Raphael's First Run

My buddy Aidyn, Friday's run did not go as I planned. Usually, I run a half marathon distance (13.1 miles) or more every Sunday. I have not done so in several weeks due to injury and lack of time. I really want to get back to that but knew that this past weekend was going to be a busy one once again, so I decided to try 13.1 miles on Friday morning before work. Well, I did not eat and hydrate well the week leading up to it and I paid for it. When I woke up, I had an upset stomach and my body just did not feel strong, but my mind told me to go do it anyway. Plus, a friend of yours wanted to run with me and I did want to let him or you down. Things were going along nicely until mile 7 when I got hungry and tired. My muscles were breaking down and eventually my "run" turned into a "run/walk" then a walk. Those planned 13.1 miles had to stop at 11 miles. I am still tired and trying to recover, so I am going to let Raphael tell you all about it. Be well, little man! XOXO - Kathy

From Raphael:
Aidyn, little dude! How's it going? Ms. Kathy asked me to keep her
company on her run on Friday and I was totally stoked, but boy was she slower than turtles in peanut butter! It was a cool and pretty morning. She started out well and we chatted about you, but then I saw this bull, and then another and another and another and another. They were all over town. I insisted on taking a selfie with each one of them (they are fans of turtles, you know.) But Ms. Kathy said no. Can you believe that? SHE SAID NO! Well, I got to take a picture with one. But I get it, we had a schedule to keep. Then we came upon some horses, and I HAD to say hello to the ladies and ask them if they saw my friends. Ms. Kathy was cool about it but nudged me along, reminding me that we had to get back to the house by 8 AM. We came upon a radical park nearby and let me play around for a little bit. I even stopped to have a sip of water from the water fountain. I climbed the rope ladder and tumbled down the slide. I jumped from one stone to the next. It was EPIC, little man! You should have been there.

But Ms. Kathy said we needed to go, so we raced into the woods. That's when I saw some bunnies and

young bucks. I called out to them, but they all ran away. So unfriendly, ya know? Such a shame. Ms. Kathy said I need to be a little more gentle in my approach. She said, "You're going down" is not an appropriate salutation to strangers and that a simple wave or hello would do. I will have to keep that in mind for the future. I did a few pull ups and push ups and Ms. Kathy said I was slowing her down too much, so I challenged her to a sprint. I won, but then stopped for a potty break. And can you believe she snapped a picture of me when during that moment?! NO PRIVACY! But then she started acting funny. She said she was starving and feeling sluggish. She ate everything she brought with her, but she was slowing down a lot. I was beginning to get worried and thought of calling my brothers to help, but she kept moving forward and I decided to stop picking on her about how slow she was going. (And I am not kidding when I say S-L-O-W!) After a while I offered to carry her on my shell and buy her a pizza. She politely declined both offers. She was looking kind of pathetic...but don't tell her I said that. I think her ego is bruised from not being able to complete her planned run. I will work on it with her. Anyway, that's pretty much how our run went on Friday. She's doing a little bit better now and said we can go back out tomorrow morning. How was your first week of school? Made any cool new friends?