May 2013 – c'est la vie

May 10, 2013

Yesterday our youngest turned five, which is a big milestone. It means that we are officially done with toddlerhood! Not only that, it means that all four kids are in the “honeymoon years” (or so we’ve heard from other parents), the years between the ages of 5 and 12, the most fun years of raising kids. Before age five there are all the trials that toddlers/preschoolers present to their parents, and at thirteen of course, adolescence rears its ugly head with all the challenges associated with raising teenagers.

Since there is six years between our oldest and youngest, we will only have two years when *all four* are in those special years, so I plan on savoring this time, really taking it all in. So many parents with older kids have warned us that these special years go too quickly. It is easy to be too busy to notice how great the kids really are right now. I need to remind myself regularly to stop, look, and enjoy it.

Here I am, alternating feet in an ice bucket. Today I ran 10.5 miles in 1 hour, forty-three minutes. I’m not fast, but I am consistent. It was warm this morning (75 degrees in the shade by the time I finished and much hotter in the sun), so I struggled a bit. But I was able to average less than 10 minutes per mile, so I was satisfied.

I’ll be running my second half-marathon in just over two weeks. I ran my first one last May, and it was the start of a very long summer of running. Last year the half-marathon was really a training run for a full marathon in August. During the summer I did one long run per week, gradually building up my miles: 3 X 13 miles, 3 X 16 miles, 2 X 18 miles, 1 X 19 miles, and 1 X 21 miles.

Running, which is usually a favorite part of my week, became drudgery. I started to dread my Fridays, and I would have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach on those mornings before I hit the trail. I’d be completely wiped out for the rest of the day instead of bouncing back after a couple hours of rest. Toenails dropped off. After my 19-mile run, my left knee started hurting. I had to visit an orthopedic surgeon to make sure I could even attempt the marathon. He gave me the go-ahead, but suggested that I only try it once, as my joints were starting to show signs of wear.

I completed the marathon in August, much to my relief (it had been a goal for years), but the week after the race I developed plantar fasciitis in my right heel. I walked with a limp for a few weeks, and couldn’t run for three months. By November I was able to speedwalk on the trail, but I really didn’t get back to my normal running routine until January.

So now I’m more careful. I’m trying to stretch more, use a big roller on the legs daily, “listen” to my body, do yoga at least twice a week. My goal is to do two half-marathons per year for at least the next decade, and that means I need to do all I can to avoid injuries.

There are people out there that run further and run faster. (There are also those crazy people who do ultra marathons, like our friend, Charles, who run marathon distances several times per month.) As I get older, I am more comfortable with just doing my best and not worrying about my race times. After all, I’m a middle-aged woman with four kids and a busy life, and I’m happy to just do it.