Adventures in Walking From the Couch to 5K - Chapter 13

It’s Thursday afternoon and AJ receives a phone call from Michael. “Sorry I am going to be late getting the boys tonight. Can I meet you at your group meeting location?”

“Yes, we are meeting at Castlebury on Joslyn Rd north of Waldon Rd. We start walking at 6:30 pm. So, you’ll need to be there by 6:30 pm.” AJ replies.

“Ok, I’ll be there,” Michael promises.

Looking at the clock, AJ says to the boys, “Carson, Cooper, it’s time to go. Your dad is going to meet us there. Get your stuff and get in the truck.”

The boys get up, turn off the TV, put their shoes on and head out to the truck. AJ follows right behind them.

This time the ride is even shorter as they live less than a mile from Castlebury. The boys love going here and hope that their dad will let them stay at Castlebury and eat dinner at the C-Pub. Carson and Cooper love the pizza there.

Upon arrival at Castlebury AJ she sees that only Angela is there so far. AJ pulls up next to Angela. She gets out of her truck and says to Angela, “My ex is coming to get the boys and has promised to be there before 6:30.”

Angela tells her, “Don’t worry we’ll wait for him.”

The boys get out of the truck and AJ introduces them to Angela. The boys stay near AJ.

Sharon, Karin, Kim and Vicki come over and AJ introduces the boys to them. Just then Michael pulls up next to AJ’s truck. As soon as Michael opens his door Carson goes running over, following close behind is Cooper. He hugs the boys and asks them, “Do you guys want to eat the C-Pub?”

“YEAH!!!” they responded. Carson takes one hand and Cooper takes his other hand.

Michael and the boys walk over to the C-Pub and sit on the outdoor patio. They walk up to the hostess station, “Welcome. Would you like to sit inside or outside on the patio?”

“We’d like to sit at a table by the edge of the patio, so they can see their mom go by on her walk.”

“Follow me,” the hostess says.

The sit down and the waitress comes up to the table.

“What would you like to drink?” ask the waitress.

“We’ll have a pitcher of Sierra Mist and we are ready to order our dinner also,” Michael says.

“Ok, what would you like?”

“We’ll have a pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms, Italian sausage, ham, bacon and ground beef along with a large antipasto salad.”

“Thank you, I’ll get that ordered and bring you your Sierra Mist.”

“Yeah! Our favorite!” the boys cheer.

The rest of Angela’s walking group finally arrives. Angela begins, “Ok ladies, tonight we are doing laps around Castlebury. This is going to be fun. There’s a nice incline shortly after we get started, we’ll go past the C-Pub where you can smell the food cooking, then we will go along the front of the castle, around the church and back to here. We will probably do three laps. Then we will finish at Gates Cider Mill for our post workout treat. Everyone ready?!”

“Yes!” they reply.

Angela leads the group of ladies out onto Joslyn Ct and up the slight incline that leads them by the front of a cute line of stores that are actually little houses in a variety of bright primary colors. Next they go by the C-Pub where they all wave back to Carson and Cooper who are standing right inside the patio area.

“Hi mom!” they both yell.

“Hi!” the group says back to them.

They go right around the end of the C-Pub where it is a short distance to go around to the front of the castle. It’s an old world style castle with the large pillars. The parking lot is lined with pine trees along the roadside. There are lots of twinkling white lights in the trees.

Being that there is lots of room for them to walk they spread out and are able to chat and include more of them in the conversation.

They get to the entrance of the church parking lot and Angela says, “Let’s pick it up and see how fast we can go to the entrance by our vehicles.”

Everyone picks up the pace. AJ and Vicki take the lead as they go around the corner of the church. They maintain the lead to the parking lot entrance with Kim and Denese hot on their tails. They take a short break until the rest of the group joins them at the entrance.

“First lap down ladies. Great job!” remarks Angela. “Let’s see how long it takes us for this next lap.”

They head out on their second lap, taking note of the carousel house and that it’s open and going around. All the ladies wave and say, “Hi Carson and Cooper!”

They wave from their table on the patio of the C-Pub.

This time along the front of the castle they do their “leapfrog” of having the last person walk quickly to the front of the single file line. Sharon is at the back of the line and starts everyone off. They go through the line twice along the front of the castle and church.

Making their way to the end of their second lap they all shout, “Two laps down!”

Then continuing to start their third lap. This time they mix it up with taking the path behind Gates Cider Mill to the front of the village and head past the front of the castle and then coming around the end of the C-Pub they wave to Carson and Cooper on the patio.

“Hi mom!” they yell.

“Hi!” the ladies all yell back.

The boys finish up their pizza and Sierra Mist. The waitress brings the bill and Michael pays with cash. They get up and head towards Gates Cider Mill.

The ladies head back towards Gates and then the path to the front and go along the front of the church and back to their vehicles.

Once back at their vehicles they all cheer, “DONE!!!” and then walk up to Gates for their post workout treat of cider and donuts.

They all go inside.

“Can I help you?” says Megan, the lady working behind the counter.

“I’ll have a cider slush,” says Sharon.

“Can I help you?” Mark asks from behind the counter.

“I’ll also have a cider slush,” says Karin.

“How many of you are having cider slushes?” asks Paula, who is also behind the counter.

The rest of the ladies raise their hands.

“Ok, everyone can line up at the register and I’ll get the slushes.”

Megan takes Sharon’s cider slush to the register and Sharon pays her.

As they get their slushes and pay, they go and sit down in the table area.

Then Michael comes in with Carson and Cooper. The boys run up AJ, and give her a big hug. They sit down at the next table while Michael goes up to the counter.

“Can I help you?” asks Mark.

“Yes, I’ll have a cider slush and two small blue moon ice cream cones,” Michael replies.

He gets his order and sits down with the boys.

Angela says to the ladies while they have their goodies, “Next week we will have a 60 minute walk in Kensington Metro Park. We will park at the first parking lot at the East Boat Launch. This will get us some nice rolling hills. Bring your sunscreen. I will see you all next week.”

“See you next week,” they all reply.

After a few minutes the ladies all leave.

AJ says to the boys, “Let’s get going home.”

Cooper is done with his ice cream and Carson is almost done with his. Carson finishes his ice cream, and they all get up and walk back to the trucks.

Michael gives the boys hugs and kisses. “See you later guys.” He gets in his truck and goes home.

AJ gets the boys into their seats in her truck, and they head home.

Continue Reading - Chapter 14