A Runner is Born

Priceless is a 3 mile run with Marco followed by 90 minutes of play in the Pacific.

Earlier this summer Mary and I were discussing life in California with Marco. We told him he had to be involved in one "sport" and one Musical activity. His options are endless here in the golden state. We narrowed the sports down to Soccer, Swimming, Rugby, Fencing and Running. I'm not sure how we got there but the boy chose running. I'm sure he's had some doubts in his head since choosing it but he's committed. The first week (last week) was testing. He started it off with a bang in his first running workout ever, 10 X 300 meter hill repeats. That set the stage for what would be a tough week of running. By the time he got to the Saturday group tempo run he was fried. He finished that run with some tears and questions about his choice. 12 hours of sleep Saturday night and an easy Sunday made it all better. His weekly total was 16 miles in 5 days of running. Thanks to a runninng coach I listened to recently, we created a big chart. Every day, Marco fills in his daily running mileage on the chart. On Sunday he adds his weekly total to the running total. There are awards (he doesn't know it yet) at big milestones. 100 miles is the first big milestone.

Monday was another workout with the team. This would be the test. Saturday was tough on the ego. No problems though, he jumped right into the workout and finished the entire thing. At the end he said "my legs don't hurt" and that was a big step for him. This brought us to yesterday and our 3 mile run. He has 3 workouts a week with the team and then 2 runs with me. So far those two runs have been great opportunities to talk. Yesterday we were just in awe of the great place we choose to live. The Sun was out, it was a clear day and we could see La Jolla to the South. This created a discussion and now a goal for us. We want to hike from Encinitas to La Jolla on the beach.

I can't wait unitl next weeks, coastal run!

It's a good life....

Dave