Monday, April 06, 2009

A First and a Last (maybe)

Erik has asked me a number of times to go running with him. We've run together exactly twice before. Once, we lived in Minneapolis and I thought since I was exercising daily I was in much better shape than Erik. So I invited him to go out running with me and he literally (quite literally) ran circles around me because I was so slow.

Then about a year and a half ago, while on a getaway to Stillwater, MN, he suggested we go out running together. We made it about 5 minutes before I decided I couldn't keep up with his pace.

The problem is that I run a 9 1/2 minute mile, and Erik runs an 8 minute mile. I'm going to say it's because his legs are a foot longer than mine. So now when he suggests that we run together, I remind him of our vast pace difference. He, being naturally the most optimistic person I know, thinks it's still feasible.

So last Thursday I gave in. I had wanted to run the East Coast Park trail one more time before leaving Singapore. The only other time I ran it was during the half marathon, and at that point in the race I was concentrating on not tripping into the person in front of me, or stopping altogether. I completely missed the beautiful ocean to my left. It seemed like a good place to make our maiden voyage together. Leaving the kids with our trusty maid, we set off around 6 p.m.

Our goal was 20 minutes out and 20 back. And you know, it wasn't so bad! Granted, Erik had to run quite slowly to match me, but pushed me enough that I was running probably closer to a 9 minute mile. I could still manage to hold something of a conversation so I wasn't over the edge of my limit. We stretched at the pier and headed back for a Berry'd Treasure at Coffee Bean (mmm . . . like melted raspberry ice cream), and hummus and chicken wraps from the kabob place next door.

It wasn't quite my first run with Erik, but let's call it the first successful run! And while it was supposed to be my last run at East Coast Park, it was enjoyable enough that I might do another.

4 comments:

Ana D. said...

Hello there fellow-missionary-mom, I have an Easter giveaway on my blog that might be of interest for you and your kids, don’t miss it!

God bless you,

Ana

http://annedg777.blogspot.com/2009/04/jumpstart-giveaway.html

Unknown said...

You asked about media bag overseas. Those books were ordered from Amazon. So just go to the Amazon site and read their shipping policies and charges. It's all outlined very clearly. For China, it's $5 per order plus $5 per individual book.

There is no more surface international mail (from America). That was done away with over a year ago. You can only mail airmail. I can tell you that paying overage on a plan is cheaper than mailing things. (Well, it was as of Jan. 08; things change.) Do your research.

At that time, to mail 50 lb. box of books would cost around $300. Airline charged only $150 for overage. So we brought many, many trunks.

Unknown said...

Plan is supposed to be PLANE. OOps.

Four Buttons said...

Way to stick to the run!!! I say, if someone is aware of your pace and still asks you to run with them, then you are COMPLETELy at liberty to set your pace and not feel one tiny bit bad about it. That's my rationale for when Nate suggests we run together (about once a year) :) Glad it was such a positive experience, I'm jealous of the pit stop at coffee bean, kababs and leaving kids with maid..man does that make me miss the good life :)