Run Momma Run!

I have alluded in a few posts to my relationship with running. It has been a long road, but I am back in love with running and we are on pretty solid ground now.

We had a definite falling out after I was several months pregnant and couldn't jog 100 feet without feeling like I needed a bathroom. Running has been my outlet physically and emotionally since my freshman year of college (which Brandon likes to remind me was a very long time ago), but my new pregnant and post-pregnant body was not letting me continue my relationship with running. Plus, after I had Alyse (not to mention, again, all the physical impediments to getting back into running...mostly, just being so so so tired), I didn't want to spend hours on some long run: I wanted to be home with my new beautiful baby. And when Brandon was home, I wanted to be home with him with our new beautiful baby.

Anyway, after feeling conflicted about this thing I used to just love and how I was going to incorporate that back into my new life as a mom, I did end up training and running a half marathon the end of October. I was inspired (and, I'll admit, jealous) of some other moms who had started a relationship with running and were loving it. I also have noticed that I usually do a race following some life transition (my first half marathon was after I finished undergrad, my second was after I'd broken up with a boyfriend, my marathon was soon after getting married and moving to a new place/starting a new job, and this last one was again after moving to a new place). The races also tend to be in the Fall near my birthday, so maybe there's something about proving to myself that I can still push my body and discipline myself during training.

So, there's some insight into my very own running psychology :) The long and short of it is that the race went well although it definitely felt tougher than some others I've done (i just don't seem to be able to get into the same zone as before...so, our relationship isn't the same, but at least it's back!) and it was fun to see some part of Chicago that I hadn't run through yet. I had the best fans waiting for me at the end and I pretty much got the time I wanted (2 hours 1 minute) and was not even that sore afterwards except for some creaky knees.



Thank you, running, for being part of my life again! I do still love you!

Besides running a race for my b-day, Brandon and I were also able to go out on a date night. We have a family in our building who we swapped babysitting nights with and it was great...Brandon and I ate dinner on bench downtown by the river, walked down to Navy Pier and watched the fireworks, and shared a milkshake as we viewed the cityscape. It was perfect!