Over the summer, I had the opportunity to run on the track almost daily. It all begin when my 8-year-old daughter and I were walking our usual neighborhoods and I started fussing over her failure to keep pace with my slow job and fast walking. "You need to keep up. I'm out here to get my cardio in. If I have to keep stopping and waiting for you, I'm defeating my purpose!" were the words I scowled at her. She surprisingly retorted back with, "I thought we were out here to spend time together on the track, but all you care about is your cardio!" Needless to say, I was shocked and had to stop and think about the wisdom that had come from this young girl. She was right and who could argue with that?
As we finished up our walk/jog through the neighborhood, I got a bright idea. The next day I drove into the parking lot of our neighborhood middle school and got out. She wanted to know why we were there. I explained to her that we would walk and run the track so that at any time she could choose to join in or play on the bleachers. I no longer had to worry about her safety with traffic. Those runs were not only convenient, but they gave us time to talk and bond. When she wasn't running, I was able to clear my head in the cool of the evening.
As I walked and ran everyday, I noticed that my body came to expect the evening run. When I began to miss days, I had an urgent need to run. Its funny how your body fights the health choices you make, but once it loses the fight, it then expects you to continue the new habit.
I now love to walk and run the track rather than the neighborhoods and I must say that it stemmed from a lesson my daughter taught me.
