training. – gentino family

I mentioned earlier this spring that David decided to have the kids train for a 5K. He didn’t have a specific 5K in mind, which is probably for the best since races have been cancelled for the time being.

The lap around our immediate block is a quarter of a mile, and the nice thing about it is the kids can run (little guys staying together or with an older sibling) and we feel safe not being there. We can hear them from all parts and cars drive nice and slow on these streets.

Even so, after just a week or two of their running around the block, I felt compelled to join in.

I decided that it’s hard to encourage your kids to be faithful to exercise with any sort of authority if you spend that time sitting on the couch scrolling through email and text messages!

And so, even though I am in no way a runner — in fact, you may recall that I’d given up running a year or two ago — I suddenly found myself running 5 out of 7 days a week too.

David makes a weekly running schedule and writes it on the fridge white board, which the kids hate. He tells them it’s the CrossFit principle: the work-out of the day is posted, everyone collectively reads it and moans and complains to each other about how tough it is, then gets in there and does the work-out. And feels victorious afterward!

He says to me, “It’s okay, the kids will bond over complaining about their heartless father.”

Originally, Noah didn’t have to follow the schedule, but his fatal error was demonstrating to us at the river last Saturday that he’s more than able to keep up with the family — he was doing sprints on the path after the 2.5 mile run was finished! Now he runs with everyone else.

While I wouldn’t have chosen this form of exercise, it’s better than no form of exercise, which is what I was doing for months before, so I’m thankful for a husband who pushes us to get out there and be active. I complained to him that his running schedule was too strenuous for the kids (me), that it moves quicker than Couch-to-5K, and he responded that Couch-to-5K isn’t strenuous enough for most people. Oh David.

It turns out, he’s right. All of us are now running a 5K distance (3.1 miles) and hardly feeling sore the next day.

Now for the general schedule:

Monday is a moderate day, Tuesday is interval training with sprints (hard), Wednesday is an easier day, then Thursday. Thursday’s the whopper, the hardest run of the week. This week we had to run more than a 5K, interspersed with three walking laps. Friday’s a day off! Then Saturday is the most fun, we take a family run somewhere pretty. We’ve being doing that at one of the river walks. Then we take Sunday off too, and go on a nice long walk together.

Yesterday we took our run on the new river walk near the main zoo entrance, and it was breathtakingly lovely down there.

Our neighborhood is very hilly, which is hard. There’s a big hill on our daily lap. One of my biggest victories is how much less winded I get running that hill than when I first started out.

The good news about that is it makes our flat river runs even more enjoyable. It’s always a good idea to train on hills if you can.

The surprise for me is discovering that I actually enjoy running again.

I also have more energy throughout the day. But the very biggest difference it’s made is in my overall moods and stress level. I feel much more stable and have fewer mood swings than before I was exercising regularly. There’s a certain time in the month my moods feel out-of-control, and this past month that didn’t happen at all.

Running for the win!

Now, our kids are normal kids. They do not necessarily like this new P.E. class of sorts they’ve been subjected to, which you’ll see from their comments below. Some days they pretty much think their dad is the worst for making them do it. We get a lot of complaining and even some, “So and so’s dad doesn’t make him run!”

But David tells them one of our family mottoes is that we work hard and we rest hard. In this season, our resting includes eating more fun food and treats than usual as incentives for the runs. Sometimes it’s Chick-Fil-A, sometimes candy or milkshakes or ice cream after dinner. Sometimes it’s a Fresh Poke tuna bowl. David says, “We can enjoy treats because we’re taking care of our bodies by exercising hard and staying in shape.”

I like that.

I also like that David pushes us. He’s done that for me throughout our whole relationship — seen the potential in me, seen the things I can be or do that I never thought I was capable of. He’s doing it again by showing me that I am, in fact, a runner after all. I can even grow to enjoy it.

I love that he’s teaching our kids this very important life principle: Hard things are good for us.

Lastly, I love the quality time we’re spending together while exercising. Especially during quarantine. We get stir-crazy inside the house, and even out in the yard it’s easy for David and I to look around and see tasks that need to be done.

But when we’re running together, either around the block or on a trail, my mind clears and I can be myself in the present moment and just enjoy my family and the strong lungs and legs God gave us.

And now, here’s what the kids think.