Obstacles to running

My Facebook status earlier this week was, whoever came up with the phrase 'curiosity killed the cat' obviously didn't have a mobile baby. And all my friends with babies on the go "liked" it and empathized with me. You see, in the last couple of weeks Natallie has learned how to move...I wouldn't call it crawling, it's more like "the worm" dance move but she has got so efficient at worming (yes, that is a verb in our house now) that she is such a handful. I admit, I haven't done much running since the Sun Run. Partially because I had to recover from being sick but also because I am so exhausted from chasing after Natallie and keeping her out of trouble. I turn my back just to put wet laundry in the dryer and I come back and she's pulled out all the kleenex out of the box and is madly eating as much as she can until I pry it out of her hands and mouth. And then it's off to the pile of magazine under the coffee table, shredding and eating the latest copy of Today's Parent. 

 And you think she is eating all the kleenex and magazines because she's hungry but meal time seems like World War 3 sometimes with my husband and I dodging our little one spewing butternut squash and sippy cups across the room. My daughter has decided she doesn't want to eat unless she is being entertained at the same time, so it takes me putting on what feels like a Broadway musical of singing, dancing and waving musical instruments and blowing bubbles (literally) between bites of food. Showtime is three times a day at breakfast, lunch and dinner. So between chasing Little Miss Trouble and feeding her, I am exhausted. I thought about lacing up my runners and going for a run but I didn't feel like I had the energy to even go up the stairs one more time to change into clothes for running.

I was feeling a bit discouraged about not running and feeling that being a mom was kind of an obstacle to staying fit but then I thought back to why I wanted to train this half-marathon in the first place and it was because I wanted to prove to myself that a new mom can do it. I can stay healthy and active! So today, Natallie decided to stay asleep in her car seat after we got back from church (this never happens lately) so I took it as a sign from God that I should go for a run by myself. I thought I would be really slow because i haven't run in 2 weeks but surprisingly, I felt great. I didn't get a cramp which has happened consistently before and even when I was running up the steep Kerr St. hill, it didn't feel as hard as I thought it would be. Maybe even though I haven't been running, just chasing Natallie around the house has kept up my cardio! 8K later, I came home just in time as Natallie was waking up. OK well...I've got to go get my act ready for the dinner time feeding show now. Hmm..what songs should I do tonight?