Hobby Hunt

With me being off all summer I thought I would have so much going on and would have so much to do.... Well, I was totally wrong. I wake up so early that I get all my chores accomplished (that MUST be completed) by 11:00 AM, usually. I have been talking to friends about what I could do with Suzy and begging them for suggestions on things to do. I have done as many of the suggestions as I can, but we are still ending up with idle time. Well, I guess I should say that I am idle. Suzy is never idle. She is a busy body. I think she is bored with sitting at home all the time too. We have gone to see the grandparents, visited friends, gone to lunch, been to Happy Hour at Sonic almost everyday, grocery shopped, rode the golf cart, played out side, etc. etc. etc. All these things are great and I am thankful that we can get out and about. But, since it seems like all those things are wrapped up around 5 o'clock every day. Then we have two more hours of "sit and stare at Suzy" time. There are only so many circles I can make strolling her and riding her on the golf cart.

 I decided that I needed to find a hobby. I had some limitations though because I need a hobby that Suzy can partake in with me. I would love to learn to play tennis, get better at golf, go to the gym, take Zumba, etc, but all that will have to wait until she gets a little older I think. The main problem with those activities is that I would have to pay to go the acitivity as well as pay for a sitter to watch Suzy while I went. That doesn't seem to budget friendly to me??

On the way to the beach Thursday Lauren talked me into trying running for my hobby. Lucky me has a great friend, Kalon, that lives nearby and was very excited of the news and wanted to start training with me. We decided that Thursday that we would sign up for The Color Run in Memphis. This run is October 13. We have plenty of time to train before that race. We downloaded "Couch to 5K" to our iPhones and iPods, borrowed a jogging stroller from another friend, filled water bottles, and we were ready to start our new plan to stay busy. I am so thankful that Kalon is doing this with me. Lauren and Taylor are doing it as well, but they are in Batesville so it is hard to be able to run with them. As of today, all of us have started the training. The training program calls for 3 runs per week for 8 weeks total.

Week 1 Day 1

We pulled out of the driveway and headed out on our adventure with all our stuff strapped to the stroller and Suzy strapped in. We got about 1/4 mile down the road and the front wheel of the jogging stroller started jiggling like it was about to fall off. We didn't have it locked. We got that taken care of and went on our way. It was 98 degrees Monday at 5:30 PM. We stuck it out, stayed hydrated, and pushed through. We were so excited when the little man came on the speaker and said, "you have completed the first half of training. Twenty five minutes from start time we were finished with Week 1 Day 1 of the program and were beaming from ear to ear because we thought we did great for our first day. We thought, "heck  yeah!! we aren't as out of shape as we thought we were".....

Kalon and I after the first day!

Suzy fell asleep. She worked so hard.

I think it is safe to say that Suzy likes Tucker's stroller.

We did it!!

 Week 1 Day 2

Casey, Ricky, Memaw, and Mom came to the house to pick up some furniture right around 5:00 so they were there when we got ready to head out for Day 2. They told us to be careful because of the heat, but we didn't think too much of it. Well, we should have. It was 100 degrees and the air was completely still. There was no breeze what so ever. And, what makes it even worse is that we were dumb enough to torture ourselves, but we also had Suzy with us. Suzy had her 6 month shots that day as well. I never even thought about it...... We didn't make it throught the first run session before we were about to collapse. We had 8 runs for Day 2. We were almost dead when we turned the corner at the half way mark. That day was one of those days that if Kalon were not with me we definitely wouldn't have made it. It helps to have someone push you along the way and keep encouraging you to push through it. I am glad I was there for Kalon too. She was struggling just as bad as I was. We made it back home and collapsed on the couch. I handed Suzy to Scott and fought to catch my breath. It was the hardest thing I have ever done! Suzy was treated to a popsicle for enduring the heat along with us. She definitely punished me for my stupid behavior at bedtime, though. I will never make that mistake again. You live and you learn, right?

Week 1 Day 3

Kalon and I got smart and didn't do Day 3's run until later in the day. We didn't even start our run until about 8:15 or so. We breezed through it. We did awesome. We now know that Day 2 was so hard because of the heat. It had to have been. We were so proud of ourselves.  I think we could have done Day 3 twice!! I feel like a big ole baby for complaining about Day 2 so much to friends, because it was our fault that it was so hard. I made sure that I told them how easy Day 3 was!! :)


Now that we have a hobby I hope to goodness that we stick with it!! Our final goal is to be able to run an entire 5K by September!! We will see how it goes. Wish us luck.