In high school I was a middle-long distance runner who "specialized" in the 800m, mostly because I wouldn't be lapped and I wouldn't make a complete fool of myself. With all the miles I put in as a high school runner, I never ran any of the 5k races that were in the area, one of which I volunteered for on a few occasions. This past fall, as part of our "School Improvement Plan," a small group of teachers started training for a 5k a little later that fall, and they tried to get me run in the race, but I had an excuse. It was a good excuse, but an excuse nonetheless. Paul and I were going away that weekend for our anniversary, our first time away from Little Man together. With that excuse, it also gave me the excuse to only half attempt to put forth the effort to stick to a 5k training program. Paul and I talked, and agreed that a good goal for me would be to run in the annual town run in June, so I knew I had some time. Once or twice a week, when I "had time," I would strap on my running shoes and "wog" through Havre de Grace, most of the time worried I would see a student and they would think how ridiculous I looked and that I would embarrass myself. This led em to strap on my shoes even less, thinking, "I can go tomorrow," but when tomorrow came, it was always the same excuse. Then it got cold outside, another excuse. About 3 weeks ago I sat down, got a firm date for the town run I wanted to do, and made a calendar to map out my training. That day I realized that now was the time, and that day was the day I needed to start if I was going to be even remotely ready for the race the first weekend of June.

Today I started week 3 of a 10 week 5k training program. Over the past two weeks I have been really good at getting out there for the early part of the week. The program has me "running" three days a week right now, with rest days between. Mondays and Wednesdays I am ready to go as soon as I get home from school, ready to tackle the challenge laid out before me for that day, and try to get it done before Paul and Little Man get home, a challenge some days. But come Friday, the last thing I was to do is lace up the shoes and hit the pavement. Come Friday I am exhausted from school, and all I want to do is come home and relax. This is something I need to get over, and just do. I haven't quite figured out what will get me out of my "Friday funk," but it has to change.

Little Man has a doctor's appointment this afternoon, and since I do not have my AP kids today, I decided to take the day, and spend it with him. Today is also a run day, and this means that either I was going to take Little Man out with me, or I would have to wait until after we did our errands this evening, likely after Little Man went to bed, and this just wouldn't happen. So, after Little Man had breakfast, I bundled him up some, and we went to get the bike cart/jogging stroller put together to go out for our training. It took me quite a while to figure out how the cart went together, but I finally managed to get it all together and Little Man strapped in, and off we went. I had these grand ideas that pushing Little Man around would be no harder than when I normally go out, but boy was I wrong. Was I able to jog the entire time indicated in my plan? Absolutely not, but I kept going. I  pushed him up and down hills, jogging when I could and pushing forward.