The Running Mom’s Dilemma
Today while running with two other super mothers we started
chatting about the relative highs and lows of mothering and running in our
current land of the strong and free. Each one of us has to wrestle with how to
balance all the roles we play with an inner sense of self value and worth. The
Running Mom’s Dilemma is an essay, blog, that might become a book highlight how
and why we fight for this time, for ourselves to run. How it then makes us
better mothers and wives and daughters and perhaps also employees or even
bosses. Now the three of us are just three mothers in our corner of America, in
sunny Elk Grove, California, but we know that in truth the numbers of us are
growing across America. According to the magazine every Running Mom loves to
glance at right after a good night to the kids, and romance with the
husband, and before the night lights go off, women now make up 51% of all those
marathon running in races in 2011! We are out there in droves. Running together
and processing together (if we have wind in our lungs to talk while running)
and thus this book is an attempt to share that run with you all.
You will join our running group by just reading this blog/essay/book,
but first you must get to know the players and what are our passions. What drives us to get up early and run? Now this should
also be your own question for there are many mothers who never do such a crazy
act. My mother never did (except for that aerobics class back in college) and
neither did my dairy farming great grand mothers, or immigrant grand mother.
Sarah, that’s me, is 34 and has been running since she was 4th
string on the high school basketball time and always felt like the wanna-be athlete
on the team. Coming from a family that had struggled (perhaps due to that
longing for dairy products) with obesity I often got competitive as a child but
in my family that really meant who could eat the most slices of pizza for
dinner. After my father died at age 49 of cancer (that could have been masked
by his obesity) my passion for running was renewed at age 21. But running has
ALWAYS been there for me as an outlet. As I run I can go to a zone that is much
like holding a yoga pose, or stating the Nicene Creed in church, or saying a
simple prayer. Now that I’ve mothered 3 children in 5 years I need running more
than ever but am now firmly facing the Running Mom’s dilemma: when to find the
time to run, where is my balance?
Sophy's bio...
Shannon's bio...
In this text, besides helpful running tips and resources we
also want share with you some of our other passions and knowledge on how live a
balanced life in this crazy culture that is post-modern America. Sophie knows
how to shop simply, cook simply, and thus create amazingly chemical-free food
on a tight budget. Shannon is the queen of staying fit with two young kids by
hiking, creative cardio cleaning, giving, and using children for weight
resistence. Sarah is a suburban homesteader whose chicken flock has now
supplied her family and friends, raises organic meat and fruits and veggies on
her ½ acre lot at the end of the cult-de-sac, and finds solace in Christian
prayer and meditation that she hopes will also lead you to intimacy with God and
your loved ones. In a way isn’t a running mother a bit of a revolutionary
against this American couch potato culture? In our quest for wholesome living we
have given up the couch for the trail, the soda pop for an occasional glass of
red wine, and the stress for a feeling of contentment and joy. We hope our
little book will inspire you to get out there and join the Mommy running party –
you are about to join ours.Please contribute if you want to join the discussion.
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