Would you like some exercise with that exercise?

This afternoon/early evening, I had hoped to take a walk with the children, but one thing led to another, and soon it was too dark. But I challenged Ian to a race around the house - each of us going in our own direction, and finishing the race at the same spot out front. He seemed to enjoy it, and when Daniel saw us come into the house panting and looking like we had enjoyed ourselves, he wanted to do something similar.

However, Daniel didn't actually want to race around the house; I think he was afraid of the dark out back. So instead, he proposed that we race down the driveway. Originally, he wanted to race something like a hundred times, but eventually he revised the number of races to six, and that seemed to work pretty well.

Somewhere around the end of Race Four, though, Daniel said we should take a break to "breathe out." Breathing out might be described as catching our breath, or panting, or both. However, Daniel knows that exercise is good for you, so he didn't want to waste a minute or two just panting in preparation for the next race.

So he made a sensible proposal: "Let's do something healthy while we're breathing."

Something healthy turned out to be pacing back and forth - roughly for or five paces in either direction, walking forward or backwards depending on the direction - while also panting and catching our breath. I was glad for the extra shot of health, in an already very healthy, structured activity. Unsurprisingly, Daniel figured out a way of adding an extra innovative flourish to his own very innovative exercise venue.

Time well spent.

(January 2, 2012)