Where's Waldo?

Or really, Where's Mama?

I have been so absent from my blog! I didn't think my non-running was worth blogging about on my running blog. But I supposed I owe my fan (hi Robine) an update.

The hip/groin pain I've been having since mid-pregnancy is still around, despite having laid off the running big time for the past 7 weeks or so. It actually feels worse since I stopped running, and I think that increasing my physical activity in whatever form is probably good for it. Next stop, physical therapy. I just have to figure out when...

Life with two kids is great but there is not a minute of the day where somebody doesn't need me. Anytime I do anything, I should be doing something else. When I am at work, I should be easing Max through his rediscovered separation anxiety. When I'm with Max, I should be helping Sami learn to sit up. When I'm goofing around with Sami, I should be helping the Supportive Husband with the family business. When I'm helping with the business, I should be working out. When I'm working out, I should be folding the laundry. And so on. Everything I do comes at the expense of something else. Everything.

But this morning the stars aligned and I actually got in a bit of a run, with Sami in the BOB while Max slept in. It was the most perfect morning imaginable. A sweet whisper of a breeze, bright sun, warm but not hot, no humidity. I couldn't not run. Truth be told it was a walk-run with more walk than run. It's been 3.5 months since I had walking pneumonia, and I still cough and wheeze a bit when I run. And my hip - ow. I really need to not neglect that, because my opposite knee has started to hurt because my gait is all wonky and sideways to compensate. But I had a great time, and Sami quietly watched the morning slide by, still in her footie jammies. By the time we got home, Max was awake, and had got wind of the fact that Sami had gone on a buggy ride. So I traded kids with the Supportive Husband, and took Max for a bit of a stroll.

I had worried that scaling back my running would cause the pregnancy pounds to pile back on. But no, I am less than a pound away from the weight I was the day after the 10-miler. Go nursing!! After Max was born, I was nursing and training so much that I got down to a crazy skinny weight. At times during that period, I would have had to eat 3,500 calories/day just to maintain my weight. Impossible! After Max weaned, which was not long after I ran the marathon, I put on several pounds pretty rapidly - I think my body had gone into starvation mode. Since I've decided not to really train while Sami is still nursing, I am hopeful that I won't gain much (if any) weight after she weans. Even though I'm quite a few pounds less than my prepregnancy weight, I could stand to lose a few more.

However, after reading all the recent "body after baby" drek in the celebrity mags, I have decided I'd rather be a little flabby and five pounds too heavy than waste my life away by having a protein shake for breakfast, whole wheat turkey wrap for lunch, and poached fish for dinner. And oh, if I get cravings, I could l just have a stick of gum. Gum!!! Seriously, that is one celeb's diet strategy - gum to stave off cravings. As if I'm going to walk past the cupcake shop, pop in a stick of Dentyne and just keep strolling by, while a single tear slides down my cheek.

Let's face it, even if I lost five or ten pounds, my thrice-pregnant tummy will most likely never again be bikini ready without some serious Thermage. And I don't think People magazine is going to be knocking on my door looking for cheesecake shots either. I'm fit and healthy, and as long as that is the case, I'll never pass up a cupcake.

Happy Mothers Day!!!

I've done very little running in the month since the 10 miler. I've been trying to let my hip and my airway heal. The weather has been very cool and damp - not good for my sensitive bronchioles. But it is finally sunny and warm, so I am hopeful that I'll be back on the wagon soon.

Having two kids instead of one means that instead of having half the time available to exercise or do other "me" activities, I now have zero time. Early morning runs mean having to pump, and quite frankly I burned out on pumping the first time around, and I would rather grow slow and soft than add one more pumping session into my routine. Big-time training will have to wait until Sami is weaned. Marathons will still be there when the kids are a little older. In the meantime, I'll pound out a couple miles during my lunch hour or after the kids are in bed.

Happy Mothers Day to all you other mothers out there.