Let’s not mess around with semantics and cut to the chase….I’m horribly out of shape. I never thought I would see the day when my daughter would be encouraging me, when it came to working out and athletics. Eden has always been involved in activities and sports, but she’s not what you would call an aggressive competitor. She was the kind of kid who would get off her bike and walk it up a hill with a 10% incline because her legs hurt or stand by and watch the soccer game ensue around her, holding back so everyone could have a turn.

This spring her school started a running club which she was adamant she would not be joining. She “hates” running and always complains about sore legs when we do anything “strenuous” including lots of walking. So, you can imagine my surprise when she came home from school a few weeks back and announced that her teacher had convinced her to join the running club. Yay! Joining didn’t actually mean she liked running, only that she agreed to take part. She complains about running club all the time, and yet has asked me to go running with her more than once in the past few weeks. I can’t say running is high on my interest list, but I totally believe that an active life style is essential and it’s my job to display that for my kids. I literally could not say “no”.

Not only am I currently in poor shape, but I also hate running. I have done a bit of running in the past and even took the Running Room’s Learn to Run program several years back. A former colleague and avid runner once told me it takes 6 weeks to get hooked on running. It’s a lie. I stuck with it much longer than the suggested 6 weeks and still hated every step. I continued to run grudgingly and only stuck with it because it seemed like the simplest and most cost effective way to get in shape at the time. However, it didn’t seem to take that long before I quit altogether. I just don’t like it.

Despite my lack of interest in running, I really feel that Eden needs a good role model and I am so proud that she not only joined running club, but is actually showing an interest in pursuing running in her free time. So, when she asked me to go, I got myself up and ready, and off we went. Eden has some kind of an App to track your running distance and time. So I know for a fact that I was already dying at a 1/3 of a mile. At this point, it wasn’t so much the cardio,as my legs. By about 7/8 of a mile I was at least 20 paces behind Eden. I managed to continue running to the one mile mark and then had to walk for a minute. After a short walk and a one minute break, we began running again. It was hilarious. It was a total role reversal. Eden was encouraging me and telling me to stick with it and even slowing down to wait for me. I honestly never thought I would see this day. So, we continued on with her mostly running and me doing shorter spurts of running followed by longer distances of walking in between. In the end, we did 5 miles, but I’m sure I didn’t actually run much more than 2!

Eden and I about 45 minutes after our run ~ my face is still very red. Ugh!

My neighbour, Lisa, thought it is was kind of a special “first” and insisted on taking a picture of us after our first run together. You’ll notice how red my face is. The embarrassing thing is that this photo was taken about 45 minutes post run. I am now sitting here, about 2 hours after my run, and I think my natural colour has finally returned. I must say, I do feel better now, but I definitely needed some recovery time. I can’t say I enjoyed the run, but it was great to be out with Eden and I’m so proud of her. I told her that she could be my “personal trainer” and if we ran 3 times a week all summer, she could help get me back in shape. I found this winter to be one of the toughest ever and quite honestly had no motivation to do any form of exercise. Channel surfing was pretty much the extent of my physical activity this past winter. I love the idea of her and I going running together. I am not even going to suggest that we’ll be committed to this as that is way too premature, but it would be a great way to get back in shape and enjoy the beautiful weather we’ve waited so long for. I’m cautiously optimistic!