It was almost seven years ago that I had my first daughter. We all have our ideas of how life will look after kids. I am always surprised looking back just how wrong I can be, except when I look at other things I have tried to predict or plan. It is possible that the one constant in my life is my amazing ability to have plans blow up. Picture my plans as a little row boat. Now picture life as a giant ocean. Now put my row boat on the ocean. Now add a hurricane. Or at least a small series of pretty good storms. Yup, that pretty much sums it up.
Now, the other thing I will say is that I wouldn't have things any other way. I think I may not mind riding out a hurricane in a row boat. Metaphorically speaking only, I actually get really motion sick but that is a story to save for a blog on traveling alone with children...
I am a mother now of three children. I am also an athlete. I think these things are both pretty natural to me. As a kid I would run laps around my house just for fun, and spent most of my time practicing gymnastics in any space available. As a mom I have quit just about everything so I can be with these kids. They fascinate me. Watching them learn about this world makes me learn about it all over again, but much better than I could have without them. I want to spend as much time with them as possible before they don't want to anymore.
So I still need to fit in athletics. Before kids I was a mountain bike racer. I expected to continue after kids and did with Ava for half a season. As a nine month old baby Ava would come to my races and we would work out child care, some loving friend or relative would have her after I fed her and pass her back shortly after I finished. We were still breast feeding a lot as Ava did not love solid food and had a very loud scream like cry that would make most people fear babies for a good time (think years) after they heard it. Most people had 2 hours before Ava would get angry that I had gone and then commence screaming. I therefore had 2 hours to finish my races if I did not want to traumatize both friend/family and baby. It took a few races before I thought this might not be right for my family at that moment.
Seven years later we have added two more kids, my husbands tenure track job, a move across the border and continent, various illnesses and mishaps. So were does mountain biking fit in?
On Exercise:
I began riding and running with Ava after she was 3 months old. Many naps took place in the moving crib (or the Chariot), as I got in work outs while she slept. I also learned I could combine errands with these workouts, as there was a good chance I could roll right into a grocery store with a sleeping baby without missing a beat. This is where Momthlete was born I believe. I needed to get the family food, I wanted to work out still and be outdoors, and I had a baby. I simply began combining all of these activities into one strangely efficient outing.
As we had more kids I would simply add one more child to the mix and make a destination out of a kid friendly event. Storytime at the library on Thursday became 5 km hard run to the library (I am always running late), storytime, bagel at the bagel store, 5 km run home as perhaps two kids napping. If the older child needed exercise I would just throw the run bike in the chariot and walk some parts with Ava as she "biked" along.
I now live in Corvallis, OR, perhaps the most bike and child friendly town in America if not beyond. Bike lanes and paths lead me everywhere in this town. The town is home to more PhDs per capita than any other town/city in America. Really, my husband is an ornithologist (he studies birds). There are 32 ornithologists living in Corvallis. That almost freaks me out. People are smart here and have created programs to make smart, happy, healthy kids here. It may be the perfect place for a momthlete. There are always cool things to run my kids to in this town,
With the third baby, it did get harder. Sometimes I would do 10 km runs with 120 lbs of kids in the Chariot. That thing that saved me was this: For some reason kids know not to fight in the confines of a Chariot stroller. It works out so badly so fast, it just doesn't really happen. They also learn to bike on their own as it eventually gets better than sharing the seat with their sibling.
Now I can actually do 10 km runs with just the toddler having her nap while the older two kids are riding beside me. We stop and look at things along the way and may stop for candy or ice cream at the halfway point, but whatever works. We all love these trips.
On Racing:
Racing became pretty much limited to local events. I never had another baby that was so attached to me so I was able to do some longer races. My strange new fitness from my strange new workouts did not make me faster, but they kept me strong and my endurance was growing. I ended up almost by accident doing a 100 mile mountain bike race in Oregon called the Cascade Creampuff thanks to Mike Ripley of Mudslinger Events. It was the longest I had ever been on a bike period, but I finished without too much of a problem. At that time 11 hours on the bike seemed a bit like a nice break from the daily Mom job. A welcome change for the day so to speak. Still I would rather be a Mom most days.
There is also a local 50 km running race in the McDonald Forest that borders my backyard. When I get to run or bike alone, this is where I go. The chance to run a huge portion of the forest in one day had captured my imagination for a few years thanks to Mel Norland, another momthlete who teaches me more and more everyday about how to race and be a mom. Last year I finally got the opportunity to do the race. I had pushed the kids around enough that year that I was pretty sure my body could handle it. It was almost dreamy to run for almost 5 hours in a beautiful forest with someone providing all my food every 10 km. After 6 years of being a stay at home mom I will a lot of crazy things for someone else to make my food.
I am still trying to race. Still trying to stay in shape, but the row boat is not always on calm oceans. It does not stay on a very steady course. And it seems that I neglected to bring a better boat to this ocean so, I just try and ride it out so to speak the best I can. And I try to enjoy the adventures along the way.
Stay tuned for more. Thanks for reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment