To Run or Not To Run...

...with a bub on board?

That is the question.

Except, it's not even a question as far as I'm concerned.

The issue is simple for me.

As soon as I know I am pregnant, I put a halt on running.

I guess that makes me 'Mum on the Walk' for a bit, doesn't it?!


It's a personal choice.
I certainly don't have an opinion (or any authority) on any other's woman's choices - during pregnancy or otherwise.


I simply choose not to run 'with child'.


I am not technically, medically 'supposed' to fall pregnant, so when I do I'm not going to be tempting fate one little bit.

 Plenty of research reinforces that it is perfectly safe to maintain the exercise regime you were engaged in just before pregnancy, but I go with my (ever expanding) gut on this one.


It honestly just doesn't feel right.
For a few sickly weeks there, it actually felt downright impossible.


I'm not particularly concerned that I'm losing fitness, tone and endorphins with every day that passes.

I don't miss it one little bit.

(Maybe one teeny, tiny bit occasionally - but it never lasts long.)

I still head out early in the morning on my 'run' days, but I walk.

I'm still getting the fresh air, the head space, the (milder form of) exercise that I love.

I still go to the gym once or twice a week, but I faff around far more than I used to.

I sweat less and chat or belly rub more.

I still use the free weights and exercise bike here at home - but I'm no longer pushing myself.

Right now, my focus has shifted and my body is someone else's for a while.

I'm trying to be the perfect hostess to 'Muppet' - well, the best I can be anyway.


I know I will run again.
(Heck, Magoo has already offered to look after the baby while I go for a run - bless him.
I'm sure the relevant government agencies would have no problem with a four year old babysitter.)

In fact, I have my sights on another marathon in 2014.

(Keep it down. I can hear you snorting from here.)

In the meantime, I've got some beautiful tiny organs (ovaries even, if you ask me hey Hubby?!!!) to develop and a gorgeous little person to nourish and love.

Do you power on as normal when you're 'duffed'?


Shar :-)

Too Busy To Run?

From here

Shar :-)

Did Not Finish

For every little thing that divides Hubby and I, there are far bigger things that unite us.
Like our common fears.

Apart from the valid ones about our family, Hubby and I both fear the

D.N.F. (Did Not Finish.)

Each year, Hubby competes in the Avon Descent and other paddling/ surf events around the place.
If you do not complete the race due to injury, damage to your craft or just sheer lack of guts, beside your name and race number appears a DNF.
He has never acquired one of these in the years I have known him.
Standing on the side of a river or on a beach finish line, I can absolutely guarantee that if my man started the race he will cross that line.
Sometime today.
If we owned a greater proportion of our home than the bank does, I would happily bet our house on it.

Unlike Hubby, I loathe the DNF in all areas of life, not just my sport.
I can't handle a mental DNF next to my name - even in terms of doing the dishes!
Mental being the operative word here.
I really didn't fancy having to take maternity leave halfway through a school term - a bit too similar to a DNF for my liking.

When it comes to running, I would (stupidly) rather drag my sorry self over the line and pay the physical price than suffer the personal humiliation of a DNF. I can feel my cheeks burning at the thought of it happening. In the lead up to the marathon, the notion plagued me.

On that morning, before I had crossed the start line, let alone the finish line I knew I was, without a doubt, completing a marathon that day.
Stubborn trumps pain. Every time.



Must. Not. Stop.
What's this? Yet another damn marathon reference?!

 This year, I have not entered the Perth City to Surf.
Not so much because I don't believe I'll finish it, but because I wouldn't finish it with pride.
A DNFWP, I guess!

I am running at the moment. I'm loving running at the moment.
But I'm not training.
Q :What sort of 'runner' doesn't run their own city's City To Surf when they're
    perfectly capable of doing so?
A : A runner who's head is not there.
I'm not committed. Not focussed. Not particularly interested.

Right now, I'm running for pleasure.
After all the pressure and intensity of training for the marathon a couple of months ago, I'm hitting the road happily, listening to tunes, accidentally singing out loud and enjoying the feeling. No analysing my run, no setting goals, no overthinking - just running. I've been forgetting to start my lil Baby G. Because my time doesn't matter.

Bewteen our recent travels, getting back on top of work commitments, attending to a neglected homestead, manic birthday party season and pulling my little family back to the happy place we were in six months ago, I've got other priorities right now.

Yes, the sentence above bears a striking resemblance to a list of excuses.
Here's another.

I feel that I've had my quota of 'selfish' time for the year and have been hard core lucky enough to achieve some of my personal goals. It's family time now.

And that's ok.
Mostly.
I will feel a twinge of something on the morning of the City to Surf.

Buuut, I'll run my own run early and be back to take Magoo to a friend's birthday party.
Where I'll try to look ambivelent while trying to gently cajole and coerce him into having a ride on that damn pony they're having!

Shar :-)

Why Run?

I can appreciate that plenty of folk can't quite comprehend the joy of running.
That they can't understand how 'joy' and 'running' could even logically be in the same sentence.
That's fair enough - I have zero inclination to EVER don cricket whites and I pray that Magoo follows suit!

For me, to run is to be alive.
Really alive - not just going through the motions.
To be able to run feels like a precious gift - not to be wasted.






I have moments when my running seems selfish - despite the fact I get up in the dark to be done and dusted before our family's day really begins.

I'm well aware that training for my marathon was  a huge commitment on my part - and involved a bit of sacrifice on my family's part.
But again (cause I need to justify) I trained alone, early and as efficiently as possible to minimise the impact on my gorgeous little unit.
I know it is not going to be repeated anytime in the near future and I appreciate how lucky I am to have had this opportunity at this point in my life.


Marathon aside, I run because it's part of who I am.
It makes me a better person, wife, mother, friend, teacher, colleague, customer, driver, stranger in the queue...
It's an outlet and an inspiration.


I am not running away from anything - most certainly not my family.
I am running home to them - to share with them the energy and motivation I found in here <3, while out there pounding the pavement.


When I run, I organise my thoughts, channel frustration and drink in those fabulous endorphins. Sometimes I just blast my ipod and escape in the tunes for a while - until my head starts babbling again.


I love when Magoo greets me in his pyjamas with my water bottle or sits over breakfast with the cutest "how's your run today, Mum?", "what track you go?".
I don't see how having an active Mum (and Dad) as a role model can be all that bad.
I would hope we're instilling some positive attitudes that will hopefully be a part of his own choices in life.

Not having as many opportunities to run in the past few months has given me a clearer view of my running - and how much it means to me. Having to explicitly schedule time to run, having to work at squeezing running in or even having to beg ask for the chance to run has been an interesting exercise!

Years ago, when fertility specialists recommended nothing more than a fast walk I toed the line. As I've mentioned before, the minute I saw those beautiful, miraculous two blue lines  three and a half years ago I stopped running again without hesitation. I didn't miss running for that time because there was a bigger picture in my sights. The feeling when I picked it back up some 18 months later was just awesome though - a slow, painful awesome!

But lately, when running has been put on the backburner it's simply been a logistical problem. With Hubby slumbering faraway in a bed other than ours, I can't hit the road in the dark and cold as I normally would. I don't want to continuously palm Magoo off to accomodate my running and I won't compromise our days together just to serve my own interests. But I'm not injured or pregnant (sorry, girls!), so the desire to run is burning strong. Willing, but not so able.

This recent (unwelcome) lifestyle shift has made me appreciate any opportunity to run and reminded me of how running feeds my soul - and can soothe some of my ugliest traits. Quite pathetic, I know - but true.

I heart running!

What about you?
What fires you up and cools you down all at once?

Shar :-)

Running and Other Drugs

I have always run.

I was a cross country runner at school.

I've run for fitness (and food) most of my adult life - but I never called myself a 'runner'.

I always stuck to the safe distances of 10km or under and the 12km City To Surf was my own personal marathon.

Then I fell in with the wrong crowd...and now I'm a running junkie.

 I joined a running group almost a year ago and my addiction is spiralling.

I joined this free, friendly group because I missed my gym buddies post-child and wanted something for me once I emerged from the fog of baby bliss, ill health and other fun stuff.

I've always had a handle on my running.

Once I saw those two beautiful, blue lines my running life stopped.

And I really didn't care  - for at least a year.

No endorphin cravings, no getting up at ridiculous hours to get my fix, no throwing wads of money at Asics to fuel my need.

But this sordid,(charitable, gorgeous) bunch of runners I have been associating with have exposed me to an underworld of distances, events and challenges.

I've shaved almost 7 whole minutes off my 10km time since I began running with them and have run a PB in every 6 week time trial. And I want more!!

(See, I even say things like "PB" now!)

It started with the 'HBF Run For A Reason' - 14km was unchartered waters for me. But I made it. In good time. And raised lots of $$ for a great charity.

So I wanted a bigger rush.

A Half Marathon - 21km -  was next. Why not. They're all doing it!

Now that I have that distance under my belt, I want more.

So, my next hit is a marathon.

Oh, my parents would be horrified!!

(Not true, my Dad had run a few marathons before we kids stole his identity)

Never mind that I haven't even come close to running that distance before -

the Perth Marathon is calling my name.

I've started building my distances and ran a comfortable 25km on the weekend

(if you call diving into the pool still clothed straight after, comfortable).

So, with four months and lots of encouraging, mad, running buddies and a super understanding, very competitive hubby to keep me motivated - who knows what's possible??!

Hopefully 42.2km, that's what.

:-)

There is always one terrible step further than my goal - ultra marathons - 75 & 100kms.

But I think that's like the heroin of the running world.

I won't be going near that seedy, dangerous place of no return.

As for the other drugs, I'm not really that interested!

I do love a glass of, but my control freak nature wouldn't take kindly to anything upsetting the delicate balance between really, really organised and just plain neurotic.

In The Eye Of The Beholder

So, I wore this singlet to running group Saturday morning...

(Yup - It doesn't say "ironing makes me happy")

Didn't think twice. Nobody looked twice.

Wearing the same singlet (eeww,sweaty!) I popped into the supermarket after my run.

A man in a wheelchair repeatedly gave me some seriously evil eyes and wasn't deterred by a friendly smile or ten.

I looked down - and thought twice, thrice even.