Five years ago, I became a mom. A single mom. True meaning of what I am supposed to do was brought into my life. But before becoming a mom, I was a runner. I was a member of four running groups that I ran with on a weekly basis plus a mountain bike crew one day a week. I coached women to run and trained men and women to run marathons. I was honored to be a pacer in a St. Jude marathon in Memphis, TN. I ran, lifted, ate right, and loved my community of running family.
Then I became a 100% single mom. My perspective completely changed.
My job was 1 and a half hours from home at this point.
How could I run with a new baby and no help?
Fast-forward a few years, I was gifted a jogging stroller and my daughter loves to ride. In addition, I was lucky enough to find an elliptical on sale and put it in my garage. The elliptical became my best friend at 4am to “run”…my sanity, my alone time. Now 5 years later, my daughter and I are so blessed to have a sweet man in our lives that says to me “go run”. That means running by MYSELF!!!
The goal is to run another 5K then a half and lastly a full marathon. However, training takes hours away from my two loves. How do I spend time on myself now after all those years?
Answer: I have to run for all of us. We all need our own outlets. The kiddo loves to see her friends and at school. It gives her a chance to have her space. The other half doesn’t have his hobby yet but we are working on one. Me, I run. It clears my head and invigorates my spirit. Best of all is the other day my daughter said to me “Mom, you haven’t exercised in a while (because so much had been going on & I felt guilty to get out) you need to go run”. She even knows I need to run. The guilt will always be there but it just has to be done… whatever form of exercise that makes you happy.
