Couch to 5K - Week One - Day One

Workout:
5 minute walking warm up
20 minutes alternating 60 second running and 90 second walking intervals
5 minute walking cool down

I didn't want to go alone today so I asked my husband and the kids to go with me. I can't believe how hard it is to find a decent, safe, non-scary place to run. We went to the nearby school so the kids could play on the playground while my man and I ran around the playground area. We walked up just behind a couple with a 14 month old baby and, to my dismay, an unleashed dog. Great. I was trying to figure out how I could run while still being within arms reach of my children in case this very friendly looking dog decided to attack. We were letting the kids settle in before we started our warm up walk and our two year old started to climb something and was determined to get to the top. He made it while my husband was holding his arms out under him every step of the way to catch him if he fell. My son was excited, ran to the big twirly slide and slid to the bottom as quickly as he could so he could climb that thing again. We watched/helped him again. He was just not steady enough to do it without us being there. Loose dog + unsteady dare devil son = find new place to run. We drove to a park that is a few miles away but we went there a lot last summer because it is a playground designed for the youngest of kids. Everything there is really short. There isn't much my son could fall off of. The kids settled in and we started to walk on the sidewalk around the playground. Before too long, the kids wanted to be on the swings. My considerate husband took them over and they spent the majority of the rest of the time there.

The training wasn't bad. I liked it because it made my body work and it's been a long time since I've pushed it. I really liked how it felt. It was fun to watch my family playing as I ran/walked. It was not fun to have to dodge kids on scooters, watch teenagers trying to do flips off of the playground equipment (My daughter later jumped off this same peice of equipment and literally bit the dust. We had to scoop wood chips out of her mouth and pull one out of her nose. Thanks for the example guys.) and trying to avert my eyes from the couple that was being completely inappropriate in a public place. The last one actually made me sick to my stomach and I was just glad my kids were facing the other way on the swings. On a better note: my daughter has never liked swings. She was scared of them last summer. Because of this, she's only been on them a hand full of times. When I ran by this time though, she and the dare devil were laughing and laughing as they started swinging. That gave me a little smile. It was cute to seem them enjoying the moment together. After a few more rounds, my husband pointed at the girl as I ran past. She was pumping her legs! I did a double take and, yep, sure enough, she was swinging all by herself! I did a little celebratory skip and keep on going.

One day down, two more to do in the next week. It took a week and a half to get this first run in. It makes me wonder how I'm going to be able to find places to run that don't have animals, scary/inappropriate people or sure trips to the emergency room for my son three times a week. I even had a husband helper. Where there is a will there is a way, right?