Longer Runs

For those that don't know me, I have two girls. Ages 6 and 8. As any parent, I love them dearly and have loved every stage of their growing.  In this post, I'll talk about my oldest, who is in Gymnastics.

Since the time she was little she loved to climb and while other parents were shrieking with concern, I would shrug and say, "She does it all the time." As soon as she turned three, I entered her into gymnastics to put some of that strength to some constructive use and have her learn how to move and use her body in a way that wouldn't hurt her.

Here she is at age 3 1/2

I've always liked gymnastics so I was supper excited when she tried the sport and liked it. She is strong and petite which makes for a great gymnasts body. So it helps that she is good at it too.  BUT, for those not familiar with the sport... watching gymnastics meets are NOT like watching the Olympics! They take an entire day and you watch your kid perform for a total of 5 minutes.  That right! The rest of the time you are watching others or waiting.

My girl started competing last year for the first time. So meets were new, fun and exciting. We get up early to get there when the doors open, so the team is ready for warm-ups.  Depending on the meet warm-up take 2-3 1/2 hours.  Then the meet begins and usually take 3 hours then you wait for the scores to be tallied and finally the awards ceremony.

Last year, I would sit through it all and watch all the girls and learn about the sport.  But after the new-ness has warn off that gets old in a hurry. So, this year I've decided that meet days are going to be long run day's because I do not have to sit and watch all the warm-ups and then watch all the girls again through the meet.

Which was a long story that brings us to today... Annandale Holiday Invite.

I've decided that on meet days I  can pack my running gear and while the girls are warming up, I'll go for a long run.  Last meet - two weeks ago, I had my longest run yet at 4.5 miles. Today I went 5.6 miles. You can see the log of the run from RunKeeper Here. But, I'll give the highlights in this blog.

The map below is what I planned in blue and what I ran in red. I started from the Middle School, saw there was a lake on the north side of town and planned on running around it.

This was my first time planning a run on Run Keeper and using the program on my phone.  At first I thought it was crummy because I didn't think it showed the map I had programmed in even after I picked the route and started the activity.  But, I'm not the brightest bulb when it comes to using software and figuring it out for myself.  I'm a visual learner and usually have to have someone show me.  So where you see the grey Pin on top of the 21 about a 1/2 mile into the run.  I wasn't sure I was on the right road.  I paused the activity to find  the map... low and behold there is a little map icon on the side that when you tap on it, it brings up your route and shows you where you are!!!  

This is a picture on my phone after the run was completed, but the icon is the same, the screen just looks slightly different when in the activity.

Very Cool!  I'm starting to like this. Then I realize it has a picture taking function built into the app as well, so I don't have to switch to my camera during the run. Cooler Yet!

It was a snowy, icy run, but as long as I stayed on snowy parts it was better than the ice. The roads were pretty quiet and they are all decorated for Christmas.  I quickly was out of town on the East side of the lake where I was glad I had dressed as warm as I had because I was going into the wind and coming off the lake it was nippy. This was a fairly well traveled road and with such icy conditions so I was concentrating on staying on the side that was ice-free and waved at cars to make sure they were seeing me. 

Once on the north side of town I was on a less traveled country road.

It was pretty running.  Here is a picture of the Lake from the West side.

Here I had the wind to my back and when I started to enter town. Downtown was really cute and had even more decorations.  I finished my run and then walked back up and down main streets just to window shop.  Being a Sunday, nothing was going to be open for the day.  I might have to come back for shopping sometime.

So, with my run done in less than an hour! I headed to McDonald's where I knew they would have free Wireless Internet and could plug in my phone.  And they had a train track right behind the restaurant!

Well, back to the meet to cheer my daughter and her team on!

Thanks for reading!