Tuesday, March 30, 2010

What doesn't bend, breaks.




They say, your children teach you how to be a parent; that you can try to force them into your preconceived ideas on what your family should be like, but ultimately, what doesn't bend, breaks.

Even as young as 3 1/2, my 5 year-old boy has had an extraordinary ability to focus on building Lego worlds. Left alone in his room with a 500 piece set, he can assemble the entire thing without a lick of help. This awesomely peaceful time recharges all of us. However, despite his love of long, solitary hours of building, he needs to know I'm still keeping an eye on him....otherwise he launches into brutal, piece-by-piece tutorial that painstakingly teaches me how he built his vehicles. When he's caught me ignoring him for too long, he shows no mercy and milks my mommy-guilt like a newborn. Glance away for a millisecond? He starts over.

As a baby/toddler, he could only fall asleep on the move; and the louder the environment, the better. We could (and were motivated) to tote him to parties, to the theater, to restaurants and The Nap Master would sleep....until, of course, we were at home, at night.

This boy has taught me how to be the parent I am. Feel a "class" is about to start? I now know to bathe him in my undivided attention while changing the topic. Won't admit to being tired? There's "a quick errand" in the car we need to run. Doesn't get hurt despite how bad the spill seems? Sure you can climb on the outside of the tube-slide.

How different would life be if my kids had been born in reverse order?

My 5 month old baby refuses to sleep in the car and in a stroller, nor will he doze off if there is any noise or light. Yikes! BUT...he sleeps through the night*. He won't let me nurse him to sleep in front of the TV or con him into a nap by circling the block a few times. Nope. He forces me to take him to my room, and lay him down in dark silence. Then, he'll see me in the morning. Had he been my first child, I would have probably had our family on a strict schedule from the beginning. Then my other one would have been born into an organized household and adapted to it, because that's just how he is. We'd all be well-rested, perky, with bluebirds landing upon our shoulders as our four-part harmonies clear the clouds from the skies.

Then, of course, I never would have learned to love running.

I wouldn't have so desperately strapped him into a stroller and hit the road in attempt to get him to sleep. Had I not already experience the joy that comes after the first 6 sucky weeks of getting back into shape, I wouldn't have gotten my butt out the door a second time because this baby HATES the stroller. My parenting arsenal wouldn't have included "attitude adjustment" runs - the kind that inspired my boy to say (when he was old enough to form his own thoughts):"Mommy, you're nicer after you run." I wouldn't have met my best friend Kelly during marathon training, or seen the sun rise from the Biscayne Bridge, or eaten at Amy's Ice Cream 3 days in a row without guilt. I wouldn't have found that cool stream my boy and I skim rocks in. I wouldn't have traded in wine for my new favorite drug: runner's high. (Okay, maybe "supplemented" would have been more appropriate).

How different would it have been? Well, my first-born inadvertently made me a runner, and being a runner makes me a better mom to my kids. So, I guess all those sleepless nights were worth it. It's not like I could sing well enough to harmonize with the family anyway.







*If you don't count all these sick days recently!

Friday, March 26, 2010

Change my name....


Since I have been doing more of this, I will have to change my

name to the "Cross-training Mommy".


Come on Spring - were are you?


I want to get out and run with the girls!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

The Running Mommy Joins the club!


Hello,

I would like to introduce myself. I am Lisa and I am a runner!
(insert - "Hi Lisa")

I have been running for about 20 years, running everything between a 5K to marathons. My marathon PR = 4:19:19...so I am slow!

I am a mother of 2 girls - hence the Running Mommy - who LOVE to go running with me!

I have made it my quest to help other running mommies out in their quest to keep motivated and to keep running.

I am working now with some races in the Metro Detroit area to become more baby jogger friendly!


I will keep posting tips from time to time.


Keep Running

Lisa

Friday, March 19, 2010

March e-News Has TONS of Discounts and Giveaways

Just wanted to let those of you who do NOT receive the seeMOMMYrun e-newsletter, that the March newsletter is posted HERE. There are PLENTY of discounts on cool products, FREE workouts, and giveaways. So check it out!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

my purple tutu

I am going to try being one of those runners, one who pulls on a tutu over the running tights. I have bought myself a purple one -- seemed the best color choice. (I'm not such a pink person.) And I am excited about the whole idea. I enjoyed picking out my ensemble for the race more than I usually do.


I am wearing it for the St Patrick's Day 8K tomorrow. The race is a festive dress-up kind of one, though a green tutu might be more appropriate -- but I don't have one of those. And the race is a shorter distance, so I can test run the tutu for next weekend's National Half Marathon. That's the ultimate plan, people!


My time goal? Around 40 minutes. But I have not run a race since November 2009, and I've had an injury, so we'll see what I can pull out, especially in a tutu. But I also don't care so much about being faster and faster anymore. Though I still like being kind of fast. And, in a purple tutu, kinda fast will also be fun.


Look for me if you are in downtown DC on Sunday morning at 9am -- Pennsylvania Avenue and 13th Street!


The next question: How do I wash the tutu?

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Got a Great Web Idea? Need a Host?

Six years ago when the idea for seeMOMMYrun.com popped into my head I had no budget, no idea how big it would become, and no clue how to get started. I designed the original seeMOMMYrun site by teaching myself Microsfot Frontpage. Then I searched online for a reasonably priced web host where I could easily upload my web site and data with no hassles. That’s when I found Doteasy.com. Doteasy.com registered my domain name for me, walked me through the steps of uploading my site, using my free email accounts, and other great features. Presto! seeMOMMYrun.com was born. The Doteasy.com tech team was extremely helpful – and believe me, I needed a lot of help! The best part about using Doteasy.com? They hosted my site for FREE for an entire year. That gave me time to grow my business without worrying about web costs. I had such a great experience with Doteasy.com that I recommended them as a host to many friends starting online businesses. Doteasy.com is currently running a promotion that lets customers register any .com/.org/.net domain for only $7.95 and you get 1 year of hosting FREE. The coupon code is 1003BPM. Three web hosting plans are offered, from free web hosting to unlimited web hosting which you can enjoy unlimited data storage and transfer for just $9.95 per month. You just can’t beat it! You know that online green baby products site you’ve been meaning to launch? Now is the time!

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

sign of spring

These three 60-degree days in a row are making me over-confident about spring. I assume we'll face some freezing temps again before March is out. But the birds are singing loudly.

The first major sign of spring: Shirtless men running over the Key Bridge at noon on Monday. This is totally different from that one crazy guy (or group of crazy teens or early twenty-somethings) running without a shirt, his skin turning red, in a winter race.

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

injuries: not sure I am getting any smarter about them

I had not had a running injury in 10 years when I faced up to the fact that I had runner’s knee. That’s a pretty good track record, right? When I started running in 1997, I soon was running almost every day and racing every weekend in Central Park; the New York Road Runners held races almost every weekend. I was addicted to getting faster. Within a year, I’d cut my 5K time from 33 minutes to 21 minutes.

I signed up for my first marathon in 1999, The New York City Marathon. I was injured the July before it (I can’t even remember what that injury was). This hit immediately after I ran the Bronx Half Marathon and a Central Park weekday 10K within days of each other. I was not running again until late September, but I managed to pull my first marathon out of my you-know-what in  3:44 and some seconds. Is this the beauty of being 28? But I didn’t finish my next marathon the following year. Then I developed stress fractures in 2001. Oh, I was so, so angry and frustrated. But I healed and have run many races and three marathons since.

I now run a “mere” four days a week for total mileage of 25-30 miles. (I’m a distance woman.) I love every run, and I cross and strength train on the three other days. I believe this varied routine has staved off any injuries by keeping everything in balance. 

But in December, less than six weeks after the Marine Corps Marathon, my knee started bothering me. I probably had not rested long enough post-marathon. Typical. First, my knee didn’t bother me during runs, but then I’d limp downstairs. After two weeks, I tried taking a week off. But then I limped through my next (very short) run. Damn. So, I took another week off. By “off,” I mean no running. I sat on my road bike hooked up to a spinning week for 60-120 minutes four times a week instead. This was actually a good deal with all the snow and subsequent icing we've been dealing with in the DC area. 

I did get cranky. I worried about all the spring races I have coming up. I’d hate to miss them. I saw my podiatrist to replace my 10-year-old orthotics. I started running, but walked every downhill. I built back up to an eight mile long run with little walking. I tried to pay attention to whether I was limping or not, but you know how that is; I can convince myself of anything if I want it badly enough.

When my knee bothered me more during a run last week, I couldn't gloss it over. So, again, I took time off, but just three days. I looked at my calendar and realized the National Half Marathon was only three weeks away. Damn and a half. I decided to try for whatever distance I could over the weekend. I know I am a fool, but this time it worked, so far. I ran 12 miles with no pain and no walking. Maybe it was the new and now broken-in orthotics. Or a miracle. 

I’ll keep paying attention to my knee, but I feel like I’m coming out of the tunnel of injury. And I feel like spring is coming.