So here I am my daughter’s first birthday shortly after my daughter’s first birthday. It’s August and my last post was in November (of course I started the post on her birthday but it didn’t get posted until now. Such is life). So it’s been a while. I had, indeed, all the best of intentions to blog about what I was doing, particularly running. But alas, motherhood and working has gotten the best of me. I thought I’d snap back more quickly than I have. Instead of running, I’ve been slapped with this stack of exercises:  

I’ve read a million running mom blogs and read Runner’s World about professional running moms who were running 100 miles a week when their babies were just tiny. Well that wasn’t me. It is hard to get out the door when the babe is relying on you (and only you!) for food. And this is not even touching on the mom-guilt that comes with leaving your baby for anything that you don’t “need.” Well I need running (otherwise I’m a bear. Just ask my husband), but it’s still easy to convince yourself that that should be the first thing to go when baby needs something. It’s also discouraging when struggling with post-baby injury or other issues—in my case a pelvic floor that just didn’t hold up very well to the childbirth process.

Slowly but surely I’ve been seeing some improvements with my pelvis/hip/pelvic floor issues that have been plaguing me since pregnancy. (More to come on what has helped me in a future post. I know that a lot of women go through this but it’s most definitely not something people talk about enough, in my opinion). I’m planning on running the Twin Cities Marathon on October 7^th. I would set a time goal, but at this point, my main goal is to not pee my pants. It will be difficult, but I like to set lofty goals. As for time, I just want to finish. I am fully aware that this first race back after baby (albeit 15 months after baby) will likely not be my best. I just needed a goal and a reason to get out the door. I had to run despite all the pee and the wet shoes, because heaven knows you can’t fool a marathon into thinking you trained when you really didn’t.

In a nutshell, here’s how training has gone: I’ll have a good week, meaning that I run 2-3 times during the week and then get my long run in the weekend. Usually a bad week follows where I run 1-2 times during the week and (fingers crossed) have time for a long run on the weekend. I’m feeling pretty confident in my ability to simply finish because of getting [most] of my long runs in; however, I know I won’t excel at this race by any means. I haven’t hit the gym once during training. My cross training has been quite limited—I’ve been swimming a handful of times and done a couple 20-minute sessions of deep water running.

I’ll try my best to keep posted how the rest of training for this marathon goes as well as what else I have in store. Happy running (or whatever it is that you love…happy that-ing)!

Working on my balance.

I went back to work a little over a week ago. I am slowly trying to figure out a way to balance my life so that I can spend time with Scout, run, cook, be a good wife to Hunter, and maybe do some reading (I'm working on the last book in "The Hunger Games" trilogy. How I love tween fiction.). I feel like most of my free time at this point is spent washing bottles and parts to my breast pump (TMI maybe? After childbirth, it feels like nothing is TMI. I actually used the words "breast pump" in a conversation with my grandpa last week. I never thought that would happen and it was as weird as one might expect).

Last week I ran only 12.5 miles. I was going to try to get out on Sunday for a long-ish run to make it a nice, clean, even 20, but it snowed and I found almost every excuse in the book to avoid running. Of course, like always happens, I regretted it by the end of the day. So for my first almost-full week of work, I didn't run until today--Thanksgiving. The Drumstick Dash was calling my name. I ran with some great friends and had some great conversation. Since all of my runs since Scout was born have been on my own, talking and running simultaneously proved challenging, but I made it. I, like always, was talking loudly and maybe about inappropriate things, but whatever, I had a great time.

This week I'm hoping to get in maybe around 20 miles (kind of like I've said the last 2 weeks). I'm also trying to get in some knitting for a Christmas present--most of my knitting is getting done when I am pumping (the hands-free pumping bra has changed my life!). I'm also hoping to finish the last book in "The Hunger Games" series because I've got book club in about a week and a half. We are working on a new way to get Scout to sleep at night which has proven challenging on some nights but she is, thus far, proving adaptable. She's so great. And big. With cheeks that rest on her shoulders. Perfect for kissing and smooshing up against my cheeks. I have felt lately like when I get home she looks at me like, "Where have you been all day, lady?" But I usually get to squeeze out a few giggles before I put her in the tub, put on her jammies, and then get to the business of putting her into bed. Hunter (who was number 4 on the list above, though he beat out reading!) has been ever-so-helpful in calming my fears that Scout won't remember me and think that someone else is her mommy.

Here is Scout on her 3-month birthday!

I'm sure EVERYBODY wants to read about my life...

So I decided to start a blog. About what, you ask? I'm not sure. A little bit of everything. I am a new mom (my little gal was born in August. She's fantastic.) and I want to keep doing what I love in addition to trying to fake it as a parent. Running is one of my passions and I am hoping to keep it a part of my life as I go back to work after 12 glorious weeks off with my babe. I also hope to keep in balance some parenting, running, yoga, working, reading, playing with my baby, cooking good vegetarian food, knitting, pancake eating (the first of what is likely many "Modern Family" references. I love that show), and trying new things. I know it's going to be difficult. But I also know it's not impossible.

I want the blog to be an online account of what I plan to do in terms of running & racing. If it's in writing, I can be held accountable for all the things I want to do. I plan to post what kind of training I'm doing, what I'm training for, etc. that way if I don't do a run I have to broadcast it to the world (or again, likely just me because I might be my only blog follower). I'll also probably post about random things such as any interesting recipes I've tried, places I've gone, books I've read, knitting projects or any other crafty things I might try (I have a dream of crafty but mostly I just make crap. Sometimes it's crafty, but mostly it's crap).

I also want this to be a journal for my daughter to look at some day. I want her to know that in order to be a mother and be fully devoted to your children, keeping a sense of self is important, too. I don't want her to think that in order to have children she has to give up what she loves and makes her happy. She's already taught me more about myself, my husband, life, boobs and poop than I ever thought I'd know and I am forever grateful. I can't even imagine what the rest of my parenting years have in store.

Enjoy!