My youngest son tried out for Cross Country this summer, and it didn't go well for him. He lacked the drive really, though a few other things factored in. Still, he decided that he likes trail running, and since I am the trail runner in the family, I'm the one to take him running. (Also, I lost a lot of speed over the last few years, so we are close in pace.)
I've taken him out twice now, and it has never been a dull trip. The first trip out last week had us just missing a car crash from a pickup truck pulling a trailer running a stop sign then smashing into another car. It rattled us a little, and we only got a mile in. He got to see four bunnies, so that made him happy. Seriously, he hates seeing an odd number of rabbits. Four is good, three is bad. Also, five is bad. We did a new section of trail, so I didn't really know a lot about it. Still, it was fun.
So, this time we went back to a different park entrance, and off running we went. However, this time I introduced a new challenge. We were going to cross the river. Now, I have done the river crossing a few times, once in a race, and at least once on a training run. It isn't a huge river, and maybe a foot deep in a few places. My son has never done a river crossing, so new territory. I told him to be careful and promptly fell into the river with my first step. I managed to keep the phone and key fob out of the water, and got up. My leg is scratched, and will probably be bruised in the morning, and my leg just kind of hurts. I asked him if he still wanted to cross, and he gleefully jumped on into the river and we walked across. (This all wound up being witnessed by a family that was playing in the river, including some smaller kids. So, yeah, fun.)
Once on the other side, we continued down the trail for about a half-mile and turned around. By this point, my son realized that he forgot to put on his anti-chafe before we left, so we walked the mile back to the car. (Without falling in the river again!) He actually found it amusing how his feet seemed to dry quickly, which makes sense because we bought him trail shoes a few weeks back. I was in an older pair that were cheap, but still, trail shoes. He is already looking forward to the next time he can do a water crossing.
It isn't the grand adventures I'd love to be able to partake in all the time, but it was fun to be out with him running trails. I've hiked or run trails for years, and that seems to be the format my son prefers as well. My wife prefers roads and paved trails, so it works out better for me to be the one to take him. Now if we can just get our speeds up a bit more, we might enter some races. (If they ever start having them again...)
