Adventures in Walking From the Couch to 5K - Chapter 7

AJ changes into her walking clothes and goes downstairs. “Boys, time to get your shoes on to go to your dad’s”

“YEAH!!!!” they shout and run to get their shoes on.

They go out and get into AJ’s truck and off to their dad’s they go. Along the way the boys are singing along with the songs on the radio, one of their favorites is I Play Chicken With The Train by Cowboy Troy. It’s a short ride, and they arrive at their dad’s. As soon as AJ parks the truck, the boys get out of the truck and run up to the door. They stand there banging on the front door, yelling, “DAD!!!” until Michael comes to the front door and opens it.

Carson and Cooper wave goodbye and yell, “BYE MOM!!!”

Time to get moving on to training, AJ backs out of the driveway and drives over to the Oakland library parking lot. Traffic is picking up downtown Oakland, so the drive is a bit slower and more patience is required. She finds a nice parking spot under a tree and no one on one side of her. AJ parks her truck, grabs her walking bag, gets out and walks over to Angela’s car where Vicki, Karin, Sharon and Doree are already waiting.

Shortly Kim and Denese walk up as well. Angela instructs them, “Welcome ladies! We are going to head out on the trail and go north for about 13 minutes and turn around and come back. We should get to Tienken Rd where we will turn around. If we need a few extra minutes we will cut through the park. We will head out 2 by 2 on the path. Ready ladies?!”

“Ready!” everyone replied.

The ladies head out on the path 2 by 2 going under the main road where the creek is flowing over the scattered rocks. The sound is quite loud as it echoes in the tunnel. Some of the path is wet from the splashing of the water. When they get to the end of tunnel they can smell the hot dogs cooking from the restaurant that is next to the trail. There is an incline coming up from the tunnel as they go onto the wooded trail.

As they get onto the wooded trail there’s a running group coming towards them. “Running group up! Single file!” yelled AJ.

Everyone moves to a single file line and then gives high fives and says, “Good job” “Keep it up” “Looking good.” The group moves past them, and they go back to 2 by 2.

The wooded trail goes alongside a park, and they can hear a band playing Rockin’ Robin in the amphitheater. The ladies do a little dance along the trail and then go back to walking in the intervals of 1-minute fast walk or “arms up” and 30 seconds of slow walk or “Arms down.”

On their way along the trail they come into a clearing on the right of them. They get to see the fence that is for a day-care and in the fence is an American Flag done in cups. Next, there is a ball field in the short distance where kids are playing. Someone must have done something good as the crowd is cheering and clapping.

They come across the first intersection where Angela stops the group to make sure that traffic is stopping, once traffic stops she goes into the middle of the intersection and stops to make sure that all of her trainees are safely on the other side. She then joins them and they continue along the trail.

Up ahead on the trail a deer stands in the middle of the trail looking towards the group. AJ and Vicki are at the front of the group, and they slow their pace. Vicki turns to AJ, whispers “deer” and points at the deer. AJ nods her head.

Vicki turns around to Kim and Denese, whispers, “deer” and points at the deer. They both nod.

Kim turns around to Karin and Doree, whispers, “deer” and points at the deer. They both nod.

Doree turns around to Sharon and Angela, whispers “deer” and points at the deer. They both nod.

They all quietly and slowly continue towards the deer. The deer stays still for a while and then casually walks off the trail to the west. The ladies return to their previous pace and continue along the trail to the next intersection of Tienken Rd where they turn around and head back.

This time when they get to the next intersection AJ waits for traffic to clear, and then she walks out into the middle of the intersection to make sure everyone gets across and then joins Angela at the back of the group.

Once they all get across they take the trail that goes through the park along the creek. There are a dozen ducks that are quacking and splashing along the creek beside them.

They get closer to the amphitheater, and they can hear the music again, this time the band is playing Rock Around the Clock. At the end of the park they have to return to the trail where they go down the hill and through the tunnel next to the creek and under the road. The ladies finish up their walk right next to Angela’s car.

Vicki gets the snacks out of her vehicle, “I brought watermelon slices and Voss water.”

Angela informs her group, “Great walk ladies! How awesome to see the deer, the ducks along our walk and some great music. Next week we will meet at Oakland High School North on Tienken Rd. Also, AJ has next week’s snacks. See everyone next week!” The ladies all go to their own vehicles.

AJ gets into her truck and heads for home, as she has a text message that says Michael took the boys home. She has a nice short drive home, parks her truck in the garage and goes inside. “Carson! Cooper! I am home!” AJ shouts as she enters the townhouse.

The boys come running to greet her and give her hugs. “Mom!” they both shout. They are already in the pajamas.

Michael says to the boys, “Time for me to go, give me a hug.” The boys go over and give him a hug.

“Good night Carson,” he says and kisses him on the forehead.

“Good night dad.”

“Good night Cooper,” he says and kisses him on the forehead.

“Good night dad.”

He gives them both another hug and then leaves for home.

“Time for bed boys!” AJ tells Cooper and Carson. The boys run upstairs to get ready for bed. In a few minutes she follows them upstairs and tucks them in bed with kisses on their foreheads. She then gets ready for bed herself and settles into bed with her tablet to read for a while.

Continue Reading - Chapter 8