Naomi and I got all dressed, and Tracy drove us to our starting point of our training walk today. We had 9 miles on the agenda today, and since we only have 1 car at the moment and Nate needed to go apply/interview for a job on Orchard, I planned our walk for the Greenbelt from Glenwood where Tracy could drop us off to Julia Davis Park then back to the Greenbelt Access on Orchard where Nate could pick us up. It worked out just about perfectly with the timing.
Omi was in such high spirits. I love seeing her wake up and get dressed for our "runs" and be excited about things. She had a smile on her face and spring in her step. Even when she was getting up "early" for a Saturday to do this. I am amazed by her attitude. Today marked a HUGE step in her training.
Last week while we walked on the greenbelt in Eagle, I would greet the people that we passed. Omi was quiet and didn't greet people. That is okay. But today, we were on the very busy Boise Greenbelt and *she* was greeting people as we passed. She was bubbly. She was talkative. The first mile she asked, "haven't we reached a mile yet?" But after that, she reached "the zone" and didn't hear nor did she care about mile 4. I had my phone on speaker mode so she could hear the music (Yes we were *those people*) and so she could hear the Runkeeper letting us know our mileage and pace. She didn't hear miles 2, 3 or 4. She didn't even ask about it. At mile 5 she said, "I didn't even know we had gone 4 miles yet!" That is HUGE. That means she got into the zone with her training, talking, music, singing, dancing and was having too much fun to care! Yay!!!!!
Today was a slow day. I felt like a slug. But the company was amazing. To see the light in her eyes and smile, truly is a wonderful thing. We had the music on Pandora on the "Set It Off" channel so it was playing *her* kind of music. When "Dream Catcher" came on, she sang at the top of her lungs, kept her speed and heart rate up" and managed to sing on tune the whole time. It was so fun to see and hear her having a great time. We heard other songs and she talked about which songs keep her motivated to keep moving faster. We played the "who sings this" game. We even spent time talking about Nick. I encouraged her to talk about the memories she has of Nick. She said that talking bout him hurts, and that she talks to her boyfriend, Kasey about Nick. I told her that by NOT talking about him it hurts her even more. I told her that the family NEEDS to talk about their memories and NEEDS to share with each other. It helps us all to sort out what is fantasy and what is real when it comes to grieving, and it helps us smile when we hear the silly things Nick used to do. So she shared stories with me and the things she was really glad she got to do with him before he died. She also shared with me some things she wished she could have done, but we didn't spend too much time on that. I just acknowledged that feeling for her and shared with her that we all have those feelings and that is okay.
On our walk, an elderly couple rode by on their fat bikes. Our friend Kurt rides one and Omi mentioned that she missed him. I agreed. I missed him too. Then later at Mile 8, we ran into him! He was out on the greenbelt riding his bike. We got hugs and visited for a bit. OMG. I love that we get to run into people that we know and get random hugs! It was perfect! That made us both so happy. We adore Kurt and have really missed him. We left Kurt with a little over a mile to go and we were 6 minutes late getting to our pick up spot. Oops. So we hoofed it. We only had to do 9 miles, but to get to our pick up spot, we had a bit longer than another mile to go. We were just going to use the extra mileage as cool off time.
We finished our walk, and since we were late, Nate was not there. He had already been there once, but left to go see if he could retrieve his phone from his friend's house (he left it there last night). While we waited for Nate, Jen (our belly dance sister/instructor) and her hubby Chris came out of a store right by us). Yay for more hugs!!!! None of us were close by our homes and we don't live near each other, yet there we were running into each other! Yay! I love my small big city!
As we were finishing our walk, Omi told me that I had the best friends. She told me that she loves that she gets to be friends with my friends and that if kids in high school were as cool as my friends then she would have lots of friends. *laugh* I love that I get to surround her with amazing human beings!!!! (I was just thinking about this earlier today..before she even mentioned it.) I love that I get to surround Naomi with strong, assertive, creative, amazing women! I get to surround her with men who are silly, charming, strong, respectful and creative. She gets to see how healthy relationships between spouses/partners work. She gets to see how healthy relationships between friends work. She gets to see people reach for their dreams and achieve success! She gets to see people from different back grounds. And she loves all of these people and they love her back. This makes me happy.
Anyway, it was a beautiful day for a 9 mile training walk along the Boise Greenbelt. And the best part of all Omi said.. "I am really proud of myself." I looked at her and said, "Ya? Why is that?" Her reply, "Because I just walked 9 miles!" YES!!!!!!!!!!!! This whole process has been huge for her. To see her blossoming right before my eyes has been beautiful! Her self esteem has made leaps and bounds in 3 weeks. Her self confidence has made leaps and bounds! Her attitude about life in general has been transformed. I'm not saying there won't be challenging days for her. But the difference is so huge and I am so very grateful to have this tool called "running" to share with her and help her find her inner strength! I'm not always the best mom in the world, but its moments like these where I can say I really feel like I am doing something right!
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