With 65 km of running completed last week, I decided to take this weekend off.  I am just at the beginning of the taper, the part where it feels like a bit of a relief to back off from training, though I suspect by next week I will have those taper jitters.

Instead of running today, I took the boys to a local conservation area to hike some trails.  When they were little I took them often to this network of trails by the Ottawa River.  It has always been important to me that they appreciate nature and her beauty.  Somehow, however, a couple of years have gone by since we last visited Morris Island.  I didn’t realize how long it had been until today.  The clue was the fact that in my head, the trails were much, much longer.  I remember getting on trails and it feeling like forever until we made our way back to the car.  It ends up the trails aren’t overly long, they just felt that way when walking with small boys who stopped and looked at everything and who needed regular breaks.  Now though, it is me trying to keep up with them.

I introduced the term “fartlek” to the boys today.  You can imagine the giggles at that one.  When one of us called fartlek we would do a dash or a jog on the rocky paths.  Eleven and eight year old boys are fearless; a 45 year old 2 weeks before a marathon – not so much.  I was way behind as I tried to carefully manoeuvre over and around the rocks and ruts.  Needless to say, I was the only one to fall.  Thankfully just a bit of a bruised knee was the end result.  The boys of course were far enough ahead that they didn’t even know I had hit the ground!

It was fun to just be outside and not be training.  Sometimes the running takes over your life a little (my husband might argue more than a little!).  How wonderful to be out on gorgeous trails with no goal other than to have fun.

In one area on the shore of the river we found inspiration in the rocks.  Someone, using stone on stone, had written brief messages, such as “Hope”, “Don’t Judge” and “Smile”.  My boys decided to add their own words of wisdom.  What a window into the minds of my children when I read their messages:

“Love and Be Loved”.  “Be Inspired”.  “Believe in Yourself”.  “Listen to Your Heart”.  “Don’t Lose Faith”.

Today our priest read Robert Munsch’s “Love You Forever” as part of his Mother’s Day homily.  You might know it – “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living my baby you’ll be.”   It seems my babies are growing up, a few steps ahead of me on the trails and carving wise words into stone.