Be Prepared!

We had a family activity at church today with the theme that titles this post. The adults had classes on home storage, gardening, and financial management and preparedness, which neither me or Eric attended. We went to the hands-on activities for the kids! The children got to use a canner to seal their own can of red wheat. They did an assembly line to make 72 hour kits for each family who came. They made little banks with three compartments for saving their money and setting aside their tithing. And last, but definitely not least, they made these cool little plant terrariums in balloons! They planted radishes inside, which are supposed to grow from seed to harvest in about 21 days. I was impressed that even the little 3-year old kids could do this activity.

Eric was over the Boy Scouts' portion of the activity, which was the 72-hour kit assembly and a presentation on 72-hr kits to everyone at the end. The scouts did the presentation on their own and really did a great job. I could see how all those camp-outs Eric has taken them on has helped these city-boys understand something about survival.

Asher's favorite part of the activity was the giant vacuum Eric let him ride on during clean-up!


On another note about survival--on my run this morning, my stomach was giving me some trouble. I did about half the run on the trails, and at one point, didn't think I could make it to a bathroom and would have to step off the trail and hope no one came by. I hadn't seen anyone at all on the run, so I made sure I was at a secluded place without poison ivy around. Just as I took off my headphones to see if I could hear anyone coming, a guy on a bike came around the corner. Luckily, I wasn't to the point that he could tell what I was about to do. I just acted like I had stepped off the trail to let him pass, and then decided I could, in fact, wait to go to a real bathroom! Phew! I ran 1 hr 32 minutes. I went around Sherman Oaks twice, which includes an enormous hill; that, combined with my tummy troubles slowed me down a bit. I may have run just under 11 miles.

I had to have practice 30 min. earlier than usual today so we could make it to the activity at church, but I still had a pretty good turnout. After a warm-up and stretching, I had them practice sprinting, concentrating on running on their toes and leaning forward. I also urged them to sprint all the way past the finish line. Too often, they turn their brakes on 2 or 3 steps too early. They did two 100's, three 200's, and two 50's. Then a cool-down. Those 200's were hard on them. They really had to search their bodies for the stamina to go hard all the way past the finish. Next week is our meet, and these kind of work-outs will really help them find the energy they'll need in competition.