Having been in Leland, MI the last three days and convincing myself the trip and 6-mile jog I managed with my beloved brother (engineer, the other half of #TeamOprah, cat owner) would yield easy, inspirational, blog content, I’m typing this in a tizzy and doing my best to keep one eyeball on my laptop and the other on Baby as she aims for another free solo attempt at the uncarpeted stairs (and she’s no Alex Honnold, bless her heart).
Luckily, B.G.E. (Best Grandma Ever) is sacrificing her serene morning moments of her retirement to be a human shield between Baby and stairs as I squeeze the last bit of writing competence into this entry.
One of the less blatantly obvious sacrifices you make when you decide to be a parent—other than your body, self-interest, and privilege to go to the bathroom without your carbon copy invading your privacy because you no longer have the luxury of doing business with the door shut—is that a mammoth chunk of your brain is going to be dedicated to “What’s my kid doing, now?” for the rest of your life.
While I was once able to dish out the finest college essays and magazine articles while surrounded by Black Friday-level distractions, I now can’t concentrate enough to come up with a more sophisticated expression than “dish out” because, despite the treasure trove of toys and knick-knacks I’ve surrounded Baby with to distract her while I type this, she is much more interested in banging the buttons on the laptop I’m working on.
Even during those training runs that I’ve spent the last several months Tetris-ing into this rewarding chapter of Life that has involved me being peed on by a human being more times than I can count (it happened just yesterday, too), the chunk of my brain that used that time to weave a beautiful story full of insight and purpose is now occupied by wondering if all the miles Baby spends bouncing in the jogger is going to lead to brain damage and other parenting concerns. I don’t know if that ever goes away, but based on what I’ve heard from other parents, it doesn’t.
That being said, this edition of the BriRun Blog and marathon training postpartum is not what I expected it to be. If I’m being honest with myself, though, few things are. However, making the choice to adapt to the reality of the time you have and the factors that affect it rather than use it as an excuse to not do anything at all leads you on the paths that have the most adventure and fulfillment.
Maybe I can reflect more coherently on that next week when I’m not preventing Baby from having a Joe Simpson-level accident on the stairs. For now, that’s all I have. I hope all y’all are doing well and congratulations to everyone who ran the Bridge Run last week. Regardless of how many runs you’ve done, longer or shorter, I hope you’re impressed with what you’re capable of. I know I am.
Haven’t impressed yourself (or the haters) yet? Sign up and run the Grand Rapids Marathon with us! We’re a fun bunch.
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