Running With The Grandsons

In June, due to a serious health issue in the life of my daughter, my wife and I were granted custody of our grandsons, six and seven years old. It is not what we expected as we approach our sixtieth birthdays, but we are determined to do all that is necessary to give the guys a good home.

So this summer when the boys began to run with a high school coach with whom we go to church, we were very happy. The coach told us that the boys have a bit of ability to run long distances. When they were able to run a mile, the six year old issued a challenge that I run a mile with them. I had not run a mile in thirty years or more, since I played baseball in college. But I could not say no to the boy, so I told him that if he would give e a month to get ready, I would try to run a mile with him.

My first day of training caused me to doubt I could make it to a mile in a month. First, I could only run about 250 yards without slowing to a walk that first day. Second, I immediately became aware of an old knee injury that causes a good deal of pain right behind my right knee cap. But I was determined not to quit, because I did not want the boys to get the idea that quitting when things are not easy is an acceptable pattern. So I began to apply to Freeze It Gel to my knee. Freeze It offers relief for arthritic conditions and muscle strains and soreness. It provided relief from the joint pain, and I was able to continue to train. On August 13 I ran with the coach and the boys. I finished fourth in the race, but I finished!

Since that time I have continued to run with the boys at least twice a week. Yesterday we were able to stretch out our run to 1.75 miles. I was very proud, of course when I got home I had to apply a generous amount of Freeze It to the knee!

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