Hi Everyone – I’m Meaghan from Miles, Miles, and more Miles, and want to give a huge THANK YOU to Page for allowing me to guest post while she’s off getting her honeymoon on – have a fabulous time!
I am the lucky mommy to this little monkey, the coolest six year old alive:
I am also deep in the trenches of training for my ninth marathon, involving lots of this:
On top of being a mommy and running 50+ miles a week, I also have a full time job, a hefty commute, and friends/family that would love to occasionally see me. No no friends, this post is not all martyr-ish, I promise. It’s to show everyone who will listen that with some organization and time management, you can truly accomplish anything. Well, maybe not everything, but I’m not here to burst your bubble.
Fear not – if you’re not a mom, this post can still apply to you. Are you an uber busy person, trying to fit your training into the rest of your life? Read on. Ha – kinda sounds like a bad infomercial.
I have taken an approach that many people take when on a nutrition plan; similar to planning out your meals on a Sunday night, I sit down with my training schedule every Sunday night, and plan all of my workouts around my Caitlyn and work time. I first mark off when she’s with her dad and when I have commitments for work. Then I take my handful of runs, and scatter them where they most appropriately fit. Voila, right?
Notsomuch. It’s kinda hard to throw in a 12 miler when you have to be at your desk for 8am, and also have a 45 minute commute. I mean hell, I’m all for an early alarm, but refuse to see the first number be a “3”. Go ahead, call me a skirt, I’m cool with it. How about that scheduled 18 miler on a Caitlyn weekend? Yeah, child services informed me that it’s not okay for me to leave her home alone for 2.5 hours. Go figure.
The point of my rambling? Do what it takes to make it happen. It doesn’t always have to make sense – for example, this week I had to go back to back on 2 long(ish) runs on Tuesday/Wednesday because it was the only way it would fit. I’ve had to call on friends and family MANY times to hang out with Caitlyn early on a Saturday morning so I can get my long run in. And there have been times (GASP!) where I’ve had to trade a run for a 1.5 hour ride on my trainer, while Caitlyn jumps rope and does cartwheels next to me. And you know what? Its pretty damn cool that my six year old thinks exercising every single day is totally the norm.
Unless you’re a professional athlete, it’s likely you’re not going to make a living running. Or cycling, or swimming for that matter. It takes a LOT self motivation to get yourself out that door, and make all of your workouts happen. With busy lives, we have a million built-in excuses to not get our workouts in. However, with diligence and dedication, we can all teach our kids how to be healthy for a lifetime. And get ourselves in kick-ass shape while we do it.
Happy Training!
You have a great attitude and are an awesome role model for your daughter. 🙂
Girl, you are amazing! Love this post and your blog!
Thanks to you both!!! 🙂
Really impressive that you can do all that with a 6 year old. Running that many miles a week would be really hard. Having a treadmill might make things easier, that is all I can think of. Your sentence about your 6 year old thinking that exercising every day is normal is great!
This is really inspiring! I learned 2 things from this: I’m def. not ready to have children yet because I value my free time to run. And when I do, I hope to be a mom like you! xoxo
Thank you so much. Getting a treadmill is in the plan for sure, but I also love running outside and having it be “my time”. There is no bigger compliment than being called a good mom, so thank you. I don’t do anything out of the ordinary- it’s all about balance and priorities. And sometimes wine 😉