Sunday, March 29, 2009

You Had Me at "5:15"

After a few more weeks of pure baby devotion, I slowly went back to running. Once I could rest, I saw that I wasn't completely starting over. My legs felt sore, but my lungs hung in pretty well.

I sputtered along as Emily's half-hearted, second-rate running partner though our schedules were different now. Emily needed to run in the afternoon, the worst time of day for a baby. I couldn't keep up while pushing the baby jogger, and I refused to dump a cranky infant on my husband the minute he walked through the door. Emily was my friend and it hurt to see the close of our era. We met to run here and there, but in the end, I casually drifted away.

For awhile I didn't do much but gawk at my baby. I couldn't be with him enough. I had no idea he would take over my heart, no my very being, with such ferocity. If I planned to do anything for myself it would not be at his expense. I hated to give up running, but in comparison, I really didn't care.

Was there someone else as devoted to her babies as I was? Someone willing to run at odd times on low-energy, maybe even wearing mashed bananas on her shorts? To stick with it, I needed a different breed of woman. Someone whose legs only took her as far as two tiny arms could reach.

I needed another Running Mama.

I mentioned my hope to a few friends at church, and through a friend of a friend, I met my running soul-mate. When I found her, heaven itself burst into song and unfurled the rainbow of joy over my snot-crusted shoulders. Her name was Jerri, disciplined runner and mother of two.

I said "Can you be up by 6:00?"

She said "How about 5:15?"

I said, "I will cancel last minute if my baby is sick."

She said, "Me too. Times two."

I said, "Do you run fast?"

She said, "Let's just stay together."

Cue tears of jubilation.

5 comments:

  1. Oh man, I wish I could run with you guys! I am still running in the morning and I love it. But it is so hard to go at it alone. I need a spouse....

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  2. I love reading your stuff. You make me smile.

    Dry heaves on the front lawn, leaky water balloon boobies and all :)

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  3. I love reading the story of how you became the Running Mama! It is inspirational!

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  4. I love this story...you could totally write a book!!! I met my old running partner via Team in Training - we ran our first two marathons together. Then, I got pregnant and we moved and it became really hard to run together. So, I put an ad on seemommyrun.com and met my current partner almost four years ago! God helps us meet people in the most unique ways :-)

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  5. Me and my partner run at night, between 8-9. It's the only time these mama's can get it together AND not feel guilty to leave the hubs with kids, because two of mine are in bed! Thanks for the inspiration, again. BTW we are running a mile now!!!!
    your anonymous follower

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