Possible Change of Plans

I tend to be a pretty grounded person and not get too excited about things in advance. I understand that it is fun to talk about things and make plans for someday even though it may never happen. Like all those trips Dale and I planned to Australia when I was a kid (Dad, I'm still in if you are).

I have only gotten better at tempering my expectations since becoming a mom as the first lesson of parenting is 'Plans Will Change'. Whether it be from that nap happening two hours too early and ruining all plans for the day or your kid getting sick and changing plans for a month or even the year (Kristin, I know y'all will have fun at WDW on your own and our little guys will still be Disney buddies, just not this year).

Given all of that I am still very disappointed to have to be writing this post. Clearly I got my expectations up and was very excited about Crystal and I running the Disneyland Half Marathon together. Unfortunately, I learned this weekend that Crystal came down with a bad virus and the doc says she probably won't be back to normal (and in turn able to run) for 6 weeks. This is right in the thick of our training schedule so it is looking like I'll be running this half marathon on my own.

I called Disney to see what our options were, and a very helpful cast member told me that the registration is non-refundable and non-transferable, no exceptions and the race is at capacity. She tried to cheer me up by saying that I won't be running on my own I'll be running with 1,000 people. She also advised that I should befriend the runners in costumes as they have the most fun. Now I'm a bit of a Disney nut but I'm still not sure I understand running while dressed like Snow White. I know it is still going to be a very memorable family vacation and a trip to Disneyland that we will never forget. However, I was so looking forward to sharing the memories with Crystal.

On a completely unrelated note.....I will be sticking to the GU chews as I could not stomach the texture of the GU gel. Also, I need to work on expanding my IPod running playlist since I'll be doing all of the running on my own. Any suggestions for great running songs?

Of Rain and GU

In my last post I wondered when I would feel like a real runner and I think I may have achieved that today.

First, Crystal talked to a co-worker who runs marathons and determined that we needed GU. Apparently this is some sort of energy gel that runners use to hydrate. We've been dragging on our last couple of runs together and have had trouble getting past the 35 minute mark. We think that this has been due to the HOT weather. It was quite a bit cooler when we started our run today but decided not to take any chances and gave the GU a shot as well. Crystal went to REI and stocked up on a large assortment of GU including a multitude of flavors in both gel and Chomps. We decided to try the Chomps as they resembled fruit snacks which I was more comfortable with than drinking gel. So we had a couple before starting the run and a couple halfway through. I think it seemed to help as we didn't get too tired and made it 45 minutes!

About 10 of these 45 minutes we were running through the rain and not just a little sprinkle. It was raining so much that our shoes got soggy but we decided the rain wouldn't prevent us from reaching our goal. Luckily, Elias was well covered with the Bob and slept through the rain. As I was running through the rain I thought "Wow, maybe I am a real runner!"

Random Bloggings

One of the many reasons that I never took to running before was because I didn't think I could go for long runs without thinking about how tiring running is. I was always puzzled by what people think about when they are running. Surprisingly I have found that running actually clears my mind and I don't really think about too much. And I rarely find myself thinking 'Wow, I'm tired of running'. I either enjoy the conversation with Crystal or try to focus on my music.

So in an effort to answer my question about what people think about when they are running I've decided to blog about a few of the things that ran through my head on my run this morning:

• Why do there seem to be more women out jogging, walking dogs, etc at 6:30 am than men?
  
• Am I the only person who has Disney theme park music on their running IPod playlist?
• I know Elias won't remember the trip to Disneyland or me running the 1/2 marathon but I hope that he will be excited to hear about how he (with a little help from Mickey) encouraged his mom.
• At what point will I feel like I'm a part of the "runner's club" and not think wow that person is very motivated every time I see someone out running?
• I'm sure glad we bought the Bob jogging stroller.
  

Motherhood

So today I had an interesting and somewhat profound thought (that may be a bit of an overstatement). I realized that I never could have imagined how being a mom would change my life. Now there are all of the typical things like a new ability to multitask even more than before and the ability to function on much less sleep. Although I still haven't gotten used to that one as I need a lot of sleep. And of course one can't explain a parent's love and overarching desire to do what is best for your child until you become a parent. Wow, this blog post has gotten much deeper than I had planned.

Back to the point I was trying to make that motherhood changed me in ways I never expected. I never thought that I would enjoy running or eating tuna casserole for dinner. Ah, how my life has changed :)