Running Mommy Conversations

There are various ways you can tell you are a Mommy Running. It takes you a half hour to get out the door, and even when you are out on the road ready to go, you realize you forgot the goldfish crackers/pacifier/the OTHER sippy cup/wipes/etc and have to turn your monstrous double stroller back to get it (because you know without a doubt that if you don’t have it, there will be a meltdown when you are no less than four miles from your home and your kid needs. It. NOW!), diaper changes/roadside nursing has to be accounted for when calculating your average pace, and your traps are as toned as your hamstrings from pushing the double stroller.

The list can go on for days, but there was one thing in particular I noticed when doing interval training with the husband pushing the double stroller. Watching the Olympics, I was in awe of the women’s marathon, failing to even wrap my head around what it would take to be able to maintain that speed for that long. I’m lucky if I can even work up to that speed during my sprint, much less hold it for two hours and twenty minutes. But while my mind lingered on the inspiration these women provide, a small voice brought me back to my reality.

“Mommy! Puppy!”

Yes, sweetheart. There is a puppy over there.

“Mili puppy, too?” (Mili is a puppy too? I’m fluent in two year old. At least, my two year old.)

Yes, sweetheart. Mili is a puppy too.

“Garmin puppy too?”

Yes. Garmin is a puppy too.

“Peli puppy too?”

Yes, sweetheart. Very good.

Meanwhile, I’m churning out the first of six speed intervals, pushing my legs as hard as they will hold me for a half mile. That’s a different, twisted kind of endurance required to have the conversations tiny humans desire right at those moments. That isn’t to suggest the likes of those Olympians could not do the same thing at the pace I was running (I’m pretty sure Kara Goucher naps at the pace I was running today), but perhaps there should be consideration for a future Olympic event—distance running with toddlers in tow. Who can maintain and entertain a two year old while attempting not to vomit on the side of the road from running too fast when it is too hot without any shade?

I’m going for gold.