalks. We get onto the street. Same speed problems till we turn again. The second straight was great, until we turn again, now to go uphill. They immediately start complaining how hard it is to go uphill, Liv starts crying and saying how her knee hurts, and Toby is frustrated that he cant keep up, screaming "slow down". Olivia finally falls over in the grass, face down, balling her eyes out and holding her knee (dramatic much?) By now, I am about 20 feet in front of her, so some good Samaritan pulls over to make sure she is ok. OH MY GOSH. I am so done by this time. I think we are about 15 minutes into it and I vow to NEVER DO THIS AGAIN. So I run back to her, pick up her bike and start walking. She grabs my hand, "Thank you mom" and walks the rest of the way up the hill. Once we get to flat ground again, we are off an running the last leg till home. We could not get there fast enough.
Im sure this will be like the half marathon I did, I know it was hell, but it was worth it. I will forget about the pain and try again another day. It can only go up from here...right?!?
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