Seth, my five-year-old, has always been my analytical observer. Even as a tiny little baby, he would recline in his bouncy seat and watch the world around him, slight pucker between his eyebrows.
It hasn’t surprised me at all that he is growing into a boy who loves to make experiments, take things apart, put things together, and meddle with anything that crosses his field of vision.
I’m trying to rein in some of my motherly, out-of-touch grown-up impulses about messes and “shouldn’ts” with “Why Nots?” I practiced this again when he came in one Sunday morning, looking for some ice cubes, because he wanted to do an experiment in front of the (well-screened) gas fireplace. My first impulse was “We’re about to leave for church” and my second was “Oh boy, what a mess.”
Then I took a breath, said “Why not?” and offered a pot. When he wanted my phone to take a movie, I took another breath and said, “Why not?”
And then I got all “Mom’s messing with the science project” on his videos and put them on YouTube and put (too loud) music behind his narrative because MY 5 YEAR OLD IS AWESOME, INTERNET!
I have always (in my very long running career of not that long) been a solitary runner. If I had company, it was usually one or two of the babies, in a stroller, rolling along with me.
Adult run company has pretty much been restricted to my husband Will. He runs a lot faster than I do, but it sweet enough to slow down and run my pace so we can do the occasional run together. He even takes the heavier of the two strollers so it’ll slow him down more.
(I think he likes me.)
I can count on one hand the number of runs I’ve done with other people. One in September that was so incredibly spectacular it will live forever in my running memory. One in October that was so incredibly hellacious that I’m glad a friend was there to get me through it. One this morning that was just NICE.
Will, Jude, and I were in DC this past September for a business trip, and we decided to take a few extra days to visit with friends and family. Two of those friends, Jenn and her husband, happen to be runners, happen to be great people, and said, “Hey … do you want to run with us tomorrow before you fly out?” Considering that we were experiencing some of the greatest weather ever and it was 20-30 degrees cooler than Houston, we were all over it. There was also the promise of running by places like this:
Jefferson Memorial with Will and JudeWashington Monument & Tidal Basin
We don’t really have scenery like that for our runs at home. (Also, we know that’s not a jogging stroller. We hadn’t actually intended to run together or with Jude on this trip.)
It was great. It wasn’t just great, it was PHENOMENAL.
Good conversation – which I didn’t even think was possible while running – good tips and pointers shared, and that runners pride of “I just did that!” magnified by “Hey – WE just did that!”
Exhilarated at finishing this great run
In October, I did a local 5K with some friends from work. It could not have been more opposite in terms of environment, but that same fun of conversation, connection, and pride was there for me. The temperatures were AWFUL, the humidity was over 90%, and we practically got heat stroke from running a simple 5K. I lost a full minute on average pace because of the temperature upswing. Ugh. But I ran/walked that 5K with a good friend, and we got 40 minutes of talking and sharing that we wouldn’t otherwise have had.
Still, I hesitated about sharing that precious alone time that comes with running.
When another friend texted me Monday night to see if I was a) running on Tuesday morning and b) could she join me, I was like, “Aw, man … that means I actually have to get up.” And I had that fear of “what about my ALONE TIME?!?”
Guess what.
I got more alone time because I actually DID get up instead of staying in bed.
We ran/walked our ways to each other, we did part of our run/walk together, then ran/walked our ways home.
It was – again – great. The miles went faster, the intervals didn’t seem quite a tedious, and we BOTH got that “Hey, WE DID IT, SUCKERS!” feeling.
I run (slowly) because I want to be healthy. I take ridiculous pictures after the runs because I’m in a contest with my husband to have the worst post-run picture. It was a lot easier to win in August.
I post these pictures online because I want different images of fitness on the internet and in my kids’ lives.
When it was just me and my cats, I’d blog all the time. Now I typically write in December of most years, when my brother reminds me of Holidailies.
(He’s not my brother by blood, but by that feeling of “Oh! I’ve found you!” when life randomly connects you to a brain and heart so similar yet different that you know you must need each other.)
And I love Holidailies. I love it for the sense of family reunion, of so many familiar faces coming back together after 15ish years of writing online, joining together, and maybe going separate ways.
So there you go — context. Maybe?
Also: I hate chevrons. I hate them so much as a design motif that I thought about buying the domain name “ihatechevrons.com.” I may also be a grumpy old man.
I’ve been posting my workouts automatically, but at least for December I’m going to try posting a look back at the week and a look ahead, running-wise. Yoga-wise, too, if I manage to add something else in.
Guess what?! That definitely didn’t happen this week. I’m on a Beginner Half Marathon training plan through Runkeeper, and this week was supposed to be 3 miles, 4 miles, 3 miles, and then a 6 mile long run on Sunday. Will and I were going to do our own little virtual Turkey Trot, it was going to be great. Let’s check the records for what actually happened:
Saturday: “Decaf” peppermint mocha at 9pm wasn’t decaf
Sunday: Finally fell asleep around 4, then woke up with the kids. Back to sleep around 8? 9?
Yeah, that whole running thing didn’t work. So this week looks like:
Tues: 3 miles
Thurs: 4 miles
Sat: 3 miles
Sun: 6 miles
We’ll see how this goes. We’re signed up for the Galveston Half Marathon on February 16, as well as my Disney World 10K for Homes for Our Troops on January 10. Time to get busy running again!
