Running isn't just for super heros

I have 125 college students waiting for final grades, three kids in diapers and a whole lot of other things to do. What am I doing writing a blog? It seems like a nice stress relief and a fun journaling idea. What is my greatest stress relief though? Running of course, I am lost without that!

Running isn't just for super heros. . . or is it?

Here is a recent picture just before a race with two of my older sisters who I convinced to dress up. It was a 5k where everyone was supposed to be dressed like super heros. "Everyone will be dressed up!" I told them. So we wore our capes and masks. When we got there, no one was dressed up. Just us and a guy in a dog outfit.

When the race began I started out hard. The prize was a new pair of running shoes so I wanted to win. After running for a few minutes I found that I was running in my superhero costume alone on the side of a busy road. With the leaders far a head and the others a couple of blocks behind me. I laughed to think of what I must have looked like in a dead run with my red cape flapping behind me. I had some stares as people elbowed each other and cars honked. There is something exhilarating about doing odd things once in a while.

My husband has joined me for a few races. He usually pushes the triple stroller (yes I did say triple). I finish and then I go back and get him and push the kids and he finishes. It is less about winning for him and more about doing it.

When I tell people that I run races there is a pause, a questioned expression and a follow up of questions. People who don't do much running don't really understand why there are runners in the world.

I started running competitively after my twins were born. I would take my baby monitor out to my treadmill in the garage. I knew that I had only a half an hour to run before the babies would start to stir. For that time I would run as hard as I could to get in as many miles as possible. I found that after a while I was cutting more and more time off. I got better and better. All because of my babies. I started running races with the stroller. I decided however that it wasn't safe to run at the speed that I wanted to with the stroller unless I put my kids in helmets. So my husband volunteered to make it a fun family activity.

I love running. Forget the spa! Let me take a long run on a country road and I am more relaxed and refreshed then if I had spent the day with a facial, a massage and a pedicure. I love the sound of my feet on the gravel. I love the smell of my hair and skin when I am done running outside. I love to feel the cool sensation over my whole body after running the hardest that my legs will go. I once wrote a poem about running in high school-

I had a friend, he liked to run, he talked about it, he even wrote a poem about
it.

I decided to try it. I liked it, I talk about it- I am even writing a poem
about it . . .

Although I have done tons and tons of 5ks and other races I have only ran 2 full marathons. Not a lot but not bad for having such young kids. The first one I didn't train for. Yeah honestly if you want to really hurt your self just go run a marathon without any training, they say it is impossible but I did it. The second one, I followed a training schedule really closely. It was amazing! I have heard it said that the best thing you can do for your body is train for a marathon and the worst thing you can do for it is to actually run it. I agree.

I have an awesome running partner. She is the fuel in our training. It is nice to just get out and run with someone who is fun to talk to. When you run in freezing or boiling temperatures for sometimes 20 miles your mind isn't quite right. Sometimes you say things that don't make sense. We have decided to be patient with one another in our scattered ideas. . . actually she is just patient with me and I am scattered. It is funny though when a persons speech starts to slurr because of the cold or the length of the run.