Five years ago, I sat in my newly-appointed OB’s office and nearly cried as he informed me that being six weeks pregnant meant Absolutely No Running the New York City Marathon in 10 days. No matter that I had trained for it all summer. No matter the three 20-mile long runs under my belt and the weekly track sessions that were supposed to help me run an under-4.
I was looking forward to motherhood. But sob. Would it change running? Forever?
And so for the next three years, it did. Lack of sleep was exhausting. Raising an overly active baby – and then toddler – while working full time was all-consuming. There was no time to train! Hardly any time to run! The few four-mile races I signed up for, I did mostly as an excuse to watch our son do the kids’ runs afterwards. (Too cute!)
All those excuses were later used to justify running a half marathon with no training, then sleeping through the alarm for the next one. I needed a kick in the buttocks like I need those first three cups of coffee in the morning.
That kick came earlier this year, courtesy of those two books: Run Like a Mother
and Train Like a Mother
