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

Michael comes up to the door and rings the doorbell. Carson comes running down the stairs with Cooper right behind him. They are very excited to see their dad. Carson opens the door and jumps on his dad. Michael puts him down on the floor and tells them, “Get your shoes on, we are going for dinner.”

The boys yell, “MOOOMMMM, dad’s here, we’re leaving!!!”

AJ comes down from her room and tells them, “Be good for your dad, I will see you when I get back from walking.” She kisses them both on the forehead. Michael, Carson and Cooper all leave for dinner.

AJ goes into the living room, puts her shoes on, grabs her walking bag and heads out the door. She gets into her truck and drives to Oakland High School.

A short drive later she arrives in the parking lot at Oakland High School and finds Angela’s car. Angela is sitting in the back of her car with the hatch open listening to some country music. AJ is early enough that she can get a parking spot right next to Angela. She parks her truck, picks up her walking bag, gets out of her truck and walks up to Angela.

“Hello!” says Angela.

“Hi”

“So, what did you think of the homework?”

“I was really impressed that I could do the stretching exercises the first time through and that I got my walking in.”

“I am glad to hear it. You can actually do those stretching exercises every day if you like. They will help with your walking.”

Vicki walks up, “Hi ladies!”

“Hi!” both AJ and Angela reply. “How did the homework go?” asks Angela.

“Really well.”

Kim, Denese and Doree all walk up together.

“Hi!” Angela says.

They all reply, “Hi!”

“Did we all do our homework?”

“Yes!” they all responded in unison.

Sharon drives by them with the window rolled down, “Be right there” she says and continues along to find her parking spot. After parking Sharon comes over and joins the rest of the group.

Karin walks up at the same time Sharon does. Angela asks them, “Did you ladies do your homework?”

They both answer, “Yes.”

“Ok, now that we are all here,” Angela talks with them. “We are going to be going out for our 20 minute walk. We’ll do 10 minutes across University and then back. Tonight’s treat was brought by Vicki.” “Ready?”

“Ready!” Everyone responds.

“As a reminder, we need to stay in 2 by 2 format walking on these sidewalks. The person in back will watch out for other groups and bikers coming up behind us. The person in front will do the same for oncoming groups and bikers,” Angela reminds the group.

“This evening we are going to be doing interval training. We will walk a faster pace for 1 minute and then a 30 second slower pace. This will enable us to go further and faster in the end. When you are walking your faster pace, keep your arms at a 90 degree angle and pump them. Thus when we go to do our faster pace I will shout Arms Up! When we switch to the slower pace we will put our arms down and I will shout Arms Down! I have the intervals on my watch. You will feel your muscles being sore for a few days. Make sure to do your stretches. I know they are on the schedule for certain days, but you can do them every day if you like. Remember to focus on the form and not the speed.” Angela informs them. “Let’s go! Arms up!” she shouts as she starts walking them out.

They start out on the sidewalk next to the parking lot and head north for a few yards or so to the sidewalk that goes along University. University is a very busy road and thus very noisy. So, Angela has to talk a bit louder to make sure that everyone hears her. “Arms down!” she shouts and then 30 seconds later “arms up!” This continues throughout their walk.

Angela is at the front of the group. The ladies are all talking amongst themselves.

“How are your boys?” Angela asks AJ.

“They are great. Their dad picked them up to take them out for dinner. I told them about the homework I will have and they both got big smiles and wanted to go out walking right away. This is going to be a fun spring and summer. I look forward to including them in my walking homework.”

“Awesome. Glad to hear they are supportive. How is their dad with your training?”

“He is pretty supportive. I just emailed him about the training and he will work with me. He does on a regular basis anyways. We get along much better than we did together. So, training will be pretty easy in that aspect. He’s already said that he’ll have the boys at the finish line for me.”

“That’s great. It’s nice to see exes getting along so well and working together.”

“Yes, it makes things much easier on us and the boys.”

“Our turn around point is coming here shortly and we’ll head back.”

“I can’t believe we are already to our turn around. It seems like we just started. It certainly is easier walking with a group then by yourself.”

“Yes it is. I love doing the training groups much better than training by myself. Although there are times when I want to think things out and walking by myself works much better.”

Next Angela yells to everyone, “We will be turning around here, so everyone behind me again.” A few moments after they turn around another group is coming towards them. “Runners up! Everyone single file!” Angela shouts to her group. As the runners go by Angela and her group they give the other group high five’s and say, “great job.”

After the runners go by the group falls back into 2 by 2 formation. They arrive back at the cars a few minutes later. Kim goes over to her car, pops open the trunk and gets out a cooler full of goodies. She brings it over to Angela’s car and sits it down in the back, where Angela had already opened the hatch on her car. Kim says, “We have green seedless grapes and sliced strawberries in baggies and bottles of water.”

“Thank you Kim for bringing the treats this evening and next week is Vicki’s turn,” says Angela. “Let’s go over how we did tonight. We did a 1 minute faster walk with a 30 second slower walk. How does that work for everyone?” she asks.

“Worked for me” says Karin.

“Yeah,” agrees the rest of the ladies.

“Ok, so next week we will keep the same intervals. We will meet downtown at the library parking lot that is on the west end of the parking lot or the one closest to Main Street.” Angela informs them. “See you next week!”

They finish their goodies and disperse to their vehicles. AJ gets into her truck, puts her water bottle into the cup holder and backs out of her parking space. She leaves the parking lot and heads for home, as Michael is taking the boys back home after they have dinner.

It’s a short drive, and she’s already home. She pulls into her garage, parks the truck, picks up her stuff, gets out of the truck and goes inside. “Boys, I am home!” AJ shouts as she opens the door.

“YEAH!!!!” yell the boys as they come running to her from the living room.

“We got to go to The Buffet for dinner! Then we watched Scooby Doo!!” the boys tell her.

“Yes, they also got some reading homework done,” Michael lets her know. AJ nods her head in acknowledgment.

“Well, I will head for home now,” Michael says.

“Bye daddy!” both the boys tell him and give him a big hug goodbye. “We love you!” they shout as Michael leaves.

“I love you guys too!” Michael replies as he goes out the door.

“Time for bed boys,” AJ tells them.

They run upstairs to get their pajamas on and get ready for bed. A few minutes later AJ heads upstairs to put the boys in bed and get ready for bed herself. She picks up her walking booklet that has her schedule and stretching exercises in it. Looking over her schedule she decides that she’ll start doing her exercises every day starting tomorrow. AJ puts the booklet down and goes to sleep.

Continue Reading Chapter 6 Here