Written by Christi Sparrow
To me as a runner, “pace” is quite a loaded term. How many minutes does each mile take? Am I running at a conversational jog or at my race pace? What even is my race pace? Is my pace slower today because it’s humid or because I ate pizza last night? Surely it’s both. Or maybe it’s my 40 pound daughter I’m pushing in the jogging stroller? And so it goes. At the end of the day, all that really matters is that I laced up my shoes and hit the pavement.
When Jay and I first dreamed up the notion of traveling slowly, it was because we wanted to be able to relax in each destination and not feel like frazzled tourists mapping out museum opening times, farmers market hours, and distances between attractions just to fit everything into a long weekend. We wanted to live, albeit temporarily, in apartments near city centers so we could walk and take public transportation each day and learn our way around a neighborhood.
We wanted to stay one place long enough to try a few local restaurants and still have time to revisit our favorite one. Same goes for parks and coffee shops. We wanted to shop for groceries and cook with new ingredients. And ultimately we wanted enough time in one place to slow down, look past the tourist attractions, and open our minds to learning new ways of living and our hearts to meeting new friends.
That vision has not changed since having kids. In fact, that original approach to how we planned to execute this trip lends itself nicely to accommodating the snack, nap, and play schedules of toddlers. Sure I’ll still have the tourist’s list of “must see” attractions and “must eat” local fare before we arrive at each destination, but my hope is that we will have time for more meandering which means less sprinting. More exploring which means less hurrying. More contentment which means less anticipation. And let’s not forget afternoon naps.
Thank the heavens for afternoon naps. (When your baby begins your days at 4:30am, afternoon naps are considered essential for survival.) Could our agenda look different each day? Undoubtedly. I’m sure there will be countless variations of our routine as we travel. But this will be our pace, our family pace, ebbing and flowing with our collective energy and curiosity.
Love pets? Get FREE Accomodation!
As a runner I’ve learned that your pace is such a personal measurement. Sure it’s posted online for the world to see after each chip-timed race, but that’s only a snapshot. You’re the only one who knows the precise pace range you ran during training and the improvements you achieved. And you’re the only one who remembers your official race times after all the paper cups and banana peels are swept away from the finish lines. What matters is that you did it, and hopefully you’ll keep going.
So as we embark on this trip, holding our hearts in our hands, our goals are to learn new things together, find opportunities to give to others, and seek adventures at our own pace, our #familypace. And at the end of the day, what matters to us is that we did it.
Related posts:
23 Tips on How to Save Money to Travel
Vacation Rental vs Hotels for Families
PLEASE SHARE
7 thoughts on “Family Pace”
beautiful
Thank you for reading our blog!
This is amazing!!! Can’t wait to follow along!
Thanks for reading our blog, Brooke! I hope you are doing well!
I’m so jealous and can’t wait to see all the adventures you all experience. Enjoy, be safe and document the heck out of it.
Hi, Meg! Thanks for reading our blog! I hope you and your family are doing well.
Looking forward to seeing and hearing all about your dream trip. Enjoy.