Continuing The Streak---Even When It's Hard

We live .43 miles from our neighborhood elementary school, so when my son started school this year, I decided to walk him there every day.  I knew that it would be good for him since he has a crazy amount of energy.  It would help him get some of that energy out before having to sit for much of the day in his classroom.

Enter the warm, sunny days of August and September!

Walking was a joy (well, once I figured out how to get everyone out of the the door by 7:20 a.m.!). We had the best time, walking and chatting with each other and lots of neighborhood kids who were also walking. We even started bringing the dog (our pug, Monte) along for some added fun!

Then a RAINY and cold winter hit (did I mention that it was rainy??).  Instead of just breezing out of the door, we required things like real shoes (so I switched from flip-flops to Crocs), jackets, hats, mittens, gloves, raincoats, and umbrellas.  Our walks required fortitude as we braced against the annoying elements. Our neighborhood friends quit walking.  Still we pressed on!  In the freezing temperatures, we noticed the frozen puddles and ice everywhere.  In the rain, we jumped around avoiding all of the worms and commented on how high the creek was.

In early spring, the vet told us our dog had lost a pound (we attribute it to his daily walks with us).  The kids started doing a "Kids' Marathon," where they have to run/walk 25 miles in the 2 months leading up to the race-day 1.2 miles.  They were happy that our walks would count towards that total. We faced a tardy since we couldn't locate the rain shield for the jogging stroller (a must for my daughter on the rainy days!). Rick stepped in to walk our son on the days when he was able to go into work late, a much-appreciated lightening of my load.

Picture from earlier this year

Today's walk was another rainy one.  My son donned raincoat and boots and carried his umbrella, while I wore his backpack on my front to prevent it from getting wet.  My daughter rode in the stroller with the rain shield, and the dog stayed inside.  I felt a little clumsy pushing the stroller while juggling my umbrella, and I groaned as my Croc-adorned toes hit yet another puddle, soaking my already cold feet (I never did get around to buying rain boots for me this year!).  But then I remembered.  I am a runner---and a trail runner at that!  I have spent hours in the rain, in soaking wet clothes getting filthy and muddy as I ran.  I could do this.  So we walked another day.

I am proud to report that we have kept this streak alive.  Rick or I have walked our son to school every day of his first grade year.  Through the hot summer days, the cool fall days, the frigid and rainy winter, days where I'd already run 10-20 miles before our walk, and even through my nasty stomach bug.  We are heading into a nicer and easier time.  We will keep this streak alive.

What will my son learn from all of this?  I hope he learns not to give up.  On the worst of the winter days, we would all give high fives once we made it to the school.  We would celebrate another day of walking.  We were meeting our goal.  He has learned about nature as we comment on the things we see around us in the different seasons.  He's learned to rely on his own two feet to get him where he wants to go.  He's learned that things may not always be comfortable.  Our car would have been much warmer and definitely drier than many of these days.  But where is the triumph in always living a comfortable life?

So here's to discomfort.  Here's to feeling annoyingly cold.  Here's to wet feet.  Here's to tired legs.  Here's to seemingly impossible goals.  Here's to using the body God gave you to the fullest.  Here's to not giving up when the going gets tough.  And here's to running, which taught me all of these lessons first.