Walking Maniacs

I have created two monsters.  It's a good thing, but exhausting.

On the last Tuesday in May, Bryce had his driver's ed driving test at the high school.  It was supposed to take 30-40 minutes.  Since our drive to the high school takes ten minutes, it seemed pointless to go home between his drop-off and pick-up times.  Thus, we chose to stay and occupied ourselves by running on the track around the football field.  The rest of the day, the boys were calmer than usual and I figured it must have had something to do with running off their energy.

So, we began going to the track daily.  I offer them five cents for each lap and ten cents for the winner of the first lap (since we run that one, but end up walking part or most of the rest).  We had generally been doing between a mile and a mile and a half each day.

Then, the boys requested a return visit to Jack-in-the-Box for their shakes (a treat we enjoyed during my parents' brief visit at the beginning of June).  We set a goal of reaching 20 miles before treating ourselves to the shake.  I didn't realize this goal would turn them into walking maniacs.

Yesterday, I intended to walk eight laps (2 miles).  I ended up doing twice that because the boys insisted on walking 20 laps.  It was probably the hottest day we've had.  After the twelfth, I thought if I sat it out, they would tucker out and give up.  At fourteen, I begged them to give it up (fearful even that someone might come by and think I was forcing them to walk all those laps).  On their seventeenth lap, I rejoined them through their finish.  Thankfully, the building was open so we could go inside and get more to drink, since we quickly drained the water bottles we had brought along.

Although I'm proud of them for plugging away through five miles (and I'm thrilled that Trevor is slimming down some as a result of our daily laps), I'm hoping they don't think this is going to be a regular thing.  It takes way too much time out of our day, even if our summer days are basically empty.  Plus, I'd be broke if I had to pay them a dollar a day (their fitness is worth that, though). They may just whip ME into shape, in the meantime.