Serious Running Blog

As a mother, do you find it difficult to get in your daily run?

I am very lucky to have a husband who is home most every morning.  He is a FedEx pilot and usually works from 2.p.m. to 2 a.m.  So I can be done running before anyone is even awake – it also helps a lot that my kids sleep until 8 – even on school days.  My oldest son (the only one in school) can do everything for himself in the morning so I walk in from my run and we head out the door for carpool.  If my husband is not available, my mother-in-law is very willing to come over and sit while everyone sleeps.  Before we joined the gym, I took her up on this about once a week.  Now, I can take the kids to the gym on days that I have them all to myself.  My advice to other mothers is – find a way – if it is possible.  Even if you have to be creative.  My running partner and I sometimes trade off our (total of 5) kids so that each of us can run while the other watches the kids.  If it is a priority, you can get it done – as my husband has told me on more than one occasion, “nobody likes a martyr”!

I hate martyrs too.  Do you use a jogging stroller?

Yes, I use a baby jogger- it is 8 years old- we have pushed all of our kids in it at one time or another and they love it!  My advice is to get a good jogging stroller with bicycle wheels – it is worth the investment.  My boys also like to ride their bikes while I run but they aren’t crazy about going for an hour- about 4 miles is their limit.  I take them when my husband is with me and they head home at the halfway point and I continue on.

I usually continue to run when others are done too.  Have you ever had a close call on not keeping your goal?

The biggest challenges to keeping my goal are travel and holidays.  We have taken so many trips since I started – two weeks skiing in Park City (I ran on the treadmill for 60 minutes every day- even on travel days- and skiing didn’t count towards my hour/day), a week at the beach, weekend trips to out lake cabin, etc.  I’ve run in freezing rain, snow, 100 degree heat and torrential downpours.  I ran on Christmas Day and every other holiday. The closest I came to breaking the streak was on the last day of our week-long Disney Cruise. My plan was to run on the treadmill that morning (like I had every other morning during the cruise) before spending the day at Sea World for a few hours and then start the drive home. At about 10:30 p.m. my husband and decided that I needed to “keep the streak alive” (his words) so we use the Garmin to find all the hotels along the way.  I start calling to see if they have a gym. We pull in a few minutes later and I am on the treadmill from 11 p.m. to midnight. I got back on the treadmill the next morning before getting back in the car for the rest of the drive home. I ran 15 miles in the 8 hours we were at that hotel.

At least you got to sleep.  Do you plan any celebration when you finish this goal?

I haven’t planned anything for when I finish. I run with a Garmin so I know my pace pretty well and don’t feel the need to enter any races. I consider this year to be my “marathon.” Today was day 297. Less then 70 to go!

Great job!  Good luck!  Do your think you’ll continue to run at the same consistency when you are done?

I will definitely continue to run and swim when the year is over. I plan to add yoga, weight lifting, and spinning to my routine. If a day goes by when I cannot fit it in, I won’t beat myself up about it but I will probably go longer the next day to make up for it!

The thing that amazes me the most about this experience is that I have not been too sick to run in almost a year. I take a multivitamin, calcium, fish oil, iron, and glucosamine/chondroitin almost every day and I eat a ton of vegetables. I don’t eat fast or fried food and I try to limit my sugar (but that is my weakness). I only had one minor injury – sharp pain just above the back ankle. I swam for three days in a row and it went away. Some days I think there is no way I am going to be able to run up the street, let alone for an hour. But I put one foot in front of the other and before I know it, I am having a great run. I have confidence in my body. I am strong and fit and I love it!

Thanks for sharing Kristin!  Good luck on your goal!

This entry was posted on Friday, August 14th, 2009 at 12:31 pm and is filed under training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.