When I found out I would be having a baby on August 13, 2021, I figured: Okay, I’ll have three months to train for the Grand Rapids Marathon, which was October 17 that year.
I’ll tell you now: I didn’t run the marathon three months after birthing a baby. As much as I wanted it to be, this isn’t one of those success stories.
But it’s not a failure story either.
I’ve been a mom for almost 10 months now (19 if you count the 40 weeks and TWO DAYS OF HELL) that I was pregnant. What I’ve learned during this rewarding time where I’m, at any moment, covered in some amount of human feces, is if we don’t intentionally force our definitions of success and failure to be flexible, we’re going to have a devastatingly hard time adapting to everything a marathon (and Life) fires at us.
Success
Pre-childbirth (back when that 6 lb 13 oz medicine ball of a baby was still sealed in my uterus), my idea of “success” was to have the baby on her due date and implement the perfect blend of:
1. Being a mom who gives her helpless potato everything she needs at any moment.
2. Cardio that makes onlookers say, “Wow! She just had a baby 30 minutes ago and she’s already running 5Ks! What a gal! Let’s endorse her on LinkedIn because she’s been job searching since March 2020!”
It didn’t take long (I don’t think the shoulders were even out yet) for me to realize I wouldn’t be “successful” in my plan. Getting back into running wasn’t a daily occurrence. And even if my lower body wasn’t destroyed by childbirth and taking less than 48 hours to consume a whole sheet cake someone sent me, I didn’t have time to train for anything. I was swamped caring for this tiny human, who’s as helpless as your determination becomes when you crap yourself during a race.
Reconstructing my definition of success took SO MUCH time, failure, and adaption...Much like marathon training does. Now, my definition of success is simply knowing my daughter is sleeping safely in her crib after a day of receiving everything she needs to be alive, well, and curious. If I happened to run 3-5 miles in that day, that’s a fricken’ bonus!
Now, I am writing this blog from the perspective of a new mom who plans to run the Grand Rapids Marathon, October 16, 2022. I’m glad to be back in Don’s GRM newsletter. When he asked me if I’d like to share my experience training for a marathon as a new mom, I was stoked! After getting amped up to be writing in a space where I can make a reasonable amount of Sylvester Stallone-movie references without being reprimanded, my prime thought was: Sh*t! I have to start training for a marathon.
The Grand Rapids Marathon is October 16, 2022. Sign up and run with my brother (he’s single, ladies) and me on #TeamOprah!
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