A Day Off

So I am definitely chalking today up as a loss as far as exercise goes. I guess that is to be expected when one stays out until 2:00am consuming too much wine and then thinks that cupcakes are the best way to refuel. Okay, being totally honest, it was a cupcake this afternoon and a doughnut tonight. But how can you resist an offer like this?

Noah obviously wanted me to share in the gluttony and I didn't want to disappoint him!

I am okay with it though, as technically this is a recovery week in my half marathon training schedule so I figure if I am going to fall off the wagon this week is the time to do it.

So far - knock on wood - training for the ING Georgia half has been going pretty well. I have been getting in all the mileage I am supposed to and I am actually completing the tempo runs on my schedule, despite the fact that they have always totally intimidated me. I am discovering that I am capable of going faster than I thought but until recently I had a mental wall telling me I couldn't do it. Shockingly, my workouts on the treadmill have been helping with that. I usually hate the treadmill but have had to resort to using it because of the cold weather. (Well, relative cold weather. Living in the south I consider anything under 50 degrees to be practically arctic!) Anyway, being stuck on the treadmill has the advantage of making me stick to a specific pace and hold that pace for the entire time.

So tonight I am going to enjoy my evening and hope the joy of my sugar binge will tide me over for a while. Next week its back to serious business.

Surviving Toddlerhood: the Ultimate Endurance Sport

Okay, so, I am going to lay it out straight for you. Toddlerhood...let's just say it makes sleepless nights with a newborn seem like amateur hour. Nobody can prepare you for what it is like to have a 2 year old with an attitude. Nobody.

I used to be that person who would walk through malls and smile a bit smugly at the mom trying to contain her two year old's temper tantrum. I would shake my head and think, Obviously this is a discipline issue. I mean, who can't control someone that small. Thank God my child will not be like that because I will just teach them NOT to be. Oh, to be so naive again.

Now it is me who is squatting in the middle of Chick-fil-A trying to scoop up her kicking, screaming toddler while simultaneously holding onto my purse, his backpack, both coats, and the assortment of toy trains he has decided to bring on any given outing. And, of course, trying to do it all with a smile that says to the staring public, Don't worry folks, it's all under control here!

I have decided that raising a toddler is comparable to running an ultra marathon. Not that I have actually run an ultra (yet!) BUT from what I hear and read about them, the two situations have many similarities. For example, the length. Toddlerhood is definitely an endurance race, not a sprint. Sometimes, at the end of the day, I look around and think how hard it is and how much more is still waiting for me. It's like completing 50 miles of a hundred mile race and thinking, Damn, I still have to do 50 more! You have to take it one mile at a time or your head will explode. That is how my life is right now - one day at a time or my head will explode.

The other similarity I have found is that you have to have a support crew. Few people can run an ultra endurance event alone. The same goes for my two year old. I need my crew - my husband, family, and the fellow Moms who offer up a bottle of wine at the end of a long day!

And finally, it is the grueling physicality of it all that is most similar to running long distances. I never, and I mean almost never, sit down for more than five seconds at a time. During the day I am a milk getting-train playing- carrying up and down the stairs- picking up the messy playroom -machine! At the end of the day I am utterly exhausted.

But, just like running an ultra, there is a weird sort of satisfaction about experiencing the race. And a feeling of joy that you are doing it. I may not get a finisher's medal at the end of the day, but I get tiny arms wrapped around my neck, and a "I love you Mama!" That's a pretty good prize if I do say so myself, and that is what I am going to try and focus on right now.

Embrace the Pain

I just reread the book Ultra Marathon Man by Dean Karnazes. When my some of my family (who do not run) asked me who he was and I began explaining about a man who could run 200 miles at one time, I got many blank stares. They of course thought he was crazy and why in the world would I want to read a book written by a crazy person. But some people think it is crazy to run just 13 miles, or even 5 miles at one time. So, in my book, "crazy" is all relative.

Anyway, there is one part of the book where Dean talks about pain and how most people respond to pain. I don't remember the exact quote but the idea was basically, why have we as a culture decided that the only happiness we can find in life is from a comfortable existence? Why don't we embrace pain as being able to produce good and happiness as well? We seek comfort and avoid pain at all costs these days. Dean advocates embracing the pain. He thinks if it doesn't hurt then we must be doing something wrong. Crazy, right?

But as someone who is not too far away from the memories of childbirth this concept makes perfect sense to me. Giving birth to my son was by far the most painful and exhausting thing I have ever experienced...ever. But, it produced a little boy who has made the lives of my husband and I so much better. He has made us so happy. In short, much pain produced much happiness.

So I am applying this concept to my running. Up until recently my philosophy has been to get through whatever distance I am running without having to endure too much pain. When I ran my first half marathon last year, and was still really scared of the distance, I did everything I could to avoid pain. That meant going slow and when I sensed the pain coming on big towards the end, walking. I am not going to do that this time. Doing that meant going slow when I am capable of going faster. It meant finishing in a time that was entirely too safe.

Recently on my training runs I have realized something. Because I was avoiding the pain, I never thought speed was something that could be mine as a runner. But now I am realizing that if I am willing to embrace the pain I can get faster. If I train faster, I will run the race faster. And the happiness and satisfaction at the end will be that much greater.

These next couple months are going to be about training hard and embracing the things that hurt. Because that will mean I am doing something right.

Here We Go!

Okay, so I have been keeping a family blog for awhile now and I am pretty sure that my non-running friends are getting a little sick of reading about my running obsession. So, I am starting a blog devoted to running and anything that is related to that. Here goes....

I am a 26 year old stay at home mom of a 2 year old boy named Noah. After I had Noah, I wanted to lose my baby weight and was looking for the most efficient way to do it and my friend Priscilla suggested running. She was already a runner, with a marathon under her belt, so I was super intimidated. My only experiencing with running until that point had been joining, and then quickly quitting, the track team in high school. In my head running a mile was the most difficult thing I could think of doing.

Now, here I am two years later, training for my second half marathon and using running as my drug of choice to deal with the ups and downs of life! Needless to say I am hooked. I will be updating this blog with all sorts of stories about running in the midst of motherhood and hopefully my non running friends will thank me for not having to wade through the running anecdotes on my family blog!