Mom On The Run

First off – go on and read my latest Complete Running article…

Are you back?  Good.  Now I can update you on my training.  So far two weeks have gone by.  Two long and painful weeks….  Kidding.  Training is going fairly well.  I’ve done MOST of my runs.  Not all – but I planned for that by planning more runs than I thought I could get around to doing thanks to the fam-damily commitments. Though I’ve made a concerted effort to do all of the longer runs.  Running with a double jogging stroller has proven to be more work than I originally thought it would be.  I feel like I’m running uphill my whole run.  Sunday I tried going for a run with BOTH kids – Sierra didn’t have the patience for it and whined the whole way, even though I stopped at a park for 30 min halfway into my run.  It’s not even like I ran all that far either.  2.5 K, stop and play for 30 min, then another 2.5 K home.

Training this week is a bust.  I got my haircut instead of running today (too tired from being alone with 2 kids for 2 days), tomorrow I have both kiddos, so no run, Wednesday I’ll do my 12K while Sierra is at daycare, no run Thurs & Fri because again I’m home alone with both kids.  Though Friday I have my strollerfit class that Sierra loves, so at least I’ll get SOME exercise.  Saturday Rob comes back from Ireland – but I’ll be too excited and happy to see him to go out for a run.  Sunday morning?  Maybe I’ll get out, but maybe not ’cause Rob will want to sleep in thanks to 12 hrs of travelling and a 5 hr time difference. 

See what I mean?  Training with a family is tough.  The poor baby has had sooooo  many naps in the stroller lately.  I’m determined to do this though.  I LOVE feeling like my old self again.  I feel stronger through my core from the running, and my legs have that dull achiness that I love ’cause it means I’m getting stronger.  I’m just going to have to keep training whenever I can, keep persevering – I KNOW I can do it! 

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Found this over at davefleet.com.  Done in the style of the Common Craft videos, it defines the "new media douchebag", which apparently I am. 

Blog?  Check
Facebook? Check
Twitter? Check
RSS Feed?  Check
Flickr? Check
Real Job? Not really – I sit around in pj’s all day and occasionally put on shoes, tie my hair in a ponytail and walk to the park, if you call that work
Hate everything?  Nope – I try to keep negative comments to myself after the whole almost being dooced fiasco….

Yep – I’m a new media douchebag – are you?

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He comes home from work and compliments you on how clean the house is, only you didn’t clean – you just bought air fresheners  

Thank you Febreze Noticeables!  I love love love you!

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The other week while driving my oldest daughter Sierra home from preschool we had a conversation about monkeys, where they live and the zoo.  I promised her we would go to the zoo – she said, "Maybe Oma and Opa want to come too".  I explained that they could ’cause they live near the zoo, but it would be hard for Opa ’cause he has a sore foot (calcium deposits in his ankle).  Sierra replied, "That’s ok – maybe Opa walk slow… like a turtle!"…

This morning I looked at my 1/2 marathon training plan and realized that sometime during the day I was supposed to run 10K.  10K!  I haven’t ran that far since I was pregnant with Sierra!  Being the geeky little runner that I am, I headed over to Gmaps Pedometer to plot out my run.  Once that was done I printed out my route, packed the baby up in the jogging stroller and away I went.  I took special note of where the 1K mark would be and calibrated my Nike + iPod Sport Kit.  Fast forward…..  I hit the 5K mark (according to my iPod and running route), glanced down at my watch and realize that I’ve been running for an hour.  An hour for a 5k?  WTF?  I’m slow, but geez whiz!  Not THAT slow!  In pain and tired, I decided to pack it in and head home (another 1k). 

When I got home my mind was racing wondering how on earth I could be running that slow, and wondering how long it would take me to run a 1/2 marathon?  I’ve run 1 before… In fact I’ve run 7 of them.  My slowest time was 2:20, my fastest 1:51.  I knew that I was outta shape – but seriously on hour for a 5K – do you realize that translates to a 4 hour 1/2 marathon?  So I checked the map….  DUH!  I forgot to convert it from miles to Km – I ran 6.16 miles, not 6K!  That’s 9.9 K…  Whew!  I was afraid that Sierra was gonna say, "Maybe mommy run slow…. like a turtle!".

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Wow!  It certainly does pay off to be a regular reader of "The Opionionated Parent" – cause look what I won:

The newest product from KUTOKA Interactive, Mia Reading – The Bugaboo Bugs!

I can’t wait until it arrives – although it’s meant for children a little older, I’m sure that Sierra would love to play along with me as she’s always keenly interested in my computer – at 2.5 she’s already asking for her own!

For more great contests and reviews go to:

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Today while nursing down Baby Brooke for her morning nap, I began to fantasize about saving time in a bottle.  Time is going by so quickly that I wish I could preserve moments like these forever:

• the smell of her head
• the sound of her stuffy nose breathing
• the sound of her increasing swallows as I letdown
• the sound of her decreasing swallows as she drifts off to sleep
• the warmth of her belly against my belly
• the feel of her soft hair in my hand as I stroked her head to help her sleep
• the feel of her soft twitches as her body succumbs to sleep
• the look of her long dark eyelashes against her cheek when her eyes are closed

I didn’t want to put her down to sleep in her crib, I wanted to sit there and hold her forever – protecting her from this cruel world.  Like a mama bear protecting her young.  But I knew I had to, for downstairs a cry rang out breaking the silence: "Mommy!  I need to poop!". 

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could save time in a bottle so that we could revisit moments like these whenever we want to?  I know that Don Mills Diva and Queen of Spain certainly would.  I would save the moment I first held each of my girls, all of the moments when they fell asleep in my arms – the first time Sierra said "mama", etc…  What moments would you save?

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