Pride

We changed life up, again.  First off, I decided last week that all this single mom workout time needed to be spent a bit more productively, so I joined a gym for the next few months.  I'm not sure who is happier, the kids or me!  I chose the gym because I was told that it is more than just a "drop the kids off and let them watch tv" sort of place.  They have a toy room and a bounce house room, with two huge bouncing structures.  Yes, the kids actually cry when we leave.  If we could stay there all day, I'm fairly sure we would.  And I can actually run on a treadmill faster than 10-minute miles, without having to stop and clean up spills/break up fights/wipe butts/anything else you can imagine.  I can just RUN.  It is glorious, and I'm worried that I'll become addicted.

After our nice week of changing up the routine, we went to visit hubby for the weekend.  It was nice to have the family together, and the kids had an absolute blast.  And on Saturday morning, I got to go to a race but not participate.  This is fairly new and slightly painful for me.  But--the big girl got to run her first real race!  She had run a race before, but it was just a little 20 yard fun run, and she wanted MORE.  This was a 1k that was put on after the local 5k started for the adults.  We met up with my sister-in-law (who ran her first 5k and rocked it!!!!!) that morning, the kid wore her "I Run" shirt with a tutu, and she was pumped and ready.  She was in beast mode, and I was proud.  I told her originally that I would run along the side because I didn't know if she'd get down toward the end.  She didn't seem to care whether I did or not, which was probably a good thing since the race started and she vanished!  I waited a bit up from the finish line, so I could give her some inspiration towards the end, but she didn't need it.  She was rocking it!  I ran ahead and got a finish line pic.  She was in about the middle of the pack, finished ahead of most kids her size, and was beaming for the next three hours.  She's still talking about it.  It was precious.

She claims she was running "as fast as lightning."

The finish line!!

Pride.

Then we hung out and cheered on my sis-in-law, who finished about 10 minutes faster than she had expected!  It was a really wonderful morning, and by the end I wasn't sad at all that I didn't get to run that day.  Sometimes it's just more fun to witness the pride of others.

These girls made my day!

We finished up the weekend with a really nice family day on Sunday, consisting of a speedy taper 11-miler for me on a beautiful riverwalk, downtown adventures for the other three, some rock wall climbing for the kiddo, a family swim, and an awesome cookout with my in-laws.  We came home yesterday, and I think it may take us a few days to recover.  Just in time for my birthday weekend and tons more fun!!  As always--bring it on.