Insanity, etc.

I don't know for sure how parents with more than four widely spaced children do it.  We have been to a program and/or event every night for more than a week and we have one more to go to tonight.  I am running out of energy and "competent mom" outfits.  (Don't pretend you don't know what I mean.)

I am burning the candle at both ends so seriously that I ran too far today.  Normally I check, check and recheck my route for the day.  For some reason I didn't today.  I got out there and was running away like a tough girl in the raging wind.  I swallowed a bug and another one flew into my eye.  Shortly after the bug swallowing incident, I started to think, "This seems pretty far."  I was supposed to run 2.75 miles.   I checked my GPS thing and I'd gone 1.64 miles.  I'm not great at math -- especially after I've swallowed a bug -- but I realized that when I got home I would have run over three miles.  I never over run.  Sometimes when I get back from run, I won't have gone quite far enough, so I run around the parking lot across the street until I get the right distance.

I didn't know if I should be proud of myself or disgusted that I'd wasted miles I did not need.  The fact that I even had that argument with myself just proves how far I've come.

This weekend Brent took me to a sporting goods store, so I could shop for sporting goods.  Friends and loved ones, I have never been to a sporting goods store with a purpose in my life.  It was time to retire the old yoga and group aerobics clothes and figure out what runners wear.

A young tiny salesperson came over and asked how I was doing.  I looked at her helplessly.

"Well," I said.  "I'm about 10 weeks into running and I need to move into some more serious running clothes.  I don't think the world is ready to see my thighs, though.  What do you have for the middle aged mommy?"

She looked at me and smiled.  "You're a runner," she said.  "They are supposed to see your thighs.  Other serious runners aren't looking and anyone else has no right to criticize."

I wanted to hug her, but that seemed inappropriate.