When I was in high school (long time ago), I had the marks to make the Honour Roll list, but I was lacking one criteria: Sports. Uhhhg... I am not good at sports... my lowest mark in my high school years was a C in PhysEd.... yes, it's possible to get a low mark in gym class (this is a Nerdy Girl's blog remember?)
So, I had to find a sport I could join and make the team, and not embarrass myself by getting hit in the head by a ball. Enter: Cross Country Running... it's an individual sport, so I didn't have to co-ordinate passing or receiving a ball!
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| Pretending I know what I'm doing during a warm up |
We used to do our runs at Malden Park, back before it was even officially opened; it was still in the phases of being built. That leads me to a side story... I wasn't sure where the proper entrance was to get in the park, so we used to have to jump over a wire fence. I ripped my pants once when jumping over. Luckily there was another girl with me who had an extra sweater. She let me wrap it around my waist so I wouldn't be embarrassed. Back to the story at hand...
I've tried doing jogging once in a while after high school, but I just don't care for it. It's hard on my knees/ankles/lungs! Like I said, I only did it in high school to fulfill the sport requirement.
Let's fast forward 20+ years since those days...
I'm trying to encourage my son Matthew to join a sport at school and told him Cross Country would be good choice, so he decided to go for it! He came home and told me he joined and asked if we could go practice (running). I was all up for it! Although you're not going to find me going for a long run, I'm up for doing some running with Matthew; it will condition him for his runs, and also give me some extra exercise time while spending time with Matthew.
We have gone a couple times so far to use the track at a nearby high school. It's close to our house so we actually rode our bikes to and from the track. We did some stretches, then jogged a loop around the track. I gave him some tips on form. We did a total of 3 loops of the track, while taking a little break between loops. Michael followed us around the track on his bike.
I was so proud of myself... I thought the track was 1Km... I thought, 'wow I ran 3 Km tonight'. Then I Googled how big a standard track is... it's only 400 m, not 1Km.... we'll start small and build up from there!
To answer the question in the title of the blog: No, I don't think running is for me, but for the time being while Matthew is training for the next month, I'll do my best to participate in running.
Let me know in the comments below, are you a runner? do you have tips for me and Matthew? What sports did you play in high school or college/university?
Here's a few pictures from the evening
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| Obligatory gym/workout selfie! |
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| Ring-digady-ding, ring-a-ling... Yup, I have a bell on my bike that young girls would covet. This is a dirt path behind our neighborhood that we take to get to the high school. This is pretty cool path considering there's a neighborhood adjacent. |
Well Nerdy-Girl, I was athletic in school - runner - relay; basketball (I was tall); gymnastics - even though I was tall; baseball - I hated - afraid of getting hit in the face with a ball and, besides, I thought baseball was extremely slow and boring (so "un-American."). I continued to run only I with ran on the balls of my feet instead of heel/toe) in my adulthood. Ran until I was in my late 40s-early 50s and paid a heavy price for doing so - knee degeneration resulting in a replacement. So, now "all I do" is walk, albeit at a hefty pace (at least I like to think so.) I used to love to run as a child; felt like a spirit floating in the wind, which I loved. Do what best suits you, and now at this time with Matthew, you are not only giving yourself a chance to do something active, you are spending what they now call "quality time" with him, which I think is very important. Oh - I used to love the pogo stick and doing cartwheels, too.
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