The true meaning of being a mommy runner came to me this week as I tried to run the miles on my training plan. Flexibility is what needs to happen when you are a mommy runner. And by flexibility I don’t mean the stretching I should be doing more of or the Yoga I would love to rotate in as Cross training. Flexible the expectation of when I can work out is key.
At first glance I thought hey not a bad week. 5 Tuesday, 3 Wednesday and 5 Thursday is cake. Short enough to get in, in that window I have between getting home and the bus dropping the kids off. I should have known better it was too good to be true.
I went back to work on the Monday after Easter but the boys had a few extra days off due to unused snow days. I enjoyed a rest day and an extended work meeting after my 12 mile Easter run. Tuesday was supposed to be baseball practice but the clouds were looming. When I got home from work I got ready to run but then ended up running around getting stuff together a result of my husband’s ongoing projects. No problem, I’m flexible I can run during baseball practice. Start yelling at the boys to stop screwing around in their room and get into their baseball gear. (Seriously ten minutes can pass and I will still walk back in there to see one of them half naked saying they are looking for socks or their jock or pants. What’s up with that?) So by the time they are ready it starts to pour and the husband has to make the call on baseball practice. CANCELLED. I send a quick e-mail to everyone hoping they get it on time. Five minutes later the sun comes out. Figures. All the yelling makes Pete decide he needs to get out of the house and hit the gym since there is no practice. OKAY then. I feed the children who now have to get out of their uniforms so we can find all the pieces the next day and avoid the “I can’t find my _____”, issues. I send them out to play while I have the joy of cleaning the kitchen. Guess who’s not out the door running five miles. So by now I am hungry since I should be done with my run and eating. I decide I might as well. And then I make the decision to change up the workout, because I have to. Since it is Biggest Loser night perhaps I should just cycle for an hour while I watch since they are all set up. It is going to have to be. 19 miles on the bike will replace my five miles. Not a bad trade. Surely the rest of the week will be better.
So as I think about the rescheduled practice I think hey I can make up yesterdays missed 5 and add it to Wednesdays 3 and that is the distance to the ball field. Perfect! I can get them dressed and fed and into the car with Pete and meet them at practice. But of course, MJ comes home not feeling well and doesn’t go to practice. Again I am housebound with no hope of getting miles on my feet. So while he lays down in his bed ( most likely trying to avoid his homework) I take advantage of the time and catch up on all of your blogs thinking about all I want to write myself. Bummed I forgo the bike and tell my husband when he returns from practice that tomorrow I will indeed be running eight miles when I get home from school so he needs to be home when the jackals get off the bus! Wednesday and Thursday’s miles are now to be combined…on Thursday. FLEXIBLE
And the Thursday run does happen. I get home; I run, have to take an immediate shower, get the boys to religion, drop Pete off to pick up his car that has been repaired and pick them up early to go to Open House at school. I swear homework was only manageable because I got those eight miles in. Third grade homework in intense!
Friday. Friday was the real trick. I was going to run long out of Mommy necessity. And when I mean long I mean the last long run before the taper. The cub scout overnight trip to Massachusetts to a Battleship was happening. There was no way Saturday would happen since we needed to be at the bus by 8am. Sunday we would not be home until the late afternoon. It had to be Friday. So I mapped out my route and planned my fuel. I made the 8 mile route to the ball park extend to 20 or 23 utilizing the bike trail, depending on how I felt. I left before the boys got off the bus with the intent to arrive at baseball practice before it ended at seven.
Once again I made it clear to Pete that this was happening and it did. But it was not fun. I left twenty minutes later than I wanted to. I had been up since 6am. I worked a full crazy day at the HS. It was full sun at 3:45, 68 degrees. I was carrying water in addition to my fuel belt bottles. I just kept willing myself forward. For three hours and ten minutes I ran and ran. (The shorter route) Thinking of how I never did carb load the night before and maybe the breakfast and the lunch I ate would do the trick. Thinking the eight miles the day before was stupid but what else was I to do. Thinking that hopefully the benefit of this run would be that I was running on tired legs and a tired mind. Thinking, hey maybe I should have done this monday following the trip. (Stop it Heather, that's crazy talk) I was disappointed when I mapped it later to find out that I only covered 19.2 miles. Hopefully the effort of the entire day makes up for the lack of actual miles.
I really shouldn’t complain. I really couldn’t ask for better winter weather to train for a marathon than we have had for the past three months. In fact this will probably never happen again. I have missed very few workouts and I feel really good. Maybe I was getting spoiled fitting it all in?So now it is Saturday morning and I am sitting on a bus finally with a moment to myself. My legs are happily enjoying some compression and we will be arriving soon for scout adventures. Damn, just realized I forgot the Aleve. Here’s hoping for the best, smiles on the boys faces. That is what this whole parenthood thing is about right?
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