It runs in the family
The Albany Lakes Summer Series holds a 2km kids dash alongside the 5k and 10k adults events.
Although James (and to a lesser degree) I have entered the event since it’s inception we had never considered entering the kids because (we figured) they were too young.
However this year I found out a friend of ours who has a daughter the same age as Issy was running the entire 3 race series and from what I’ve seen on social media had really enjoyed it so James and I asked the kids if they would like to enter the grand finale event on 2nd March and both had exclaimed excitedly “oooh yes!”.
Elias had come out “for a run” with J and I previously but Issy had not, so before I entered them we thought we’d do a trial run to see if A) they could run that far B) once they realised how far 2k was if they still wanted to enter. Our original plan was to head to Waitakere Stadium and run/walk around the track and then have something to eat and some fun on the playground, unfortunately as we neared we realised that there was some kind of event being held at the stadium so we improvised and parked up at McDonalds with the view to do a 2k(ish) loop and finish with a coffee (for J and I) and some time at the cafe playground (for the little Nash’s).
(Yes neither child is appropriately dressed for running in this humidity!)
As soon as we parked the car both kids were raring to go and as we walked through the car park to get to the road were loudly exclaiming how this was supposed to be a run, not a walk. Both took off at speed, thankfully J is an “actual” runner and ran ahead to ensure no child got so excited they ran across any roads unattended.
Issy made it approx 200 metres before she stopped to walk (which is fine, I assured her she didn’t have to run the entire way) she made it to the 500 meter mark before she asked it we had nearly finished and wasn’t too impressed when I said no. Elias on the other hand had sped off with J and they would occasionally stop and check to see where we were before heading off again.
We nearly got half way (which to be fair was after quite a decent hill climb) and Issy’s demeanor had noticeably changed ..
I think I may have found someone who hates running more than I do 😉 bless her! I managed to get her to move in a forward direction which at times included holding her hand and pulling her up hills slight inclines till half way. I know how J feels when he goes out walking with me now. <3
From the half way mark she could have rode a turtle faster than her legs were moving so she hitched a ride home ..
At least I got a killer workout! Suffice to say only Elias is now entered in the Albany Summer Series 2k dash and Issy is ecstatic about that fact.
Till next time
