Three-a-days (running, swimming, and mom hood)

Pillow talk with my husband last night revolved around my fantasy of getting in two workouts today. I wanted to get up at 4:15 a.m. to leave the house by 4:30 to get to WKU stadium by 5:00 to do a "stadium run" workout with the folks from the local running store. Then, I wanted to do a swim workout when my husband got home from work and could take over the Ruby duties. Two-a-days make me happy (as do six-hour bike rides and runs that require refilling the Camelback), and I just don't get to do them as often as I would like--much less frequently since having Ruby. So hubby and I agreed on the logistics, and we headed to bed.

Then parenthood struck. Ruby had gone to bed at 8:00, and her first wake-up call for me was at about 11:30. Ruby-wake-up calls generally involve Kevin getting her something to drink and me climbing into her big-girl bed with her to get her back to sleep. I'm not sure my climbing into bed with her is as much about her as it is about me just wanting to get horizontal and to get my world quiet in the fastest way possible. I was back in our bed by about 12:30, and I remember feeling relief that we had gotten the wake-up over with so early. Phew.

4:09 a.m. "Mommy?" You have got to be kidding me. My alarm was set for 4:15, and Ruby was up again at 4:09. Scheisse.

I went to her room. Did a quick diaper change. Got her settled down in her bed again. Curled up next to her and waited for her to roll on her side--the sure sign that I am home free. Clicked on my Timex: 4:17. Crap. Two minutes gone that I could have been eating toast and a banana.

(Change to present-tense to share my real-time thinking.)
4:23. If she falls asleep now, I can still grab a banana, brush my teeth, get changed, and hit the road. Don't forget the water. iPod?

4:25. Why are your eyes still open? Geesh. There's no way. I was going to be out the door by 4:30. What can I do if she falls asleep right now? No teeth brushing. I'll put my shoes on in the car. While driving. I can still make this.

4:27. Sigh. Give it up. No stadium runs for you. At least you'll get in a swim later today. Sometimes parenthood sucks. (Martyr switch on.)

4:28 Really? Are you really asleep? If I jump out of bed now, I can still make it. But I have to jump out of bed slowly. I can do this. Slide out of bed. SLIDE. QUIET!!!!

I climbed out of bed, checked my watch every thirty seconds, channeled the triathlete in me to make the fastest transition ever from pajamas to running clothes, and bolted down the hall. Grabbed a pair of running shoes from next to the back door (Geesh, I hope this is a matching pair). Grabbed a banana off the counter. Told my husband I was hitting the road, and I was out of there. 4:39.

For what? This:

I think this picture is actually of the side we didn't run on. They have remodeled the stadium, and I'm not sure this is even a current picture, but in my hurry to get out of the house in the dark this morning, I forgot to bring my phone along with me, so I couldn't get actual pictures. Next week.

There were about ten people there this morning. And those folks were amazing. We went from one end of the stadium to the other, up one aisle and down the next--stopping on the downs to do ten push-ups. I made it through one time. Others went down and back. Others went down and back and down and back. Incredible. My legs were quaking by the time I got halfway through.

My favorite part, though, was when we went down to the stadium grass at the end and ran laps around the field. Barefoot. I would go back again just to get to do that. I couldn't help but remember the laps I got to do around Badger stadium during the Ironman in Wisconsin. And I was thinking how jazzed I would be to get to do this same workout in Michigan stadium.

I'm not sure what the takeaways from this morning are. Sometimes, parenthood gets in the way. It's great to be a mom, but it doesn't always make it easy to be a runner or a triathlete. And while I love curling up in bed to watch Ruby sleep, I also love being a grown-up with other grown-ups doing athletic things at 5:00 in the morning. I think that's the biggest challenge of parenthood--having to find a balance.

On the workout front, it was tough to watch everyone else doing two or three times what I did this morning, and I wanted to do more. But I think there are times when it is wise to know if I am doing a workout because my ego wants me to or if I am doing a workout because it's what my body needs. As I stood there on the steps about halfway through the workout and felt my legs shaking like jello, I knew I needed to put the ego in check. Had I known how much I would love running barefoot on the field, I would have headed down there sooner.

Swimming tonight.