Short run and museum visit

I picked up Laura and Michael this morning and we headed off to the Werribee River Trail. After applying sunscreen and aeroguard, we did our warm up along the trail. It was lovely down along the river. I've never been down there before so I had no idea what to expect. There were a few people around, mainly on bikes. We only saw one other runner. It was 10:45 am, which would probably explain that.

We were out running for about 40 minutes, but the second half was a lot slower, so I think we covered somewhere between 3.5 and 4 kms. Unfortunately I left my Garmin in Canberra. I'll have to do the run again, just to find out how far we went. Laura led us out. She broke her wrist playing netball a few months ago and has only just recently gotten back into all her usual physical activities. Clearly it's done her the world of good as she's a lot fitter than she was three weeks ago. I wasn't able to keep up!

Michael ran along with me, keeping me company. On the way back, Laura walked, Michael and I jogged slowly, and we did a little back and forth as we kept getting too far ahead, even though we were trying to go slowly. Laura ran the last section with us again although she didn't join Michael and me in our mad rush back to the bridge with its imaginary finish line. When we finished we turned around and cheered her on, so she obligingly finished with a little flourish for us.

A few stretches and I had the two of the them home about an hour after I picked them up. This running in Werribee looks like a good plan.

I'm loving this whole "go for a run, sure" thing I have happening at the moment. I'm feeling really confident about my ability to run for anything up to an hour. One of the guys at work has asked me to run with him at lunchtime next Wednesday. Normally I'd have been "oh, I'm running on Tuesday, so I won't be able to run for a few days after that". Now it's "let me at it". When Lynda told me about the kids wanting to practise, I knew I could run today and tomorrow without any problems.

When I dropped off the kids I had coffee with my sister, Lynda, showered at her place and then headed off to pick up two of my nephews for their promised birthday trip to the Museum. My brother kindly made me lunch while I waited for Lachlan to arrive home from cricket. The birthday present deal involved lunch. Lachlan, Simon and I ended up at McDonald's. Lachlan explained seriously that he didn't want to choose his favourite, KFC, because he didn't want to ruin all the good work I'd done losing weight. Isn't that sweet?

It was McHappy Day and there were a couple of Collingwood footballers at the restaurant. Of course, it never occurred to me to take a camera. Fortunately, Maccas handed out bright red caps and the boys went over to get autographs. I've no idea who the footballers were. The boys recognised one of them, but didn't know the other and we couldn't work him out from his signature. Their mum is a Collingwood supporter, so they were delighted that they would be able to tell her about their brush with fame.

We arrived at the museum at about 2 pm, which gave us three hours before it closed. I'd never been there before and neither had the boys. It was terrific, much more fun than any of us had expected. I think my favourite thing was the Virtual Room although I loved the forest gallery. I could have spent a lot longer at the museum so I can see myself going back there again.

$20 each to spend in the museum shop rounded out the birthday treat. I did tell them that they could have the money instead if they didn't see anything they liked, but they managed to find themselves some stuffed toys. Now me, I would never have bought a 9 year old and an 11 year old stuffed toys, so obviously letting them choose their own presents is the way to go.

I really like this 'combine an activity with lunch and a present' type of birthday present. It ends up being a treat for me as well as for them. I'll definitely keep doing this for birthdays.