The Sporting Life

I had to bring in an old photo of myself to work to share which was a great excuse to go through all my old photo albums... remember those? Albums? I found all my old sports teams’ photos; 7th & 8th grade basketball [never really liked], 7th, 8th & 9th grade volleyball [actually liked and was a setter] and 10th, 11th & 12th grade tennis [really liked and wished I’d played freshman year, too]. I came across this gem of a photo - my junior year tennis photo - awkward anyone?

I remember running a bit in college with Stephanie here and there, but not even sure we went very far - ? Then after becoming engaged, some kind of health switch went off and that’s when the running clicked into gear. I realized splitting meal in half with Tim wasn’t exactly a healthy idea [along with fettuccine Alfredo dinners]. 

I think most runners always remember saying “I’ll never be a runner,” and 3 years later they’re running half marathons. Training is a great goal I like to set for myself once or twice a year... and while it gets tedious the closer I get to race time, I’m always so happy after running and love seeing how far I can push myself. Saturday was one of those days!

Saturday was my “peak day” - the most miles I’ll run before the Half Pig in 2 weeks which was 12. I got to bed before 10:30 and had hydrated before bed [after a glass of wine - come on - it was Friday night!]. Those 12 miles actually felt pretty good and I felt I could have even gone the whole 13.1 race length - such a great feeling! 

Saturday night we’d already registered for the Loveland Rat Race - a really fun, flat 5K with music, beer and food afterwards. I wasn’t sure whether I’d run... it seemed that wouldn’t be a good idea. However, the runner’s head sees the challenge and I went for it. The atmosphere was so fun and our friends were with us with babies too. 

William & Evelyn - Emma was up front to rock the 5K without Evelyn in her belly like last year : )

I ran the first mile with Nora in the jogger stroller, Tim flew with Nora the 2nd mile [jerk is faster with the jogger than I am without it], and I let Tim rock out the 3rd mile while I took Nora again. Running with a jogger is HARD. My body wanted to stop and walk with Nora but my head would not let me. That’s my mental rule: I can run as slow as I want, just don’t stop. 

As I approached the finish line I heard a spectator yell, “Good job, Mom! 100 yards left!” It was rather encouraging for a little 5K. 

The post food and beer was so satisfying and again, a very fun atmosphere. We think we’ll do this race annually and maybe one year Nora will run with us! 

Nora was a good sport and enjoyed her ride!

The family that runs together, stays together : )