I had a dream the other night I was running the Groundhog Marathon, a race built for active psychopaths that takes place during the height of Michigan’s winter.
The Dream:
It was going to be my big return to marathon running after dropping 6 lbs of baby (and 31 lbs of Whopper meals) weight, and I was determined to beat my brother’s (engineer, homeowner, and single, ladies) time (which I’ve never been able to do, even in my dreams).
On race day (in the dream), everything went wrong:
Breastfeeding made me late to the race.
My Fitbit disappeared from my wrist every other mile, and couldn’t track distance.
I’d transport from the Kent Trails to Downtown GR during inexplicable scene changes.
I mildly had to go to the bathroom and there were no working toilets.
I had a 1st birthday party to plan and nothing was done yet!
When I woke up and came to my senses, that last bullet point got me: I had a 1st birthday party to plan and a marathon to run.
When it comes to parenthood and marathon training, you don’t have the luxury of “leaving work at work” or “separating Baby and training.” They contaminate each other in a way that challenges you to endure both in the best way. Unless the Goblin King from Labyrinth steals your baby once a week and gives you 2-3 hours for a serious training run, you don’t have the means to do the runs you used to do without incorporating a child along the way.
I have to merge training runs with all the crap I listed in the last BriRun blog.
After doing my first 8-miler this week with pounds of baby luggage, I’m working on convincing myself this is the new reality. Marathon training is now pushing a weighted jogger in front of you, slowing down for big bumps so Baby’s head doesn’t fall off, and flipping the sun guard on and off constantly because Baby won’t wear her bloody sunglasses even though they’re hella cute.
As the Grand Rapids Marathon draws closer, I realize we can’t wait for conditions to be ideal to get a long run in. We just have to pack up and do it. I hope to God those runs where I’m pushing a jogger or cutting miles because weather that I used to brave suddenly becomes concerning with my delicate baby in tow counts for something. Maybe even extra credit.
Hope y’all are getting some good runs in. Can’t wait to see you at the Grand Rapids Marathon!
Comments