As a runner and triathlete and homeschooling mom of 6 kids who also each play instruments, I found that if I didn’t have a race on the calendar, my running would be sporadic. But then last May (2022), I had the epiphany to do a run streak with my kids. My regular running buddies are my 14 yo son and 17 yo daughter. They were on board. What started out as a 100 day streak turned into a 1 year (and still going) streak with no end in sight. And my 12 yo son finished his first year run streak and my 9 year old son started a streak of his own. My mileage has never been higher (our minimum mile has grown from 1 to 3) although we average about 25 miles/week. It’s kind of hilarious how seriously we take not missing a day. And the side benefits appear to be pretty great- less stress, none of us have been sick in a year and zero injuries. We just started training for a marathon this fall and our base feels pretty darn solid. 😊
Ashley, this is the coolest thing -- I love that you've started a running group with your kids! Even your 9-year-old! I love, love, love that. What marathon are you training for?
😁it has become the most fun thing ever. We’re training for a marathon in Grand Rapids, MI on Oct 15. We live in Chicago, and wanted to run the Chicago marathon, but the age limit was 16, so my son wouldn’t be able to run. So we narrowed our search to races with no age limits. It was between Grand Rapids and one in Minneapolis. Maybe Minneapolis next year. 😊
Terrell, for me one hour of walking/ running per day was pretty much non- negotiable after I eventually figured out it was my “keystone “ without which all other important things in my life would slowly but surely deteriorate.
Years ago hearing aides were so expensive that few everyday people could afford them. My wife purchased my first “Good’ pair from a friend of hers whose mother died. They had just purchased a pair of hearing aids for $3000.00
They said she would sell them for $1000.00. She bought them along with the three yeah warranty. Like you, I could finally hear. I used to kid my wife that the old lady used to talk to me through them. “She says we should go out for dessert tonight!”
Ok it worked only once...
Tell her your on a diet and to get her own desserts...
I'm seven years retired and use a different adage now, but during a 38-year teaching career I found that the old running saying “Too busy to run? You're too busy” helped me enormously in finding some sort of work-life balance. Great article, thank you!
Thanks for checking in! I’m traversing various daycare plagues, but I am also settling into a new and less toxic job! It’s been a learning experience for sure. Haven’t been setting aside the time for running, but this article reinforced why it’s so necessary!
Hello to a fellow hearing aids wearing human! I too am amazed at how goal-habit-leak can occur but how purposefully bringing attention to it can get me back on track. Hearing too can change without me being conscious of it happening. Paying attention and being conscious is a daily project it seems to me.
I don't run. I even have trouble walking a lot of the time because of my left knee. Regardless, I find your posts very helpful with my writing. I take your outlook and place myself on the trail in my mind and I find myself rejuvenated. Thanks.
Frank, that's so great to hear! It's funny in a way -- my newsletter here has been about running for all the years I've been writing it, but I find (especially over the past couple of years) that the posts that seem to resonate most with readers are the ones where I veer off-topic, sometimes that have nothing to do with running. I'm so glad this one resonated with you.
Don't know what I would do without my birds!! Robin an towhee singing their heads off now. So glad you are able to hear again. . . same with vision. We shall see if I get courage up enough to go through an eye surgery for cataracts. . .
I'm on track with my mile/day. I have to write it down on Map my Run which seems to get pushed to the last part of the day. Told myself I'd catch up on book work and mapping by Friday. We have to go check out a house this weekend in Eugene, OR. that my daughter has her heart set on buying. Big move for her. . . she's determined to get out of the "rent trap" here in WA.
Be sure and post pics of the graduating ceremony!!:)
Can't wait to see your pictures! This is the first of the first--neither one of us has ever done this before. My buying experience is limited to land, ramshackle houses or getting land for back taxes.
Fortunately, she has saved and saved money from her job. I'm not much help having just an inheritance from the family estate. Eugene is nice. I've been there. This place is by the Willamette River,close to the Uof O and a track. All I can say is we shall see. It is a nice area, but you know how it is buying a house. Takes forever and a day and then you wonder why you did it!!! ;)
Thank you for this! I’m going to repost the quote at the top, if that’s okay.
I’m glad to hear (ha ha) that you are trying out the hearing aides! That gives me motivation to get my hearing checked this summer. I need to do it! I’m scared about how deaf I might be. 😬
I think I put off running because I didn't want to accept how out of shape I had gotten and I thought it would be discouraging to only be able to run 1/2 a mile or a mile at a time. I was just dreading getting started again and resented that I wouldn't be able to do "real runs".
But then my experience did not line up with my expectations at all. The weather has been so great and there are lots of flowers and animals at my running spot and it's been an absolute joy to run 1.5 miles out and then walk the 1.5 miles back as I gear back up. I also decided to take a break from snack food, caffeine, and beer in tandem with starting to run, and I'm really astounded by how little I miss all of it.
I was expecting all this to be hard, and instead it's been easy and calming and clarifying?
It was 1999 and I was truly out of shape ... laced up walked three miles and between walking and swimming, lost 25 and have been in mid 160s ever since. Beer ... one or two a year ... at 73, I find my alcohol tolerance is way down! Portion control and a wife (roommate, soulmate, friend) that doesn’t nag but her being there really helps. Tis true what you say about running/jogging/walking ... it has a tremendous calming effect ... when I’m in a race, I feel like I’m in my moment ... truly blissful.
As a runner and triathlete and homeschooling mom of 6 kids who also each play instruments, I found that if I didn’t have a race on the calendar, my running would be sporadic. But then last May (2022), I had the epiphany to do a run streak with my kids. My regular running buddies are my 14 yo son and 17 yo daughter. They were on board. What started out as a 100 day streak turned into a 1 year (and still going) streak with no end in sight. And my 12 yo son finished his first year run streak and my 9 year old son started a streak of his own. My mileage has never been higher (our minimum mile has grown from 1 to 3) although we average about 25 miles/week. It’s kind of hilarious how seriously we take not missing a day. And the side benefits appear to be pretty great- less stress, none of us have been sick in a year and zero injuries. We just started training for a marathon this fall and our base feels pretty darn solid. 😊
Ashley, this is the coolest thing -- I love that you've started a running group with your kids! Even your 9-year-old! I love, love, love that. What marathon are you training for?
😁it has become the most fun thing ever. We’re training for a marathon in Grand Rapids, MI on Oct 15. We live in Chicago, and wanted to run the Chicago marathon, but the age limit was 16, so my son wouldn’t be able to run. So we narrowed our search to races with no age limits. It was between Grand Rapids and one in Minneapolis. Maybe Minneapolis next year. 😊
Terrell, for me one hour of walking/ running per day was pretty much non- negotiable after I eventually figured out it was my “keystone “ without which all other important things in my life would slowly but surely deteriorate.
I hear you on that! It's like I'm rediscovering how my mental equilibrium needs exercise -- if I don't get it, things can go south pretty quickly.
Years ago hearing aides were so expensive that few everyday people could afford them. My wife purchased my first “Good’ pair from a friend of hers whose mother died. They had just purchased a pair of hearing aids for $3000.00
They said she would sell them for $1000.00. She bought them along with the three yeah warranty. Like you, I could finally hear. I used to kid my wife that the old lady used to talk to me through them. “She says we should go out for dessert tonight!”
Ok it worked only once...
Tell her your on a diet and to get her own desserts...
She never talked to me again....LOL
I'm seven years retired and use a different adage now, but during a 38-year teaching career I found that the old running saying “Too busy to run? You're too busy” helped me enormously in finding some sort of work-life balance. Great article, thank you!
Very true, Andy! I'm going to make a note of that and pull it out to remind myself. Thanks for this!!
Wow, I needed this!
Glad to hear that, Shawna! How are you these days?
Thanks for checking in! I’m traversing various daycare plagues, but I am also settling into a new and less toxic job! It’s been a learning experience for sure. Haven’t been setting aside the time for running, but this article reinforced why it’s so necessary!
Hello to a fellow hearing aids wearing human! I too am amazed at how goal-habit-leak can occur but how purposefully bringing attention to it can get me back on track. Hearing too can change without me being conscious of it happening. Paying attention and being conscious is a daily project it seems to me.
Congrats on your daughter's graduation! Mine graduates next week too.
Thank you, Ruth! And congratulations to yours too! It’s an emotional time, isn’t it?
I don't run. I even have trouble walking a lot of the time because of my left knee. Regardless, I find your posts very helpful with my writing. I take your outlook and place myself on the trail in my mind and I find myself rejuvenated. Thanks.
Frank, that's so great to hear! It's funny in a way -- my newsletter here has been about running for all the years I've been writing it, but I find (especially over the past couple of years) that the posts that seem to resonate most with readers are the ones where I veer off-topic, sometimes that have nothing to do with running. I'm so glad this one resonated with you.
Don't know what I would do without my birds!! Robin an towhee singing their heads off now. So glad you are able to hear again. . . same with vision. We shall see if I get courage up enough to go through an eye surgery for cataracts. . .
I'm on track with my mile/day. I have to write it down on Map my Run which seems to get pushed to the last part of the day. Told myself I'd catch up on book work and mapping by Friday. We have to go check out a house this weekend in Eugene, OR. that my daughter has her heart set on buying. Big move for her. . . she's determined to get out of the "rent trap" here in WA.
Be sure and post pics of the graduating ceremony!!:)
Definitely! So a new house, then? Wow, how exciting! Eugene is so beautiful, from what I've heard and read.
Can't wait to see your pictures! This is the first of the first--neither one of us has ever done this before. My buying experience is limited to land, ramshackle houses or getting land for back taxes.
Fortunately, she has saved and saved money from her job. I'm not much help having just an inheritance from the family estate. Eugene is nice. I've been there. This place is by the Willamette River,close to the Uof O and a track. All I can say is we shall see. It is a nice area, but you know how it is buying a house. Takes forever and a day and then you wonder why you did it!!! ;)
Thank you for this! I’m going to repost the quote at the top, if that’s okay.
I’m glad to hear (ha ha) that you are trying out the hearing aides! That gives me motivation to get my hearing checked this summer. I need to do it! I’m scared about how deaf I might be. 😬
Of course, Corrina! And yes, a hearing test can throw light on it -- you may be fine! You just never know.
I started running after a long lull this month.
I think I put off running because I didn't want to accept how out of shape I had gotten and I thought it would be discouraging to only be able to run 1/2 a mile or a mile at a time. I was just dreading getting started again and resented that I wouldn't be able to do "real runs".
But then my experience did not line up with my expectations at all. The weather has been so great and there are lots of flowers and animals at my running spot and it's been an absolute joy to run 1.5 miles out and then walk the 1.5 miles back as I gear back up. I also decided to take a break from snack food, caffeine, and beer in tandem with starting to run, and I'm really astounded by how little I miss all of it.
I was expecting all this to be hard, and instead it's been easy and calming and clarifying?
It was 1999 and I was truly out of shape ... laced up walked three miles and between walking and swimming, lost 25 and have been in mid 160s ever since. Beer ... one or two a year ... at 73, I find my alcohol tolerance is way down! Portion control and a wife (roommate, soulmate, friend) that doesn’t nag but her being there really helps. Tis true what you say about running/jogging/walking ... it has a tremendous calming effect ... when I’m in a race, I feel like I’m in my moment ... truly blissful.
Wow, Dave! 👏 especially on the losing 25!