I’m a runner AND a coach!! :)

WARNING: I am in an insanely happy mood, so if you’re grumpy then you might not want to read this post! 😉

Yesterday, I ran 6.2 miles. That is the farthest I have gone in a long long time! 🙂 I think the best part of that is that I ran sub-8 minute miles the entire time! I came home, drenched in sweat and smiling! And limping. But I stretched so all is good! 🙂 Anyways, it was a beautiful hot day and my iPod played awesome music! Have I ever told you how I sing along to the songs on my iPod as I’m running? I think I have. It’s quite a sight. I ran on the trail and it hurt my ankles a little but I’m hoping to strengthen my ankles and shins so that they are strong enough to run on trails.

This would be the victorious “I just finished 6.2 miles” look!

I’m planning on signing up for a 5K today or tomorrow and I am hoping to dominate!! 🙂 If any of you have checked out my “Me, Running” page, the race I want to sign up for is the first one on that list! I ran it last year but I have gotten TONS faster since then! Anyways, that’s in two weeks. But the reason I’m bringing that up is because James, my younger brother, is already signed up for it! He’s going to run it too!! Remember when I took the ACT? Well, that same day there was a 5K across the street from my house that the elementary school was holding. James ran that race and that was when he got into running. So, he trained for awhile and he got money from all our relatives and some friends so that he could enter this race. I was insanely jealous of that because….races ARE expensive. 🙂 Anyways, so for awhile, he’d run with my mom and they were all training and he got his money and signed up, etc. But then, he kind of lost interest. The race was still like a month away and he just found other things to do. Now, we have about two weeks before the race and Mom goes, “James!! Aren’t you signed up for the race?! You need to train!”

So, guess who got volunteered to help him train.

If you guessed me, you win!

Apparently, since I’m the runner of the family, I’m also the coach!

I really don’t mind. It’s insanely fun for me. For him? Not so much. But for me, it rocks! I ride on my bike behind him, listening to my iPod and singing the songs so James will be “entertained”. Today, I got a couple of weird looks from people which made me laugh.

Self-portraits ftw!!!

Please enjoy the picture because it’s really scary to take a picture of yourself, when you are riding a bike with NO functioning brakes with one hand, behind a little boy who keeps STOPPING.

Which brings me to the second reason it’s so fun! I get to scream, “RUN JAMES!!!! KEEP GOING! DON’T STOP!” And eventually, “JAMES I AM NOT KIDDING! KEEP RUNNING! GOOOOOO!” I think the next time, I’m going to need to roller-blade or something cause it’s really hard to get him to run when I’m on a bike. Like at one point I had to get off my bike and run with him (holding his shirt) so that he’d start running again. Then I ran back and got back on my bike.

Maybe I am taking this whole training thing a LITTLE too seriously, but I feel like if he’s going to run, then he should RUN!!!! He comes home and he goes, “She only let me take ONE break!” I was like, “James. If you want to run, then you RUN, you don’t take breaks!” Well actually, he didn’t want to run, but I made him. Whatever. He’s always happy with the results though. When we got home, I mapped it out and he’d run approximately 2.3 miles and he was so proud of himself! 🙂 And I was proud of him. The little whiner. 🙂

Here he is!

He’s a cutie. And at the race, he’ll run the whole thing without stopping, thanks to my hard-core training!! 😉

 

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